Teenage Wasteland

I am not a serious comic fan. I own about three dozen graphic novels, which is a lot compared to the average American, but paltry compared to serious comic fans. But I can't imagine many not loving this story about six young kids who become runaways when they realize their parents are super villains. It is set very much within the Marvel comic universe. Captain America appears briefly and there is mention of the Avengers. Also, one of the six kids is a mutant of the X-Men variety. But the story is not at all dependent on any in depth knowledge of the Marvel pantheon of heroes and in fact having such knowledge won't actually add much to the enjoyment of the story. I want especially to recommend the book to parents of children. I deeply regret that this wasn't around when my daughter was young and we were still reading books together. There are a couple of bits that might be disturbing to very small children, but I would have felt comfortable reading this with my daughter when she was 8 or 9. The book is especially good for girls, because in an unusual alignment, four of the six kids are girls and in fact both the oldest and the youngest are female. A girl of 10 would really identify with Molly aka Bruiser (though she would prefer to be called Princess Powerful), an eleven-year-old mutant with super human strength (though upon using it she always has to take a nap afterwards). But I don't want to mislead and suggest that this is mainly or even primarily for kids. This is an "all ages" book in the best possible sense. An adult of 60 could easily enjoy this as much as a child of 16. This is certainly a nonstandard collection of heroes. I've mentioned Molly. Karolina Dean is the oldest, the child of two famous actors who in fact are aliens from another world. Karolina aka Lucy in the Sky turns out to have remarkable powers based on her ability to channel the energy in sunlight. Alex is not gifted with any powers, but is a master of strategy and tactics and a brilliant prodigy. Chase is your the dimmest bulb of the bunch, but uses his parents' fistigons, metal gloves that spew out fire. He is given the name Talkback by the others. Nico aka Sister Grimm has taken possession of her mother's Staff of One, with which she can cast any spell, but only one time. Gertrude aka Arsenic has no powers, but is the recipient of a velociraptor who is tied to her DNA and who responds to her telepathically whom she names Old Lace. (The first volume never addresses the question of precisely what Old Lace eats to stay alive.) The wonderful twist is that one of these heroes is in fact a mole and still faithful to the Pride, the super gang formed by their parents. I can't recommend this volume strongly enough. It is a wonderfully fresh take on the idea of the superhero. Creator Brian K. Vaughan went on to write two more volumes of their adventures and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER creator Joss Whedon is now continuing it (though I feel compelled

Runaways, Volume 1 (Hardcover) is a collection of Runaways series one issues 1-18. If your a huge fan of Runaways this is a must have. If your a fan in general you will still enjoy this edition. I got this for $21-22 including shipping and I think it was worth every penny. Here's a break down of what's in the book: 1) Introduction - Some word from Brian K. Vaughan. 2) The comics. (Issues 1-18) 3) A fan letter by Joss Whedon that appears in issue 18 and Brian K. Vaughan's response. 4) Runaways Expanded Proposal by Brian K. Vaughan.(I think this was interesting. To see what was originally planned. It funny to see what some of the characters name were originally and how they changed. A lot of the changed were for the best I think. Read and decide for yourself.) 5) Adrian Alphona Sketchbook. (Character concept art, character sketches and reandom doodles. 6) Promotional Art by Adrian Alphona. 7) Bios of Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, Craig Yeung, Christina Strain, Jo Chen and Takeshi Miyazawa. Also the book it's self without the dust cover is black with Runaways written in red. Very cool looking. So go and get your own copy today and enjoy. =^__.__^=

A few months ago, I was walking around in a comic book store with a friend of mine. While I am a newbie in the world of comics, he knows his stuff, and he pointed out Runaways to me. I had never heard of it before, but he assured me that it was amazing. The premise is simple: 6 kids in Los Angeles find out that their parents are supervillains, and they run away from home and try to find ways to defeat them. I was intrigued by the idea, but I never picked it up until just now. The book was everything he said and more. Alex Wilder, Gertrude Yorkes, Chase Stein, Karolina Dean, Nico Minoru, and Molly Hayes are six kids, ranging from 12 to about 17, living in LA. They exist within the established Marvel universe, meaning that heroes like Spider-Man, Captain America, and Wolverine, as well as supervillains like Dr. Octopus and Dr. Doom live in their world as well. That doesn't mean that they don't also live in "our world" as well. There are many references to popular culture, which I will touch on later. Since most Marvel stories are based in New York City, the six kids have never experienced larger than life situations that super heroes find themselves in. The closest Alex ever got was when he played online games with his friends. Every year, the six families got together so that the parents could get stuff done for the charitable organization that they work for. At least that's what they tell their children. Meanwhile, the six kids, who aren't big fans of each other, are forced to hang out together and find ways to pass the time. Gert is a cynical girl who can't stand capitalist culture (if you've ever read/seen Ghost World, she's very much like Enid) while Chase is a lacrosse player without an overabundance of brains. Nico is a goth while Molly is a young firecracker. Karolina is an outgoing daughter of two movie stars while Alex is a calm and collected, somewhat shy boy (of all the characters, Alex is most like me). One year, the kids decide that they are fed up with waiting for their parents to finish their business, so they decide to spy on the group, only to witness their parents murder a young woman. Terrified by the act, the group decides to run away. Soon, each child learns that they have received some sort of ability or gift from their parents. Gert, whose parents are time travellers, finds a genetically modified raptor that she can telepathically communicate with, Chase steals some gadgets and weapons from his inventor parents, and Nico learns that she, along with her parents, are sorcerors. Meanwhile, Karolina and her family are aliens with powers drawn from the Earth's sun, and Molly learns that she comes from a family of mutants. While Alex doesn't have any offensive abilities, he, along with his parents, is a master strategist. Using their newfound abilities, the Runaways vow to atone for their parents' sins and become a West Coast-based team of superheroes. Along the way, they fight their parents a few times (and b

Marvel has had the great fortune of having Brian K. Vaughan's story of children who "runaway" from their evil, would-be world conquering parents. A story which has uprooted super-hero cliche's in the same way Spider-Man did in the 1960's. These kids don't want to save the world so much as make it through the day and you won't find them in spandex or masks. For jaded comic book readers this is a breath of fresh air and for new readers it is a completely fun read that fans of Harry Potter would surely enjoy.

What a fun book! 6 teenagers find out that their parents are really supervillains. The book just sets up the premise and shows some of the initial confrontations between the kids and their parents. The term to use here is "Buffyesque" :) Just like Buffy, this is a good story with a premise that might appear silly at first. Just like Buffy, half the fun is the various characters and the way they interact. There is still so much left to explore - the full extent of the children's and parent's powers, the true nature and goals of the secret organization that the parents belong to. I have not had this much fun reading comics in a while. Think of the first volume as 1/2 of season one of a good teen SciFi/Fantasy show like Buffy or Smallville.