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Graphic Novel Review

Marvel's Runaways 1: Pride & Joy
My super villain parents.


Graphic Novel Review , 3 August 2009 by Eilonvi



What are six rich teenagers from sunny California to do while they are stuck in the game room, waiting for their parents to finish their boring annual-charity-fund-raising-gathering-thing? You got it right - spy on the parents.


Creeping through the secret passages of the illustrious Wilders residence, our bored and nosy kids end up staring straight at the parents' secret meeting through the discreet side of a two-way mirror. The parents are dressed up in evil-looking costumes, telepathically restraining and stabbing a young girl to death (mommy!). The only logical and immediate conclusion to be drawn - which our kids indeed draw immediately - is that their parents are super-hero-villains!


The kids put their two's and two's together, and decide to run away from their homes. Things get a little bit complicated once they try to fetch Molly, the youngest child from her house. It seems that their parents own the police, the media, and in fact, the entire city!


This is a modern super-hero comic with a twist: The scenarios, script and characters are very much of "Today", no silly tights or body suits here, luckily. The twist is that our runaway kids are the good super heroes and their parents are the evil-super-villains. Oooooof ok - you got me. Maybe it's not such a twist after all, but it's still nice.


Anyway, meet our runaway teenagers:


Alex Wilder - just your average strategic planner prodigy. Before he found out his parents are evil, he used to live in Malibu and was hooked up on online MMRPG (massively multi-player ... you know).


Gertrude Yorkes - a chubby geeky girl with purple hair. She's very smart and has her own genetically engineered dinosaur pet. She likes arguing with her parents a lot. She always kinda knew they're evil.


Karolina Dean - a beautiful girl, quite pleased with her shiny life with her celebrity parents. That is, before she found out that everything her parents ever told her, is a big shiny lie. Karolina also has super powers much like her evil-mother, and also she's an alien.


Chase Stein - he's a cute athlete with really poor grades. Considering his parents are evil-genius-scientists, they get really upset about his grades. Due to his father's anger management problem, chase seems to get punched occasionally. Chase takes some cool and deadly gadgets from his parents' house before splitting.


Nico Minoru - she's got the Goth-girl chic. After she obtains her mother's magical rod, she finds out that she too can cast magic spells.


Molly Hayes - the youngest kid of the bunch. Something weird is happening to her body, and it's not just girl stuff. She's a mutant and thus very strong, but she does not know the half of it yet.


Super-hero-mutant-magic-crap? A-ha. Childish? Very. Yet interesting? Indeed. Contemporary, fun and fast? You bet. Beautiful art work? Very much. Do read? Yes!


Runaways 1: Pride & Joy

 

Comics Info

The first volume of Runaways collects issues 1-6.
Published: April 14, 2004
Language: english
Publisher: Marvel
Find out more on publishers web site
Pages: 144
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Inker: David Newbold, Craig Yeung
Colorist: Brian Reber
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy
Cover: Takeshi Miyazawa

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