Runaways (v2), Vol. 8: Dead End Kids (Premiere HC)

This volume was the reason I decided to read Runaways (although I started from the beginning, in part because I'm enjoying Vaughan's Saga).

I quite enjoyed reading this story, and my main complaint that it wasn't longer. It would have been nice to have more issues about 1907 and it's characters,

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and it would've been interesting to see what else Whedon would have done with the Runaways.

The characters felt the same as under Vaughan, and the artwork, while slightly different was similar enough (unlike some guest artists). The time-travel story back to 1907 was delightful, with all the characters it introduced.

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this is a lovely little thing. joss's goes all fanwriter on Brian K Vaughan's Runaways, which is funny in itself. and time travels them all to 1907 London, which also has people with powers, and they aren't treated like teenagers there because teenage is a concept that hasn't been invented yet. so,

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some new characters, lots of steampunk, and street wars, and extravagant subplots and general mayhem and jossian wordplay ensues. and Michael Ryan's art is just as fabulous as it needs to be to carry the whole thing off.

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Written as this is by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy and Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along blog and the first writer on Astonishing X-Men, I find myself disappointed. It's not that it's bad, of course; he does seem to have a good grasp of Brian K. Vaughn's characters, so that both dialogue and

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character moments are well-wrought--in particular, the Karolina/Nico dynamic is nicely pushed forward as both girls find themselves frustrated with their boyfriends. It's just that the title is a little too apropos: the whole plotline ends up being pointless, so I end up just not caring.

Sure, the requisite "someone joins or leaves the group" happens (I won't say which, but will note that it does leave the group a little closer to the nicely female-heavy demagraphic that Vaughn started the series, something which made the series stand out from a feminist perspective by making the Bechdel test more easily passed) and there are some shifts in the dynamics of the romantic relationships, but most of the interesting things Whedon brings up here--the re-introduction of Gert's parents, the superpowered New York street gangs of a bygone era--seem to be questionable in the extreme as to the degree of their long-term meaningfulness.

The book actually ends up being about a character introduced just for the purposes of this arc, and while her tale is certainly poignant, and carries with it a characteristically Whedonian punch, I'd much rather be reading Karolina's or Nico's story.

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A good story for fans of Runaways and of Buffy. The teenaged team gets mixed up with the wrong side again, and when they disappear, they land in 1907 with no way to get back.

I absolutely love this series. I think Joss Whedon did a great job in keeping with the series' plot line and I hope he guest-writes some time in the future again.

P.S. I liked the Punisher cameo and the continuing relationship with Chase and Gert.

Runaways is an interesting premise with some interesting characters, but it's uneven in execution. Even before it started getting all these new writers.This volume is pretty good. There's some funny bits. I don't know who The Punisher is except by name, but the bit with him amused me anyhow.Was it

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better for having been written by Joss Whedon? Well, it didn't hurt. Don't know that it helped particularly either.I really like that this group picks up new members. But it also drops them at an alarming rate. :P

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Runaways + Joss Whedon= massive WIN.

I thoroughly enjoyed the previous entries in this series, and adore Joss Whedon, so it's no surprise that I adored Dead End Kids. The runaways have "taken care of" their evil parents, have battle some grown-up superheroes, and are *tired* of fighting.

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Unfortunately, they decide to take a job that gets them sent into the past, causing all sorts of trouble (some of the heart-breaking sort), and crack-wise all over the place, which is delightful.

Exciting and funny - recommended!

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Summary: The Runaways are in New York, fleeing trouble in L.A. They find themselves working - against their better judgement - for a crime lord known as Kingpin. But when an operation goes badly and they use the a mysterious artifact in order to flee, they wind up in even more trouble - because the

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artifact turned the Leapfrog into a time machine, and now they're stranded in New York City in 1907.

Review: I have to be honest, this volume was why I started reading the Runaways series in the first place (my local library shelves it with "Whedon" instead of with the rest of the series.) Still, I was a little bit apprehensive about the first volume written by someone other than series creator Brian K. Vaughan, even if that someone was Joss Whedon. And, while it didn't go as badly as it might have, that's not to say there weren't a few bumps. Whedon throws in a score of new characters, most of whom appear for only a few panels at a time, and almost all of whom we're never going to see again, which made things a little confusing and more cluttered than they needed to be. The book also starts more or less in media res, without explaining how things got to this point. Still, the writing was as snappy and funny as you'd expect from Whedon, and the story at the core of this volume was solid and touching. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: I suspect that fans of Whedon's comics that pick this one up cold will be thoroughly lost, but while I've more or less enjoyed the series, if it's way out of your comfort zone then I don't know that this installment is worth it.

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The further adventures of this misfit gang of superpowered teenagers sees the Runaways try their hand at working for the Kingpin of Crime--with disastrous results. Transported a hundred years in the past, they accidentally set off a war between the superheroes and -villains of turn-of-the-century

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New York while trying desperately to get home.

A little background on the Runaways: their parents ran a West Coast crime syndicate before being vaporized by the Elder Gods. They are constantly falling in and out of love with each other and Karolina is gay but that's all right because the guy her parents arranged for her to marry is actually a shape-shifter and can turn into a girl at will. As of this volume, Alex and Gert are dead and have been replaced by Victor and Klara. Chase is still mourning Gert's death but is comforted by her dying bequest of a psychic, genetically-engineered dinosaur named Old Lace. If this doesn't make you want to read the series, I don't know what will. Oh yeah--this volume is written by Joss Whedon of "Buffy" and "Firefly" fame.

I'll admit, I began reading this series long before the Media Log project, but kind of lost interest around Escape to New York. This volume proved a great place to get reacquainted with the characters as the storyline is entirely self-contained. Whedon's characteristic snarky dialogue, love of dramatic deaths and genre commentary kept me on my toes and the brief return of Gert's time-traveling parents packed a great emotional punch. Due to some mature themes, recommended for grades 10-12.

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This was more Joss Whedon than Runaways, which I don't have a problem with, but there was way too much going on in very little space.

I have also decided that I must read more superhero comic books - artsy graphic novels are great and all, but I hate not getting references.

This was a disappointment. I wanted to like it, but ... blah. Vaughan left Whedon in a tight spot; I get that--some old characters gone, new characters who hadn't really gotten firmly established, and all that. But after this 6-issue collection of Whedon's run, those new characters still aren't

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really established and have little recognizable personality of their own. Even the better-established characters all sort of run together into an amalgam of Teen Superhero Love Triangle.

Plot-wise? not too much. A trip back in time to 1907. Need I say more?

I'm still reading it, and am interested to see what Terry Moore can do. But this volume--this action-heavy superhero volume--didn't impress me the way the previous, character-driven ones did.

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I have to wonder if Whedon and Vaughan decided to swap books for one run. Here, Joss takes on Runaways, while Vaughan also wrote a run of Buffy Season 8. Was it planned? Who knows.

So, Joss writes our Runaways back to New York and a meeting with the Kingpin. This leads to them stealing something

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that might have belonged to their parents, the Punisher on their trail, and a horribly scarred flying beast of a man who works for a little old lady. All of this lands the team a hundred years in their past, New York 1907, where things grow tense between street gangs and a group of do-gooders calling themselves the "Upward Path" (think if a bunch of religious zealots and teetotalers became superheroes).

The group makes some new friends along the way, but who will make it out of 1907 and back to the present?

This one feels very Joss, which can be off-putting, but I enjoyed it. Nice to see another talented writer take on Vaughan's characters.

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Despite the dreadful storytelling skills of artist Michael Ryan, Joss Whedon manages to eke out an enjoyable tale.

Eh. I'm sure people who worship the ground Whedon walks on will love this, but I found it to be the blandest volume of Runaways so far. A lot of inconsequential hogwash and overly-complicated plot threads that didn't seem to lead anywhere. Plus the increasing amount of in-character anti-trans*

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comments from a certain man's mouth is bothering me to the point that I could care less about his respective plot line and angsty man pain. Yawn. Also: could Whedon's name possible be any bigger on the cover? JFC.

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