Runaways Vol 1: Pride & Joy

Runaways Vol 1: Pride & Joy (2003) Brian K. Vaughan

The series Runaways came up as a recommendation for me several times, and it looked interesting. However, I am wary books with of teenage characters, because if they’re not well done, I find them intolerably annoying. Luckily, the characters in Runaways may be teenagers, but they were interesting, and the angst was low-level and, to be honest, understandable.

A group of teens discover that their parents are actually supervillains, and have to decide what they are going to do about it. (Pretty much that’s about all I can think to safely say, without saying too much.

Now, the story itself. I loved the idea that supervillains would have normal mundane lives, including kids. Then, that their kids would discover that their parents were actually evil? What’s not to love about that? Even better, the story is living up to it’s promise. I particularly liked the kids reactions. That despite what they’d seen, some of them were still willing to stand by their parents, in the hope that there was an explanation. Additionally, because they’re kids, they can do dumb things without seeming completely stupid. It also means that they’re going to be underestimated, which helps their case.

Obviously, this story focuses upon the kids, and what they were thinking and feeling. We get glimpses of the parents, but what we don’t know is why they’re supervillains. However, as they are now five volumes in this series, hopefully we’ll learn the whys in a future collection.

As far as the storytelling, I picked it up to glance through, to see if Runaways was what I wanted to read right now, and found that I couldn’t put it back down. Which is always a good sign for a story. There were some slow points, but I really wanted to know what happened, so I hardly noticed them. And I was engrossed enough that I didn’t find myself wondering why things were happening, they just happened and I read on.

There may be things I’m missing, because this story is in the Marvel superhero world, so there are (not many) references to other characters, and although I recognize names, anything more than that? Right over my head. However, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. Which is reassuring.

One warning. Although this the minor story arc is resolved, you’re still left hanging, wondering what is going to happen to the kids. So you’ll probably want to have the second volume at hand when you finish the first. So I definitely recommend this story, and I can’t wait to read the next book (which, I admit, I ran out to get when i got home from work.)
Rating: 7/10

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