written by Rainbow Rowell
drawn by Kris Anka
colored by Matthew Wilson
It's been a while since I've been able to review a collected edition of any Marvel title, but given that I was able to get Runaways (2017) volume three more or less on time, and given that I found myself especially riveted by this story, I felt compelled to give my two cents' worth, even though the book's been out for more than a week by now.
After a brush with death and some years away, Alex Wilder, the Runaways' former leader who once tried to sell them out to their evil parents' masters, the Gibborim, is back, and hot on his tail are the three children of the Gibborim, named, conveniently enough, Gib, Bo and Rim. The Runaways are none too thrilled about either Alex's return or the new guests he has brought with him, but they soon realize they may have to work with him just to stay alive. Also, it is Christmas, so perhaps it's time to let bygones be bygones...or is it?
More than just a gift for snappy dialogue, one thing that has really defined Rainbow Rowell's run on this book more than anything else is her fantastic grasp on what makes every single one of the Runaways tick. For one thing, she's gotten Nico Minoru's fear of being alone down pat, which ironically is one of the reasons why her decision to pair her off with Karolina is such a bad one, she's gotten Chase's sense of responsibility to the group, as the oldest, down to a "t," and most impressively, she's also written Gert Yorkes almost as well as her creator Brian K. Vaughan himself. It shouldn't have come as any surprise, then, that she would crank out an absolutely killer Alex Wilder, but I find myself blown away nonetheless.
Alex Wilder is, for me, the most compelling character that has ever been featured in Runaways, and the first eighteen issues of the book way back in 2003 are notable for being his tragic story of betrayal. Rowell clearly has a great affection for the character; she doesn't do him a disservice by trying to do something as prosaic as "redeem" him or give him a good-guy makeover, but she makes it pretty darned hard to fully hate him as she clearly depicts him as something none of the other Runaways really is: a capable leader. He's less a "bad guy" than he is a Machiavellian character, and while the line between the two may be too fine to distinguish one from the other at times, Rowell toes it expertly. Alex is never quite sympathetic (except maybe, just maybe, towards the end of the book), but a lot of the things he says make perfect sense, and as ridiculous as this sounds, even after the events of the story, a part of me wanted them all to make amends and for him to rejoin the group, even if it meant the rest of the Runaways could never fully trust him. At the very, very least, I hope Rowell keeps Alex around for a good, long time, especially since she's made an extremely compelling argument for it.
When I read Volume II of this new series, which featured Karolina's then-girlfriend Julie Power of the Power Pack (which I didn't bother to review since I got it quite late), I found it amusing when she pointed out how disorganized the group was. While the fact that the Runaways essentially aren't a "superhero team" in the traditional sense has always been one of the group's unique and sometimes endearing facets, in the world they inhabit, in which they purport to act like superheroes, it is a legitimate criticism. While it's a pity Rowell broke Karolina up with Julie (and the resulting rebound-relationship between Karolina and Nico has been somewhat cringe-inducing) I completely understand the story imperatives here, and a part of that is to establish how badly this team needs a leader. It is a hell of a conundrum that the person best qualified for the job is also possibly the worst one for the job.
I came on board this book because I was a fan of Kris Anka's work, and to my utter shock, in the last eighteen issues he's managed to get even better with each passing story arc. "That was Yesterday" marks his last work as the series artist, and henceforth he'll only be doing covers, but I consider myself fortunate to have been witness to an already amazing artist growing leaps and bounds in such as short period of time.
Runaways has never really been a book to set the sales charts on fire, so it's hard to say how long this iteration of the title will last, but in my opinion at least, these past three volumes or eighteen issues, which pay due reverence to the characters while taking them in new directions, will be remembered as among the title's finest, as will the rest of Rowell's run if she can maintain this standard of quality.
9/10
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