The end: Runaways #14

Writer: Kathryn Immonen. Artist: Sara Pichelli. If you don't want to read a very angry rant, stop reading after the review!

What Happened: Nico and Chase try to figure out what they should do now that their Malibu mansion has burned down and they're once again on the run. Chase is in a particularly miserable mood, especially after the events of the last few issues, what with his uncle's reappearance/disappearance and of course the death of Old Lace. While Nico is trying to figure out what to do with the team, Chase is mostly oblivious and he finally decides to leave, claiming he's going to scrounge up some food, although Nico is doubtful. From there we discover that Chase's uncle, Hunter, isn't dead, but was transported through another dimension back to his office, which was a very uncomfortable ride. Even though Chase was the one responsible for Hunter's trip, he still wants to help the Runaways, and he makes a phone call to the Runaway's transport, the Leapfrog. Victor picks up and Hunter offers to give the kids a place to live, no questions asked. Hunter gives a location to meet and hangs up. Victor and Karolina really want to see Hunter and hear out his offer, but Nico is hesitant to see Chase's uncle without Chase present. After some cajoling, Nico agrees to go, reasoning it's probably better to go without Chase anyway, especially considering what he did the last time he ran into Hunter. Meanwhile, Chase is wandering aimlessly through the streets of LA, when he bumps into a girl who is the absolute spitting image of his dead girlfriend, Gertrude. Chase is completely stunned and the girl walks away while Chase gathers himself and chases after her. The rest of the kids take the Leapfrog and meet up with Hunter to hear him out. Hunter offers the kids a house, money and safety, stating that when it comes to Chase he's always felt guilty that he wasn't there to protect him from his super-villain parents. In the end, Nico decides they can't take the offer because Chase wouldn't want them to. The kids leave and the conversation turns to Chase. Karolina begins to become really concerned about him, considering he has been gone for a while now, while Nico is of the mindset that when Chase is ready he'll come back to the team. And what of Chase? While he was running after Gert's lookalike, he wound up getting pasted by a van. This issue and series ends with Chase laying in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors who were trying feverishly to save his life.

What I thought: What do I think? That's a very good question... First I'm going to tackle the story itself, before I get on my soapbox. This issue was quite good. It really was. Kathryn's words and Sara's art have been(for the most part)VERY strong since they took over this series. The duel story with Hunter and the Runaways and Chase and Gert(???)were handled extremely well, and the cliffhanger ending left me absolutely craving more... However, there IS no more... This was the(very)sudden end of this series. To say that I'm pissed off about that would be a massive understatement. Here we go, get the censors ready! First off all, this was Kathryn and Sara's first storyarc in this series, and it only lasted 4(!!!)issues! What the hell!?! Couldn't Marvel have given the new creative team more then a scant 4 issues to get established before pulling the plug on this series? The fact that this series, which seemed to be heading in the right direction was canned, and yet all of the garbage BENDIS and Yost produce is happily lapped up by the masses really, REALLY pisses me off. Yep, I'm pretty steamed right now, and this blog is my sounding board. So, who's to blame for this series getting cancelled? The fans? Joe Quesada? The current creative team? Well, I'd definitely give the current creative team a pass, expecially since they only had 4(!!!)issues to work with. I really can't blame the fans, most fans probably didn't even know this series was still ongoing. No, the onus lays squarely on Marvel(for not bothering to give this series any real play)and Joss Whedon. Joss Whedon??? Yes, Joss Whedon. After the original creators of this series(Brian K Vaughn and Adrian Alphona)left, Joss Whedon was handed the creative reigns, which I thought was a great thing... At first. The way I saw it, Joss had a name, and that name would hopefully bring new fans to the series. Instead, we got 1 issue every 4 or 5 months, which effectively destroyed any possibility of new fans picking up this series(who wants to start a new series and then wait 6 months between issues?)and drove away the fans who had stuck with the series from the start. I'm honestly glad that Joss is no longer working for Marvel, because he just COULD NOT get a comic book out on time. Wow, this whole review really took an ugly turn somewhere along the line... Let me end this on a positive note. Brian and Adrian did a fantastic job through the first 40+ issues of this series. That's what I'll always remember. Not Whedon's ill-fated run on this series, and certainly not terrible first few issues of the third(and last)volume of this series. I guess I'll finish up by saying that I'm sure we'll see the Runaways again, these characters are just too good to stay in limbo for long. Keep on running.

Score: 9 out of 10.Poor Chase. Poor Runaways fans. Poor me!!!

A Quick Look at Runaways #13

Writer: Kathryn Immonen. Artist: Sara Pichelli.

What Happened: Chase explains to Nico that the guy who showed up last issue couldn't be his uncle, because Chase accidentally ran his uncle down a few years back. After Chase gripes a bit, he makes out with Nico. Afterwards, Nico casts a spell on Chase's uncle and discovers that he is indeed Chase's flesh and blood. Chase's uncle, Hunter, explains that he is only there to help the kids, and to prove it he gives the kids some mysterious box the government was after, as well as helping the kids escape from some shifty government types who had set up shop outside the Runaways home in Malibu. Hunter then takes the kids to a warehouse and gives them a new Leapfrog plane. Chase repays his uncle by killing him(!?!)with the mysterious box the government was after. This issue ends with the shifty government guys torching the Runaways home.

What I thought: I found this issue VERY boring and a bit confusing. I'd been enjoying the first two issues of Kathryn's Runaways run, but this issue was all over the map... Weird boxes, shifty government types, Old Lace's corpse vanishing and Chase and Nico suddenly making out. It was all pretty bizarre. Hopefully this issue was just an aberration, and things will get better next issue.

Score: 4 out of 10.I always wondered what would happen if a magician would evoke Abraham Lincoln's name.

Runaways #12

Last issue was the first of the new creative team, and it was actually pretty good. Will this issue keep up the good work, or will this series slip back into the quagmire it crawled out of? I don't know yet, I guess I'll find out in a couple of minutes! This issue is written by Kathryn Immonen.

-This issue opens with the kids still trapped in their Malibu home, which is surrounded by out of control plants. Klara(the one responsible for the plants)is traumatized due to Old Lace's death last issue and Chase is uber-pissed for the same reason. Nico tries to establish some semblance of control over the situation, but fails.

-Over at the offices of Track Integrated Construction and Containment, the president of the company is informed a plane crashed into the Malibu home of the Runaways, and the he rushes to a waiting helicopter... Huh???

-The kids still can't decide what they should do, and while they continue to bicker, a different helicopter lands on the grounds of the Malibu house. This particular helicopter is full of government agent types, who are looking for their experimental airplane(the one that killed Old Lace last issue). The agents can't enter the house due to the security devices and the helicopter carrying the president of the company seen earlier arrives. The pres, Stein, convinces the agents to let him pass, stating that he should be able to get past the defenses. The agents tell him it's his funeral, and he manages to bypass the security measures.

-Stein enters the house and runs into the kids, who are surprised to see someone was able to bypass the plants and security measures. Stein introduces himself as Hunter Stein, Chase's uncle. Chase becomes incensed at the sight of Hunter and decks him, ending this issue by stating that the guy claiming to be Hunter is a liar since Chase killed Hunter several years ago!

Not bad, not bad at all. This issue started off well enough, but the middle was a bit on the boring side for me. However, things picked back up again at the end with Chase's dramatic statement. So he killed his uncle? I'm sure there are some mitigating circumstances to that story, ie. it was a car accident or something along those lines, I doubt Chase gunned him down or anything like that! For a score I'll give this issue a 7 out of 10. This was what I would call a perfectly acceptable comic book. There was nothing spectacular or mind-blowing, just a decent little story, which is really all I ask for.

Runaways #11

Yes, I'm one of the few people still reading the Runaways. I've been a fan of this series from the beginning, back when Brian K. Vaughn originally introduced these characters and this series was fresh and happening. Unfortunately, Brian left the series after 40 or so issues, and things have really nosedived since then... Joss Whedon's run, which SHOULD have made the Runaways a force to be reckoned with in the Marvel Universe, was plagued by LOOOOONG delays(what else is new there...), delays which really hurt the flow of the series. Soon after Whedon's run ended, the series was restarted at #1 AGAIN in an attempt to drum up sales. Now we have a new writer, and the promise to kill off one of the characters in yet another lame attempt to drum up sales... You know things are getting desperate when a company announces one of the characters in the comic book will die... Right on the cover! My gut tells me that unless new writer Kathryn Immonen can really put together a great story this book is headed for cancellation. With all that said, on with the review.

-This issue opens up with the kids planning to have a prom for themselves. Karolina is still mourning Xavin, her dead Skrull girl/boyfriend, and Klara is acting weird and distant. The other kids are seemingly too self absorbed to notice.

-Molly, Klara and Old Lace watch some TV while the four older kids begin their prom. Karolina wildly hits on Chase, and Nico sends Victor over to beak up the festivities between the two of them. Nico leads Karolina away and Karolina reveals that she is still moping over the death of Xavin. Nico gives Karolina a pep talk and manages to cheer Karolina up, and Molly asks Nico to tell the guys to lower their music since she can't hear the TV.

-At this moment, some sort of drone airplane smashes into the Runaway's Malibu mansion. The brunt of the plane crash hits the room where Klara and Old Lace were, and the other kids all rush in to help. Chase mutters an apology to his dead girlfriend Gert, the original owner of Old Lace before collapsing onto the floor. After moving the rubble the Runaways discover that Old Lace managed to shield Klara's body from any major harm at the expense of the dinosaur's life. Upon regaining consciousness, Klara flips out and attacks the other kids with plants(which is way more menacing then it sounds!), ending this issue.

I'm willing to give Kathryn time to further develop this storyline before I say anything negative here. The story was interesting(if a little bit on the confusing side)and Sara Pichelli's artwork was an improvement on the manga style of artwork that was featured in the last few issues. Like I stated before, the story was a bit on the confusing side, I have NO clue who the two folks in San Fransisco were, and I have no idea why the drone plane crashed into the mansion.

I have to say, I strongly suspected Old Lace would be the character to go, but OL was definitely not the character I wanted to see offed here. If I had my way, it would have been Molly getting flattened by that airplane. Why Molly? I'd probably rank her as one of THE most annoying comic book characters out there today. I'm sure there are plenty of fans of Molly(probably...), but I for one can't stand her. Sorry. For a score, I'll give this comic a 7 out of 10, while keeping my fingers crossed that Kathryn can return this series to the level of excellency it used to feature.

Cloak, NOT a role model!

Just figured I throw a scan from the "Runaways" out there... This comic used to be among my favorite books. Damn that Joss Whedon for ruining this series!!

Runaways #7

This is one of those series that I've been collecting for a long time and although the quality has really fallen off, I just can't bring myself to drop the title.

-The main storyline here is that Chase is working for a radio shock jock in LA who is apparently fond of black magic. Chase, being an idiot, naturally doesn't realize this fact even though the shock jock and his magical crony wind up transforming a secretary at the office Chase is working at into a zombie. The evil shock jock intends on playing a song over the radio that will transform any listeners who have had any cosmetic procedure done(and in LA, I'd guess that's a lot!)into mindless zombies. I'm not exactly sure WHY the shock jock wants to do that, but whatever.

-Besides that, nothing really happened in this comic. The other kids foiled a hostage taker, and that was pretty much it.

Yep, that's the whole review. Like I said nothing really happened. I really miss the days when Brian K Vaughn was writing this series. This series has really been hurting since Joss Whedon's ill-fated run. On top of that, I'm not really fond of the manga style of artwork used by Takeshi Miyazawa. Everything looks too cartoony and most of the guys look way too feminine. For a score, I guess I'll give this comic a 4 out of 10. I understand that this was the first part of a new storyarc, but for me there was just way to much set-up work going on here, and not enough story.

Random thoughts on a Friday night.

Yes, it's Friday night again and you know what that means! Oh, you don't? Well, it means that I'm wasted from the week and instead of actually reviewing some comics or posting something specific, I'm just going to ramble on about some random stuff until get tired and feel like passing out! With that great explanation out of the way, let's start the inane prattle.

-No Batman: The Brave and the Bold tonight... That kind of sucked. That show has really grown on me. It'll NEVER be as great as Batman: The Animated Series, but it's just quirky enough for me to enjoy it. When I'm watching Brave and the Bold, I can just shut my brain off for that half an hour. That's not to say that the Brave and the Bold is some stupid, mindless kids show, it isn't, it's just good, easy to follow fun. With no Brave and the Bold, I was going to watch Wolverine and the X-Men, but I just couldn't bring myself to put it on... It's bad enough that Wolvie is on every team in the Marvel Universe, but now the X-Men are HIS team??? NO WAY! If the cartoon was just called X-Men, I'd watch it. But, I refuse to watch a show called "WOLVERINE and the X-Men". Hell, why not go all the way and just call it "Wolverine!!!"? Or better yet, "Wolverine and some other guys"? What can I say, seeing Wolvie EVERYWHERE is really starting to sour me on the character. I've always been a Wolvie fan, the guy just exudes cool, but come on, enough is enough Marvel, stop overexposing the little Canuck!

-I came close to finally giving in and buying DC vs. Mortal Kombat today... I managed to stay strong though and not give in. Once that price drops a little bit more though, wild horses couldn't keep me away from buying that game. The prospect of kicking ass as Deathstroke actually causes me to salivate!

-Hey, I haven't mentioned a single comic book yet. Let's rectify that right now. Since one of my professor's no showed a class today, I had two hours of sitting around campus with nothing to do. Luckily, I was prepared, and had packed the last 9 issues of the Runaways as well as Batman: The Killing Joke in my book bag. With nothing else to do, I breezed through every one of those books.

-First I'll start with the Runaways. I used to love this comic back when Brian K. Vaughan first created the series. Brian put in a good 24 issues or so, before Marvel handed the writing duties over to Joss Whedon. I really didn't enjoy Joss' take on the team, and lost almost all interest in this book(that's why I had 9 issues to catch up with!). Joss left the series at issue #30, and the series was restarted at #1(Marvel sure loves to do that...)and the writing chores were handed over to Terry Moore, who's work I'd never read before. So, I read issues #1-6 and kind of liked them... Which wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to hate these comics! My subscription is almost up, and now I'm on the fence as to whether I should renew or not. If Joss was still the writer, my decision would be easy, I'd abandon ship. But, I still need a few more issues before I can make up my mind about Terry's work. Most likely, I'll wind up renewing this book, and cutting something else.

-Next up is Batman: The Killing Joke. For those not in the know, this was the Alan Moore graphic novel in which Barbara Gordon(Batgirl/Oracle)is shot and paralyzed by the Joker. This was one of those books where I pretty much knew what happened in it, but felt I had to actually own it. I'm very possessive about comic books, what can I say? The basic story is that Joker decides he wants to prove that any man can be driven insane if pushed far enough, so he decides to drive good old commissioner Jim Gordon crazy. He shoots Barbara, kidnaps the Commish, and basically tortures him physically and emotionally to prove his point. Gordon never snaps like Joker had expected, and Batman eventually shows up to rescue the Commish and bust Joker. The story was really pretty good, and Joker's dance number, complete with sideshow freaks and lyrics nearly had me laughing out loud. However, I was pretty let down by the ending, which sees Batman try one final time to appeal to Joker, offering to do anything in his power to help him reform(this was before Joker's brutal "murder" of Jason Todd). After listening to Batman's offer of help, Joker tells Bats a joke about two guys in an asylum, and the two of them laugh at the punchline. The comic ends with Batman reaching out and grabbing the hysterical Joker... Huh? But didn't Joker just paralyze one of your closest allies and torture another close friend Bats? Why the hell were they standing around sharing a laugh? That really bothered me. This comic also detailed some of the Joker's past, giving some information I didn't know about, so that was a pleasant surprise. If I was to score this comic, I'd give it a 8 1/2 out of 10. It was good, but the ending really sucked for me.

-While I'm still on a Batman kick, I recently finished reading "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" tpb. This wasn't as great as I had heard it would be... That's not to say that I didn't enjoy reading it, because I did, but I was hoping for more. As far as I'm concerned, All-Star Batman and Robin was WAY superior to Dark Knight Returns. I really can't explain why Dark Knight Returns didn't click for me, maybe it was the fact that it was so heavily influenced by it's time, Cold War America, maybe it was because of the far-fetched occurrences that happened. Why the hell would anyone book the Joker to appear on the David Letterman show? I mean come on, that's crazy even for a comic book! I guess the thing that bothered me the most was the final battle between Batman and Joker. Joker had killed Jason Todd 10 years earlier(it was this that pushed Batman to retire), escaped custody, killed 200 people at the Letterman show, killed 20 boy scouts at a county fair with poisoned cotton candy, and went around shooting people indiscriminately until Batman arrived at the fair. Bats finally corners Joker and the two fight, with Batman gaining the upper hand after a nasty battle. Batman twists Joker's neck, snapping it, but not enough to kill him, just enough to paralyze him. Joker decides, "F### that, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life in a wheel chair", and manages to turn his head just enough to kill himself... What the f### is that!?!? I'm sorry, I know Batman doesn't kill, but come on! Joker kills your kid sidekick, murders hundreds(thousands?)of people and just killed a bunch of boy scouts! Snap his f###ing neck already! I can't believe Batman stopped just short of killing Joker here. That really hurt my enjoyment of the rest of this trade. It almost made it seem like Joker had won. Sure, he was dead, but he went out when he wanted to. The end battle between Bats and Superman was pretty cool though. Score-wise, I'd give this tpb a 9 out of 10. I wanted this to be more like All-Star Batman, and it just didn't live up to expectations.

-I also mentioned in an earlier post that I had finished up the Starman series written by James Robinson earlier this week. I'd implore anyone who hasn't read those comic books to hunt them down and give them a read. Starman was by far the best comic series I've read in a LONG time(maybe ever). Not only did I love the way the main character, Jack Knight developed, I just couldn't get enough of the Shade. That guy was just incredible! I'd probably rank the Shade right up there amongst my favorite comic book characters of all-time, which speaks volumes about just how awesome the Starman series was. One of the secondary characters has become one of my all-time favorites. Starman was an amazing series, and I hope the rumors I've heard about James revisiting the character down the road are true. Jack Knight in the role of Starman again, even in a flashback story would have me doing backflips through my house!

I think that's about all I can come up with tonight. If you've got any questions or comments, post em, and I'll be more than happy to respond. Until next time, LONG LIVE THE LEGION!

Quick Hits 1/06/09

I figured that I'd try to start a permanent feature of my blog called "Quick Hits", where I'll throw a few thoughts about some random things. If I like the way this works out, I'll try to do a Quick Hits post about once a week. Of course, I'm interested in knowing what the readers of this blog think about this idea, and if anyone feels like commenting on some of my random thoughts, please, comment away! So, without further ado, here are my inaugural Quick Hits.

-I've been meaning to say this for a while, so I'm just going to come right out with it now, I've been thoroughly enjoying the Cartoon Network's "Brave and the Bold" series. I thought I was going to really hate this series, but it has really grown on me the past three weeks. It's like a bizarre mix of the old campy Batman series from the 1960's and the Batman cartoon from the 1990's. I basically sit there laughing through the entire show, which I think is the point. The cartoon isn't completely idiotic, but also doesn't take itself too seriously. It's a good, clean, fun romp.

-After reading Flash #247 earlier, the last page kind of got under my skin. The last page had nothing to do with the story itself, but was a note from DC editor Dan Didio. In this note, Dan stated that when he started working at DC, he had a desire to bring back both Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern, and Barry Allen as the Flash. I want the record to state that I was totally fine with the return of Hal Jordan, because let's face it the way he was killed off really sucked big time. Hal was a great hero for decades, and DC offs him by turning him into an evil god? That's just an insult to all off Hal's fans. If Hal was going to die, he deserved a real heroes send off, you know, sacrificing his life for the good of the world or something along those lines... Just like the way Barry Allen died. Barry Allen's death saved the entire planet Earth from the villainous Anti-Monitor(I think, I'm still a bit foggy on DC history). The bottom line is Barry died a true heroes death, and after 23 years, there just doesn't seem to be any reason to bring him back now. Wally West has been the Flash for 23 years now... That's a long time. He's an established character. Wally has served with the JLA, Titans, etc. He's known and respected by pretty much the entire super-human population in the DCU. Why change Flashes? I guess the bottom line is because Dan Didio wants to... To me that reasoning really sucks. So, Wally gets shuttled to the background just so a favorite of Dan Didio can come back to life. That's not fair to Wally, or to his many fans who have been collecting his adventures for the past 23 years.

-I read a bunch of Nightwing comics last night, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed them. Bruce Jones run on Nightwing didn't really do much for me, but I was VERY pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the comics written by Marv Wolfman. Now, I know Marv is something of a comic book icon(just look at what he did with the Teen Titans in the early 1980's), but for the most part, I really didn't like his work on the New Titans in the late 1980's-1990's. Those comics were so terrible, that the New Titans series is one of the FEW comic series that I have purchased and just can't bring myself to read. I was shocked by how much I hated those comic books, especially since I had always heard that Marv was kind of like the Chris Claremont of the DCU. With that said, I couldn't put down the Nightwing comics Marv had written last night. They were some of the best written Nightwing adventures since the very early Chuck Dixon penned run, way back in the beginning of the series.

-Since I haven't gotten any feedback here, I think I'll probably make an attempt to read the Runaways comic books. I really used to enjoy that comic when it was written by Brian K. Vaughan. Joss Whedon really messed up the flow of that book with his month's long delays.

-I REALLY can't wait to get my hands on JSA #22!!! I should be reading that sometime early next week.

-Out of curiosity, can anybody tell me if the DC comic series Hard Time was any good? I picked it up at a price too good not to buy it, but I know next to nothing about it.

My sister, who is the Robin(Tim Drake)fan in the family sure was annoyed after reading Robin #181. She was sure complaining about how messed up Robin is looking lately. I flipped through the comic, and was kind of surprised to see the condition Tim was in. What the hell happened to him? I sure hope Robin has a place in the DCU after the end of Final Crisis. Even though I haven't really followed Tim's series, I've always liked him in Teen Titans, and especially in Young Justice.

-2 more weeks of vacation from college left, I just paid my tuition today. What that means is that I have 2 weeks to read as many comic books as humanly possible, before I'm bogged down by schoolwork again!

Well, I think that's it for now. Before I clock out for the night, I'm going to try to read/post a few more comic books tonight. If you read through this post, my hat is off for you. Let me know what you think, and if you have any comments whatsoever, about stuff I've written about, or just comic related stuff, in general, drop me a comment(just try to keep the spoilers to a minimum!). Thanks for reading.

Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #3

Overall- Meh. If you want to know how I feel about this comic, you're best bet is to read what I had to say about issue #2 of this series. The same basically applies here. I like the Young Avengers. Always did and always will. Same goes for the Runaways. Not even Chris Yost can screw that up, which surprises the hell out of me.

As for this comic, I only read it just to get it finished with. That's not ever a good reason to read something, but that's what I did, so I really just didn't care what happened in it, as long as Yost could hold himself off of murdering teen aged heroes, which happens to be his specialty. Since he was nice enough not to kill half the members of both teams, I'll be nice enough to give this comic a 3 1/2 out of 10. Trust me, that's me being nice...

Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #2

Overall- Just for the record, I did read the first issue of this mini-series, but because of my overwhelming hatred for the "Secret Invasion" in general and Chris Yost in particular, I've left this comic sitting around for a while now. I might as well read it now, seeing as that I did buy it... I also did love the Young Avengers, that is when they had a comic!!!

My hatred for the writing of Yost has been constant, and as far as I am concerned, he is indicative of everything wrong with Marvel Comics right now... With that being said, this comic was not as bad as it could have been. That's about the nicest thing I can possibly say about anything penned by Chris Yost, the man who destroyed one of my favorite comics... I really couldn't give a #### about this mini-series or "Secret Invasion" but this comic was OK.

I know, I know... I'm sure someone out there is thinking, "If he hates this comic/crossover/writer/company, why is he buying the comics?". Deep down in my heart, I am and will always be a fan of Marvel Comics, the REAL Marvel Comics, not the bull#### Joe Quesada (Marvel's Editor in Chief) is force feeding us and I just can't bring myself to stop collecting Marvel Comics no matter how horrible it all gets. I guess Marvel has become like a terrible car wreck on the side of the road for me... No matter how much I know I shouldn't look, I look anyway.

Anyway, for me this comic is a 4 out of 10, a score that could be considered a minor miracle, considering how much this comic had going against it.