Try Not To Die: Runaways Appreciation

[egervari]

What do you think of Runaways? There seems to be a lot of mixed views on this book. Some say it's amazing. Others say the plots are terrible, it's stupid and doesn't hit the adult audience at all. What's the truth?

[JdRavnos]

I'm 28 and it's one of my favorite titles (though I will admit the delays in Whedon's run has dampened my excitement for the series a little bit).

Fun, well defined characters that do something genuniely different then many teen hero groups. I'm sure the series isn't for everyone, but it's pretty entertaining for me.

[Grapeweasel]

When the art doesn't veer into the cartoony, it's wonderful.

[brundlefly]

Runaways is the only one of BKV's works that never did anything for me. I gave the first two trades a chance, but overall I found the characters more annoying than endearing. I'm probably not the target audience for it, though, since I've never really cared for teen sidekicks or teen superhero teams, other than Warren Ellis' short-lived DV8.

[DarkCrisis]

One of my fave titles.

[egervari]

Originally Posted by DarkCrisis

One of my fave titles.

Why?

For the people like Runaways, what other books are your favourites? The reason I ask, is that we can maybe figure out the audience the book is written for.

[Siddon]

It's a well written character book. I don't think you can go by the previous negative posts about Whedons Runaways. It was a really good story when you read it in one sitting. The negativity about it was how people didn't really know where the book was going once they went back in time.

Basically the story was about the fued between "Good Guys" and "Bad Guys" and where the Runaways fit in the battle. I loved the alternate versions of Bullseye, Iron Man, Kingpin, Punisher, and Daredevil. The problem with the series was that it was condensed way to much, Whedon didn't show us Chase going into the future, we didn't see Nico's grandmother's reaction to Nico's power. We also didn't really get to know to many of the early characters that we normally would have.

I hated it on first reading, but upon a re-read its a different book. Anyways the other books I enjoy, I like the Twelve, Thunderbolts, X-force, and Ultimate Spider-man.

[HeckBoy]

The series went well until Whedon took over. The recent negativity might not have been so harsh if not for the constant delays that resulted during Whedon's run.

[egervari]

What about Vaughan's run?

[The Shadow]

I like it... and despite the delays I've really enjoyed Whedon's story.

[Zero Hunter]

I really liked Vaughans run. I would honestly say they are one of the best new things to come out of Marvel in the last 10 years.

[Ghostfan4life]

This is one of my favorite books, although I admit the delays have hampered my enthusiasm over it slightly. It was an instant attraction because it didn't have the typical superhero book feel to it. The only other Marvel on-going series I read is Ghost Rider. The rest of the books I read are indie books.

[preppistonpav]

Runways under BKV's pen constantly fought PAD's X-Factor for the top spot every month. Yeah, Whedon's run dampened my enthusiasm a little due to delays, but the actual story was quite fun. But regardless, BKV created not only original characters, but an original premise: what if a group of teenagers found out their parents were super villains? It sounds simple, but (to my knowledge) nothing like that has really ever been done so superbly and interestingly. And the kids all have real personalities - they act like real people and aren't too smart for their age, too mature, etc. They're kids who have been given powers and utter freedom, but also responsibility and hardship.

I'm 24 years old, and Runaways brought me back to comics after John Byrne ruined Spider-Man for me years ago (although BKV putting Ricochet and Phil Urich in the comic is what originally did it). As far as other comics go, I read the aforementioned X-Factor, MC2 stuff, Captain Britain & MI:13, Avengers: The Initiative, and trades that pique my interest like Ares, Union Jack, Nightcrawler, Sentinel, Beyond!, The Hood, etc.

-Pav

[rZi]

Vaughans time on Runaways is in my top 3 faviroute comic book runs of all time (and ive been reading for 12 years so it's not like i started yesterday)

Whedon's work on AXM is amazing, but he really did nothing with the runaways for me.

AMAZING BOOK (vol.1 1-18 & vol.2 1-25)

[jackdaw53]

Old geezer. Gave a try because I saw a stack of recs for the series, and knew some of the guys giving the recs had read many comics over many years.

Brian Vaughan is one of most popular of todays writers... and because I really like his stuff I like to think that's down to him being a quality act. But certainly he moves a lot of comics featuring new characters and ideas (e.g. Y last man, Ex Machina, and Runaways itself feature original characters)... and that's a good sign.

Judgement of artwork is very subjective. I thought Adrian Alphona was very good.... certainly if you pick up any comic in run and like it... you need have no concerns, because Adrian maintained same standard throughout.

Can't comment on series since Brian V stopped writing. I followed my usual practice of jumping ship when a favorite writer departs.