Comic Info
Comic Name: Runaways (Limited Series)/Secret Wars: Secret Loves
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Noelle Stevenson/Michel Fiffe/Felipe Smith/Jeremy Whitley/Marguerite Bennett/Katie Cook
Artist: Sanford Greene/Michel Fiffe/Filipe Smith/Val Staples/Gurihiru/Kris Anka/Katie Cook
# of Issues: 5
Release Date: 2015
Runaways (Limited Series) #3
Reprints Runaways (Limited Series) #1-4 and Secret Wars: Secret Loves #1 (August 2015-November 2015). Passing final exams is the biggest concern for the students of Battleworld’s Institute for Gifted Youths. When a fight breaks out in the halls before the exams a group of students find themselves thrust together as a team…and are about to uncover a big secret about the Institute and what passing their test really means.
Written by Noelle Stevenson, Battleworld: Runaways is a Marvel Comics Secret Wars limited series spin-off. The issues feature art by Sanford Greene and Noelle Stevenson. Also included in the collection is Secret Wars: Secret Love #1 (October 2015) which has stories by Michel Fiffe, Felipe Smith, Jeremy Whitley, Marguerite Bennett, and Katie Cook with art by Michel Fiffe, Filipe Smith, Val Staples, Gurihiru, Kris Anka, and Katie Cook.
I read a lot of the Runaways on their first run. The series was fun, funny, and even shocking at points. Battleworld: Runaways goes more along the lines of fun (despite having deaths), and it features a hodgepodge of characters pulled from multiple areas.
The comic book moves at a lightning pace. The team forms at the end of the first issue, finds out the secret of the Institute in the second issue, the characters “runaway” in the third issue, and return to fight in the fourth issue. With so much going on, the character relationships seem left behind and that was always a joy of the Runaways (and teen books in general).
Secret Wars: Secret Love #1
Like a lot of weird team books, there are good characters in this book. You have the smarts of Amadeus with his “Hulk” Skaar as a sidekick, you have the “maybe” vampire Jubilee (I still hate that plotline) and her gang of girls, the wannabe member Molly (of the original Runaways), and Cloak and Dagger who were the original Marvel runaways. It is a good combo that seems a bit wasted.
The back-up issue of Secret Wars: Secret Love is kind of fun. It is a anthology issue with a bunch of short stories which tie in to some of the other Secret Wars books (and parts of it were reprinted in other collections). It is a little, quick read that works well with the comic format, but it also doesn’t feel like it matches this collection entirely.
This iteration of Runaways doesn’t seem to quite find the balance. It is working under a tight schedule being a limited series that has to be finished by the time Secret Wars is finished. The team doesn’t really feel cohesive (something the original Runaways did pull off). I like books with teens since teens build natural drama, but if you enjoy Runaways, you should probably stick to the originals.
Related Links:
Battleworld: Master of Kung Fu
Warzones!: Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars
Warzones!: M.O.D.O.K. Assassin
