Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways

The Young Avengers and the Runaways are two of Marvel's more prominent teenaged superhero teams, and the many similarities between them prompted calls for a crossover. In the midst of Marvel's "Civil War" event, those calls were answered; the purpose of this miniseries is twofold: first, two plug "Runaways", a perpetually low-selling title; and second, to bridge the gap between the first and second volumes of "Young Avengers" (in this later task it was a failure, through no fault of the creative team, because of the protracted delays that have bedevilled the Young Avengers since the summer of 2006; as I write this, we are only now getting new material, and even that is another miniseries designed to further bridge the gap). The creative team is Zeb Wells and Stefano Caselli, who are generally speaking adequate; Wells has the feel of both teams down quite well, and Caselli's art, while it takes some getting used to (and isn't especially youthful), is enjoyable. Storywise, the Civil War is basically a shoestring to have the teams meet and interact, before they rescue their kidnapped members from the dastardly clutches of SHIELD. Wells is one of many writers who doesn't give the pro-Reg side a fair shake, although he does come up with some quite hilarious bits, such as SHIELD's "adjusted public sympathy rating" which governs the level of force they employ against unregistered heroes (robots are okay to trash, but not kids). The two series have a huge cast, well over a dozen characters, so Wells focusses in on a few of the characters who have logical connections; the two Skrull characters, Teddy and Xavin; the two robots, Vision and Victor; and Chase, Molly, and Speed, in a plot that follows up on the death of a Runaway in the preceding story in that title. There are bits and pieces for most others, with only Patriot and Hawkeye II (especially the latter) really not having much at all. A particular favourite subplot/running joke was Stature's interest/concern for Victor, and the Vision's annoyance at this; Wells presumably has read the various fan observances of Cassie's taste in men. There is also the introduction into the Marvel Universe proper of Marvel Boy, from Grant Morrison's miniseries of the same name, and Wells handles him quite well too. If there is a real complaint about this, it is that, while enjoyable, the Young Avengers ultimately turned out to have far more important status quo changes forced upon them by the Civil War, changes that were not really addressed in any concerted fashion for a year and a half or more, and, looking back, it might have been preferable to get something that examined their status with their parents, and (especially) their reaction to Cassie's defection later on. All the same, this is a very enjoyable, isolated adventure for both teams, well worth getting for fans of either or both.

I am one of those who started reading "Runaways" because Joss Whedon was going to be writing it a while. Going back and seeing what I had missed was relatively easy because all of the issues prior to Whedon's debut are now available in three hardback collections. I also picked up "Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways" even though I had no idea who the Young Avengers might be and my investment in Marvel's "Civil War" event has been limited to the main story, the Spider-Man titles, and a subsidiary title. So my primary interest here is in the Runaways, although I can appreciate the irony that the New Avengers have sided with Captain American against Iron Man and most of the "Old" Avengers. Most of the action in the Civil War is obviously taking place in New York City, so out in Los Angeles where the Runaways are running around trying to fill the void left by the disappearance of the Pryde (a.k.a. their "'rents") and they have no reason to really care about what is going on. The Runaways are taking down some costumed lunatic with a mace who is ranting about super-beings being the last truly independent power structure when S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up to take the kids (who have an adjusted public sympathy rating of mark 8 because they are minors) into custody. But Victor is synthetic (i.e., a mark 3) and things escalate. Victor is damaged and because the Vision was monitoring the situation the Young Avengers decide to head to L.A. to offer assistance. Now, one thing we know about the Marvel Universe is that when two groups of superheroes get together, they are going to fight (I think the first "Avengers" comic book I bought was because they were fighting the X-Men, complete with the requisite cover showing the two teams lined up to fight each other). Add to that one of the favorite recurring comic moments with the Runaways is when somebody assumes Molly is just a cute little girl and they quickly learn the error of their ways. But before the Runaways and Young Avengers can really go down that predictable road, the Vision starts having problems similar to Victor. Then S.H.I.E.L.D. strikes again and the two teams of young superheroes have to band together, which is also quite predictable. Fortunately writer Zeb Wells ("New Warriors") has a good enough feel for the Runaways and the New Avengers to have some fun playing the characters off of each other. I am sort of surprised that they would devote a mini-series to this Runaways/New Avengers crossover, because it really is a sideshow to the whole "Civil War" event. After all, it is just S.H.I.E.L.D. that comes after them. The back of this trade paperback asks "Whose Side...Are You On?' Granted, this is key question for Marvel's superheroes in the "Civil War" event, but I found the response of the Runaways to the question to be patently obvious. Actually, the more I read of the back cover and the exaggerated claims about what was inside ("the gears of Civil War threaten to crush the Runaway

As the Civil War rages on throughout the Marvel universe, everything and everyone is impacted in one way or another. If you read Mark Millar's main Civil War storyline, you'll know how much of a pivotal role the Young Avengers played in the battle between Captain America and Iron Man, and everyone in between. Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways finds both young teams being effected in pretty much the same way as the superhero Civil War rages on in full effect. Loyalties are tested and broken, battle lines are drawn, and alliances are forged as it appears the Civil War storyline makes good on it's promise to leave nothing in the Marvel universe unaffected or viewed the same way for quite some time. Zeb Wells, who scripted the great New Warriors mini-series not too long ago, may be no Brian K. Vaughan (whose run on the Runaways was truly something special), but he provides enough action and intrigue to satisfy any comic reader. The art throughout this TPB is solid as well, with the only real downside being that the TPB is too short and features some plot holes that don't really get tied up right away. Despite that though, this Civil War tie-in is surprisingly good, and definitely worth picking up for fanboys stocking up on everything Civil War.

I read the young avengers before this but never the runaways. I was pleasantly pleased to read about both of them in this civil war book. Good art, good story, what's not to like? In fact, I liked this book so much I started collecting all the runaways volumes.

This pairing of the two youth-oriented teams of the Marvel Universe is primarily, to me at any rate, for providing additional Runaways stories. I don't actively dislike the Young Avengers, but the Marvel Universe is so enormous that one will inevitably find some parts more or less interesting than others. The Young Avengers have always struck me as one of the least original corners of the Marvel Empire. The Runaways, on the other hand, are among the most original creations. For one thing, they are young and most decidedly not sure about this whole hero thing. They do some policing of L.A. to keep down some of the baddies their defeat of their parents (who were the crime lords of L.A. and ran the city with a tight fist), but it isn't an obsession to them. And until this series they were pretty content to ignore the whole Civil War mess that was afflicting the East Coast super empowered. They bring a decidedly West Coast feel to the whole undertaking, not even bothering, much to the chagrin of their youngest member Molly Hayes, to have uniforms (though Molly sometimes manages to cook up a makeshift one that looks like a really bad Halloween costume). In other words, I got this almost exclusively because there just isn't enough Runaways stuff out there to my satisfaction. While this is the weakest installment in the Runaways saga, it still isn't bad. The story takes place after the end of creator Brian Vaughan's run with the series and immediately before Joss Whedon took place. This is far less compelling stuff than the Vaughan stories and based on the first two issues by Whedon not nearly up to the level of that either (for one thing, given Whedon's gift with dialogue, the "talk" has gotten really, really good--e.g., when Kingpin tells our guys that he wasn't talking to them for a lesson in semantics, Chase replies that Mel Gibson didn't like semantics either, only one of many really clever jokes). The story, which takes place over four issues, is pretty short and simple: the Runaways are spotted in L.A. taking down an out of control caped guy and the Cyborg Victor is hurt badly repelling the attack of those who would like to arrest them under the new act requiring all super heroes to register with the government. The Young Avengers sympathize with their situation and fly to the West Coast to help Victor and the others. After initial misunderstandings they realize they are not enemies, but are attacked by an super empowered soldier under the control of the warden of the secret prison where the unregistered super-empowered are jailed. After the warden takes the alien members of each team for his own sadistic experimentations (aliens having no rights in the eyes of the law,) both groups teams up to free their cohorts. All in all it is a fairly successful pairing. As usual there are some friendly rivalry, especially between Xavin and Hulkling, as well as some natural pairing. The two who should spend some time with each other are