Live Fast

With no cartoon, no movie, no action figures nor 50 years of continuity, Runaways is free to go in new directions and have characters change and evolve. After losing a member in the last volume the Runaways face a tough choice. Chase has the means to bring their lost member back, if he's willing to pay the price. The volume centers around his choice and it makes for gripping reading. While readers know the Superman or Spiderman will always make the right choice we really don't know what Chase will do. Vaughan teases us several times before the final revelation. He manages to have children and teens who sound like real people, not just smaller adults. The art by Adrian Alphona and Mike Norton is very expressive and, again, makes the kids look like kids, not supermodels. Runaways remains on of the best comic reads around and at $7.99 for 144 pages of story it's one of the best values around too.

This book collects two three-issue arcs (Dead Means Dead & Live Fast) from "Runaways." These are creator Brian K. Vaughan's last six issues as the writer of "Runaways," and he really goes out on a high note with this emotional, character-driven, action packed TPB. For the "Dead Means Dead" arc (the first three issues in this book), penciller Adrian Alphona is replaced by Mike Norton. While the regular colorist Christina Strain keeps the feel of the series consistent, I can't help but notice that Norton's art doesn't add as much to the story as Alphona's. Don't get me wrong, Norton is more than competent and his work surely doesn't take away from the story, but there was no way he could have matched the brilliance that Alphona brings to the table. BKV's writing is great here, though, as he gives a little bit of the spotlight to newcomer Xavin. However, these three issues feel kind of stretched, in my opinion. None of them stand alone, and they pretty much just feel like one extra long issue. Now onto "Live Fast" (the last three issues). Great. Alphona is back on board and BKV is at the top of his game, giving subplots to each and every character but not taking away from the main story arc, which is a great--and dark--one. With this powerful, emotionally driven story, the incredible team of BKV and Alphona give us in three marvelous issues what it would take, in less masterful hands, an entire series to pull off. Also, it's interesting to note that BKV ends his run of this series with a little poignant nod from an old face that will leave everyone feeling really, really satisfied. 9/10