Runaways Is Great!

Runaways (hardcover) Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona.

This hardcover collects the first run of Runaways with all 18 issues included. I bought this off Amazon for just over £16 which is very good value when you consider that current comics are at least £2.20 an issue nowadays. That would be £39.60 if I'd bought them each month! As I prefer to read a complete limited series in one go ( or an extended storyline like Planet Hulk for example) then buying the collected edition looks like the way I should go. I get it in a nice format, I can read it in one go and it's vastly cheaper. Buying from Amazon or similar also makes a big difference. This would cost around £30 in Forbidden Planet. I would prefer to get all my comic stuff from the specialist shop but I can't afford to with that price difference!

I've already got Vol. 2 and Vol 3 is due out in April. I think I'll continue to collect Runaways in this format. I was planning to get the regular comic when Joss Whedon takes over in a few months but I've changed my mind.

Back to Vol. 1. Well it's 18 issues and I read it in 4 sittings which is very quick for me. That gives some indication on how much I enjoyed it. Considering I'd not read anything by BKV before I was very impressed and it looks now that I've got another writer (like Brubaker recently) whose other work I'm going to try and track down.

The story is about 6 teenagers who discover that their parents are actually super villains and decide to runaway to escape. However, it ends with the teenagers facing off against the parents, an ancient menace and one of their own who has betrayed them (I didn't guess who - damn). The art was OK but it was the writing which really made the story exciting and interesting.

Really looking forward to Vol 2 and will in fact put the rest of my new comics to one side to read this first. Recommended.