Recent reads

Runaways, by Brian Vaughn, illustrated by divers hands. (Marvel site here, with spoilers. Wikipedia entry here, also with spoilers.)

The "Marvel Universe" of superheroes has been around long enough to have developed an extensive mythology and established dramatic conventions. Concepts like "origin story", "secret identity", "mutant powers", etc., are known far beyond the cognoscenti of dedicated fans.

However, with that set of established conventions has come a sense of sameness. "Good guys" like Spiderman and Captain America are always on the right side of morality (at least as long as they avoid donning mysterious black versions of their costumes). The story arc of the typical superhero has long since reached the point of cliche. Character (encounters radioactivity/finds alien artifact/is born on another planet/other McGuffin); character discovers new and mysterious abilities which puzzle him/her; character experiences traumatic personal event (optional); character dons costume and embarks upon career of battling supervillians. Character may or may not join up with ensemble team of superheroes. (X-men; Avengers; etc.)

Runaways tries to mix up the cliches by giving its characters a different kind of origin story. In the first few episodes, we meet a collection of bored and disaffected teenagers whose parents get together periodically for a "charity event". Some of the parents are harsh taskmasters; some are flakily boosterish; some are abusive. What the kids don't know is that their parents are actually a cadre of supervillains called The Pride. When the kids inadvertently witness a human sacrifice at their parents' "charity event", they're horrified and flee in a group, not only because they're shocked at the sacrifice, but becuase they feel (with some justification) that their parents may erase their memories or worse in order to keep them from exposing The Pride.

Now to tell the truth, this part of the story doesn't make much logical sense, especially since it's revealed that at least some of the parents have hopes that their offspring will follow in their footsteps. Wouldn't any sensible parent have laid at least some groundwork for these plans in the kids' upbringing?

But it works very well indeed as a plot device for placing a collection of attractive and angst-ridden teenagers into a dramatically tense situation in which they have to rely on each other while being radically alienated from their families and, by extension, from all the society around them. Since The Pride has operatives within police departments and most other government and business organizations, it's not long before the runaways are framed for a crime and targetted by a widespread dragnet, with not only police but various superheroes from as far away as New York being brought in to search for them.

Meanwhile, with the onset of puberty and as a result of their clashes with their parents, the kids have begun to display superpowers of their own, which they have no idea how to use effectively.

It's an interesting variation on the superhero story, with a more ambiguous feel than most superhero stories even in the current Age of Angst. Since the principals are on the run from both sides of the law, even familiar "good guys" such as Spiderman, Captain America, Wolverine, etc., take on a threatening cast as they seek the missing "runaways". I'm reminded of my favorite episode of ST:NG, in which longtime familiar characters become new again not because they actually change, but because they're seen from a different perspective from which they look mysterious and threatening.

There are a couple of annoying things about Runaways. The characters' appearances have a tendency to change significantly when a different illustrator takes the reins. And one major plot thread involving a key character ("Lucy") is resolved much too quickly and neatly to be credible. But it's more intriguing than the average comic or graphic novel.