In a world with Captain America, Spiderman, and the Fantastic Four can six teenagers take down their supervillain parents?

Quick note: I am watching the TV version at the moment and with one episode left in the season I’m not going to say which I like better at this point, but I am going to point out some differences/similarities between the two. However I am going to review the comics separately from the show and hopefully not compare the two too much.

Unexpected Superheroes

For most of their lives Alex, Nico, Karolina, Chase, Gert, and Molly have been forced to hang together during the one night a year their parents get together for their PRIDE meeting. Instead of playing twister they decide to snoop, but discover them killing a teenager.

After debating what to do they run away and come up with a plan to take their parents down while discovering unknown abilities/telepathic dinosaurs.

They have a few tense fights with their parents before hiding up in a cave, learning more about what they can do, and eventually becoming their own superhero group.

Show vs Comic

This may sound stupid but when I go from watching a show to reading the comic I’m always taken aback by how fast things progress. Obviously shows drag incidents out, but what takes an entire season takes one comic. Nothing I’m complaining about; they make sense for their form of media.

One major change is how much time is spent on the parents. In the comic we barely meet them until discovering them in their supervillain outfits. There’s some backstory revealing why they do what they do and how it’s all for their kids. In the show there’s much more time to meet the parents and watch them interact with their kids.

And again it’s a show, it gets more time.

I’m not sure if it’s a better thing or not. I like spending time with the kids in the comic and watching them become closer. It works in the show too, but the show also makes me conflicted on the parents. In the comic they don’t seem like nice people, even after giving their “it’s for our kids” speech. There are plenty of times they could kill the kids. In the show they seem more dedicated to keeping them safe from what’s going on.

Well, at this point.

Avengers Don’t Know Shit

I think it’s funny a world-ending event is taking place and calling the Avengers puts you on hold. They have aliens to take care of. The Runaways are dealing with an ancient religion that wants to destroy the world.

In the show the Avengers don’t exist. I think. Time-line wise I’m not sure when Runaways is supposed to take place. 2017 or earlier, which would allow them to introduce the Avengers later (even if it’s just Daredevil style and mention them.)

When it comes to Marvel shows you just don’t know where they stand in the cinematic universe unless stated. In the comic everything is tied together.

Artwork

I like to mention the artwork when it comes to comics. It has a “new-school” vibe to it. Colorful, bigger, but still impressive. The detail is fun to look at.

Yeah that’s all I got for that. It looks great.

Overall

Like I said I won’t say if I like this over the show, but it feels similar. The characters are likable, despite being teenagers and going through teenage-issues. I wouldn’t say it’s just aimed towards teenagers though, since there’s a pretty gruesome death in the third volume.

If you watch the show then you may know what’s about to happen, but for the most part they’re different. From the threat, to their parents, and a “mole” in the group who betrays everyone in the end. There are parts that still took me by surprise.

To be honest this is my first Marvel comic series and I’m glad it’s Runaways. From the outside it’s a group of misfits thrown together but as their abilities progress so does their love for one another and that is what draws me into this story. Comic and TV versions alike.

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