Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways

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 Runaways" with "lasting repercussions for both popular teams!") the less I was impressed with this story. But Wells and illustrator Stefano Caselli ("Avengers: The Initiative") are not responsible for what is on the back cover, only what is in these four issues. The back of this trade paperback has a two-page spread showing how the four covers fit together into one giant strip of art and then a dozen character profiles that are well suited to helping fans of one series get a better idea of the characters from the other team. If the goal here was to get me to start reading the "Young Avengers" as well as the "Runaways," that is not going to happen. In fact, taking a look at one of the competing "young" superhero teams only reinforced while the Runaways are something special.

Civil War's tie ins definitely vary in quality and thankfully this is one of the event's winners, perhaps mainly due to the fact that story is rather self contained. When the Young Avengers hear about the Runaways on the West Coast, the super team decides to track down their fellow teenage heroes and protect them from Iron Man's pro-registration forces. The Runaways don't know who to trust (the last time they met the Avengers Captain America tried to put them all in foster care), but when half of both teams are captured by SHIELD and turned over the mad scientists at the Cube holding facility (who have designs of their own on the super powered aliens of the groups like Hulking and Karolina Dean) the two teams have to work together to save their friends. Again, the fact that the book is self contained really helps out in the long run as you don't need to know every bit of Civil War trivia to enjoy the story. Even better, the story is solid and the artwork is absolutely gorgeous. Seeing the two young teams interact is a blast and makes this a must read for any Young Avenger/Runaways fans.

A great edition to any Young Avenger or Runaways collection. The illustrations are a little funny, but the visuals are what one would come to expect from an action packed series from Marvel.

Love the Civil War series and this book fits nicely into it. Not necessary for the ongoing storyline of the Young Avengers but definetly a good read nonetheless.

This is a decent tie in for Civil War, but it isn't really as good as the first two volumes (8 books of trades) of the main series. That said, it was better than the third volume (last three trades) of the main series, so it has that going for it. Worth picking up if you either want all of Civil War's tie-ins or really enjoyed the main Runaways series.

Didnt know much about the runaways but now im trying to read up on as much as i can on them, and the interactions between the two groups was nicely worked

:)

2 great teams finally meeting wish they do more crossovers or combine

It was inevitable that Runaways and Young Avengers would get their own Civil war stance (as I write this, another Runaways/Young Avengers crossover is on the comic book shelf), so naturally these two teams team up--one the generic teen superheroes who are pretty comfortable in their marvel-ness and the other the un-generic teen Runaways who are trying to make up for their evil super-parents crimes who are at odds with the marvel universe.The problem? The story feels more GEARED towards the Young Avengers, its firmly set in marvel-dom, with a familar superhero plotline yet the backstory feels alien and half-explained--this isn't bad per say, I'm not a reader of reader of Young Avengers myself so I was unfamilar with the characters and their world--so great of Young Avenger fans. But the reason this does not work is because--simply put, the Runways easily STEAL THE SHOW in character drama issues and in comedy yet don't hog the limelight as much as the young avengers.Another annoyence was the humour of the Runways was done half-heartadly--the werid dialogue that makes the Runaways unique was noteably turned down a tad. Which didn't fit--it was still there, but not as much as I'd have liked it to be.Also, Xavin seems to remain in her male form for a great deal of the story (she is confused by her gender roles at this point--but noteably spends most of her time in her female form), whether this was done with intent or not--it somehow felt as if the story was marking down on Karolina's overt homosexuality. Which made the story seem uncomfortable.HOWEVER:This is not as epic as the other Civil War issues out there, but a notebale great addition to the collection--Runaway fans and Young Avenger fans will appreciate it more--and its nice to see Runaways included in the Civil War stances.The new crossover comic has Young Avengers and Runaways again, but this time wisely FOCUSES more on the Runaways this time and makes the Young Avengers take the backseat (hopefully this doesn't sound favorist of me!) But the story is also more fleshed out and formal introductions have already been made.Overall, its worth buying this book for collections sake.

Brilliant for all Runaways fans - we need MORE from this gang of kids. There is a lot more the writers need to tell us

Super quick delivery, great book

went along with the civil war really well, dont usually enjoy these characters but found the book refreshing and quite good

I love both the Young Avengers and Runaways so this book was absolutely perfect for me. It wasn't very long, but it was a great book for fans of either group, or someone who wants more Civil War.