Runaways #12 Second Chances and Seizing the Moment

The issue picks up on the fallout of Gert’s momentous decision from last issue (yes, hair and style is IMPORTANT) while giving Nico and Karolina, who were somewhat neglected last month, a lot of welcome and purposeful screentime and development in an issue that focuses on the notion of moving forward and seizing second chances.

With Victor’s help, Gert takes her parents’ time travel contraption to California’s past to witness the migration of some now extinct blue butterflies.  The two share a tender moment, with Victor carrying the bulk of the scenes by coming clean about his actions during his stay with the Visions.  Rowell does a good job of diving into what’s driving the character’s guilt and apprehension about his new body from last issue; namely, his role in causing the death of Vision’s son.  Having Victor finally tackle the fallout of his actions is a good choice.  This is an important scene to see that Tom King’s story didn’t have the bandwidth for.  Seeing Victor deal with the implications of his actions and finally start processing his feelings about this traumatic event is a character beat that needed to happen and it feels appropriate that it is happening now.

Re-positioning characters in new pairings and status quos, particularly romantic ones, is always tricky and hard to pull off.  Gert’s decision to kiss Victor and her choice to have that kiss count seems to have sealed the deal on this new quo.  It’s a development that didn’t feel solid or sold enough to me.  This new relationship status felt too sudden to me and the emotional motivations given for it doesn’t have enough (ha!) sparks to compensate for its relative quick emergence from left field.  The resolution of this story beat felt too impulsive and not in an entirely good way.  However, this is just the jump-off.  Perhaps, there might be some rich emotional payoffs in store for Gertor (yes, we’re going to get that one trending, #Gertor) down the line.

While Victor and Gert were busy exploring new territory, Rowell lets Nico and Karolina get a do-over, complete with a well-picked flashback scene from BkV’s inaugural run on the book.  If you knew the history of these characters, or even have a passing familiarity with romantic-comedy tropes, the ending of this particular story beat wouldn’t be a surprise (as in, yes Nicolina is now a thing!).  But what makes this beat my favorite in this issue isn’t it’s-not-that-surprising ending, but rather the elegant and well-crafted moments that Rowell lays down that builds to the arc’s inevitable conclusion.  Nico’s hesitation, anxiety, and fear about what she’s feeling now are expertly communicated in a few panels without any thought bubbles:

It’s the little moments like these that really sell the ending of this evening to me; Nico offering an encouraging smile while Karolina is giving a speech; the choice to really exaggerate the stars and the skies outside the reception hall.  The notion that you’d actually see stars like that in heavily light polluted Los Angeles is, of course, ridiculous and the fact that they DO appear like this here only serves to subtly, but effectively highlight the magic and momentousness of this moment for Nico and Karolina.

Anka tweeted recently that this issue may well represent some of his best work in comics to date. And after reading this issue, I dare you to disagree. While I felt that the writing in Gert’s and Victor’s scene were the weakest parts of the issue, Anka’s visuals are just stunning and make the whole sequence work in the end.  The transition from tension to release that Gert and Victor feel is nicely echoed in the art choices here, where we go from a pretty dialogue heavy/talking heads scenes to a few hints of those blue butterflies to finally seeing Gert and Victor ensconced in a flurry of these beautiful, incandescent creatures.  Matt Wilson’s progression from a bright/harsher palette earlier in the scene to deeper and more soothing blacks and blues nicely enhance the effect.

But…that isn’t even the showstopper here as far as I’m concerned.  That distinction (rightly) belongs to the stars of the issue: Nico and Karolina.  The aforementioned strategically placed shadows nicely highlights Nico’s hesitations and doubts while hinting at possible future story threads; what if these shadows aren’t merely metaphorical? Is there something about the staff of one that’s prevented or preventing Nico from going for what she wants? But, and this keeps escalating, that isn’t even the best of it.  That would be these:

…as in the COUTURE.  Anka knows his fashion, and it shows.  Nico and Karolina are dressed so well and fittingly for a night out in the town, and I am HERE FOR IT.  Honestly, the issue could be just a fashion show with these two and I’d still buy it and stare at it for hours.

Finally, a lot of words have already been typed about Matt Wilson’s fantastic color work, but I’ll type a few more.  What I really noticed this time is the expert way in which he made-up Nico and Karolina for their night out.  What could have looked garish and weird looks wonderful and subdued, distinguishing these characters’ everyday look from their ‘night out on the town’ facial palette.  The heavy blacks and inks are rightly preserved on Nico, while Karolina gets a brighter, rosier look that fits the character well.