Runaways #37: Silence Says It All

Being able to do a primarily silent issue with no dialogue for most of the panels is extremely hard to do. This creative team is able to convey the pain the cast feels with just their expressions and body language. Rainbow Rowell has done a phenomenal job building these characters up the past few years with her understanding of the team. I’m very curious what Rowell’s notes for each panel must have been. 

Andres Genolet and Dee Cunniffe both pull off a difficult task of conveying an impactful story with little words. It’s a bold choice as comics normally have words in most panels yet with readers getting to know the characters over this series we get to pick up on their thoughts on expression alone. 

The scene alone for the parallels of both the current and future Gert holds a lot of emotion for different parts of her life. They both do share the same issue of feeling out of place with those around them. 

I thought the scene of Nico training and breaking down is striking as we understand how hurt she is without Karolina. We then proceed to the next few panels of the two being with each other in the comfort of each other’s silence. 

Cunniffe does exceptionally well with the colors for the surprise Majesdanians. Their unexpected appearance bringing in the first words of dialogue is a clever tone change for the issue. We get a more surprising end scene of Alex returning to the story.