REVIEW: Runaways vol. 5 #08 (It’s Doom’s Double Rainbow!! ??)

The Runaways gets a visitor, Lightspeed of the Power Pack! But Lightspeed is not the only one paying the gang a visit!

RUNAWAYS Vol. 5 #07
Writer: Rainbow Rowell
Artist: Kris Anka
Color Artists: Triona Tree Farrell
Publisher: Marvel Comics

?WARNING:  This Review Contains Major Spoilers!!?

Previously:

Being the eldest in the group, Chase Stein was preparing himself to find and apply for a job to support the whole team.
Molly told everyone that she is going back to school, but for her to be able to do that, the team decided to have Nico use her magic powers to have her and Chase legally adopt her.
Molly was happy she was back in school and reunited with her best friend, Abigail.
Meanwhile, Nico and Karolina spent their time together while talking about the team and Nico moving back with Chase. After their time together, Karolina received a call from her girlfriend, Julie Powers of the Power Pack to remind her that she was arriving tomorrow.
Back at their home, Gert gives Victor a haircut while the two discussed Victor’s dilemma of not wanting to get his body again. Chase arrived home and brought food with him. He told Gert he was able to get a job at L.A.’s Salvage and Landfill.
Gert thanked him for providing them food. Molly arrived home and reminded both Chase and Nico about the P.T.A. meeting at school.
At school, Molly met her best friend Abigail alongside her parents. The two girls introduced their families and decided to grab some ice cream at the school gym.
Chase and Nico then met with Molly’s teacher who magically accepted that these two young adults were Molly’s legal guardians.
Back at the gym, after a brief chat about enjoying each other’s company, Abigail disturbingly told Molly that it was really possible for them to become best friends forever.

What You’ll Find Out:

Julie Powers arrived the Los Angeles International Airport expecting to be picked up by her partner, Karolina Dean. Unfortunately, she received a text from her girlfriend that she is unable to do so because Karolina had to pick up Molly after school. Julie then took a cab to make her way to the Runaways home.

Meanwhile, Abigail revealed her secret to Molly that she had been 13 years old since 1964. She told Molly that she got a cupcake from a witch and ate eat resulting to her not growing up ever since. Their talk was interrupted when Karolina arrived to pick Molly up.
Back at home, the whole team played a video game, while Nico was cleaning their mess. She reminded everyone that Julie Powers was arriving that day. This hyped up Molly since she became a huge fan of the Power Pack. Karolina and Julie arrived at that very moment which was also perfect timing. Gert made a side comment about how Julie and Karolina looked almost identical. Julie then grabbed the chance to hug and greet Gert. Molly excitedly welcomes Julie Powers and asked her to sign her Power Pack posters. Julie happily agreed and shared with Molly how everything seemed so clear back then. Julie signed and left a little note on Molly’s poster advising her to take her time growing up. This made Molly react sadly at the thought of Abigail’s offer.
The Runaways’ home was then under attack. Chase checked their security camera and saw that it was Dr. Doom who was attacking their home and was looking for the head of Victor.
The team with the help of Julie Powers went out to fight Doom. Victor tried to say something to his teammates but unfortunately, no one paid attention.
Outside, the team attacked Doom without any synergy. Julie noticed this and addressed it to Karolina. Karolina told her that they usually just go with the flow until Nico came up with a solution. She then reminded Julie that they were not a superhero team and that they function more as a family. Julie going through that told her that it was possible to be both a family and a synergized team.
Doom was slowly able to defeat the kids and made his way inside their home. Karolina noticed Nico hiding and afraid to call out her Staff of One. This distracted her and exposed her to get hit with Doom’s powers.
Everything spiraled down and Doom was able to beat each runaway, he then passed Nico who was anxious and useless the whole time. He thought she was pathetic and hit her while he made his way inside their home.
The kids then followed him inside but it was already too late. Dr. Doom held Victor Mancha’s head on his hand.

What Just Happened:

Definitely an entertaining issue! I really enjoyed that Rowell had managed to incorporate Julie Powers again in the series. Especially by making her the lover of Karolina also use her as a tool to help address some issues within the group. This is due to her experience being in a super team that is also her family at the same time. Which is why I love the part when the team did not work well Karolina told Julie that they were not a superhero team but more of a family but Julie told her that she was a testament that the team can be both.

Another thing that was interesting is regarding Abigail’s offer of immortality to Molly. I know that kids in that age experience this kind of dilemmas. The fear of growing up and transitioning into a young adult. Let’s just say Molly is experiencing another pubescent crisis again and Abigail’s offer is something that would give her an opportunity to escape that. That’s the very reason why J.M. Barrie wrote Peter Pan in the first place and hence why I think it would be interesting to put Molly in that kind of situation.

Of course, the rest of the cast got to shine too, with the team now noticing Nico’s hesitation to summon the Staff of One and also it looked like Old Chase was having some problems who to follow orders from either Gert or Chase. The fact that Rainbow Rowell made sure each of these characters got to shine made me realize that she definitely want these characters to grow.

Now for the interiors, what else could I say? Kris Anka is still at the top of his game in this issue. Everyone looked gorgeous and the way he drew the characters expressions were very expressive. One of the things I would like to point out was how creepy he drew Abigail. Also, at first I thought that Julie and Karolina looked too similar, but it was then later pointed out in the story that their (almost) identical look was intentional. Which I think also made sense since some lovers tend to emulate each other’s look or grab the same “aura” as their current partner. Plus Anka’s clean art worked pretty well during the fight scene with Doom (who also looked different and suspiciously familiar if anyone read Avengers A.I. ?.) It’s good that he kept it clean, at least we get a focus on the fight scene more rather than getting distracted with all the chaotic details that some artists do.

Plus Triona Tree Farrell coloring was excellent! She was able to emulate Matthew Wilson’s style for the series and managed to incorporate her own way of setting the mood of the book! The best example I could share would be during the time Abigail was offering the cupcake to Molly in her room. Never did I thought that she could make green look creepy during that moment.

I think the only downer for me was the indication of the years, which I will explain a bit more about the cons. At the end of the day, this book is still very consistent, and I am really happy that the creative team created this with care.

Pros:

• Action-packed
• Great characterization of the whole cast
• Molly “fangirling” over Julie Powers
• Beautiful art from Kris Anka
• Rainbow Rowell’s improvement with the pacing of the story

Cons:

• Minor (nitpicking) issue was when Molly tried to calculate Abigail’s age, mentioning it was 2018 in their time. Which meant Gert died in 2015 (assuming that when the relaunched started it was still during 2017. ) In short, I don’t think it is really a good idea adding dates in comic books. It complicates things and timelines. (especially with back in Marvel’s Two-in-One, it was revealed that the Fantastic Four were not superheroes yet back in 1998. Thinking about it is already giving me headaches but, I hope you guys get it.

Rating: 9.8/10

Final Thought:
It’s hard to find faults on books that were thoughtfully made, in which Rowell’s and Anka’s Runaways is part of. The creative team still managed to step up the game and improved their craft making it more fun, exciting and very entertaining! Not your typical superhero book, this series is a definite must-read. I suggest everyone to give this a try if you enjoy feel-good-comic series!

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