Way back in the first issue of the second Runaways volume, we met another group of child heroes who had formed a support group for others like them. That group was Excelsior. Their goal was to support each other in not using their powers. Right. Because teenagers hate to be special.
Anyhow, we revisit them in this series where they’ve adopted a new team name, “The Loners.” Okay. Excelsior was a corny/cute in-joke reference to Stan Lee. But Loners, as a team name, makes no sense at all. The members are Julie “Lightspeed” Power from Power Pack, Darkhawk, the girl version of Turbo, the Urich version of Green Goblin, Richochet from Slingers(!), and Mattie “Spider-Woman” Franklin.
They go after Nekra, who stole some of Mattie’s DNA to make Mutant Growth Hormone. When they bust up her warehouse they find the St. Croix sister known as Hollow (previously “Penance”), who was being harvested for MGH production.
She’s a tad crazy and slices Lightspeed through the chest.
She ends up having a little romance with Phil Urich, and it makes Phil go a bit … Nuts.
There are lots of little rewards for nerds along the way, not the least of which is a new version of Red Ronin–who is NOTHING like the original (a giant Shogun Warrior adjacent robot). No, this one is a humanoid girl who cuts Nekra right through the boobies.
It doesn’t kill her, though. It really should, but it doesn’t. And isn’t it interesting that there are two boob-cut scenes in this book?
Now, remember how I said Urich went crazy after Penance kissed him? Well, the series ends when he steals the Darkhawk amulet and the team has to take him down.
Another really cool aspect? Every issue’s cover is based on a John Hughes film.
This is a fun book. It easily could have continued. At the same time, it’s not great–just solidly good. It feels pretty derivative of Runaways (which it actually is, since the group first appeared in that book), and doesn’t do enough to distinguish from that (far superior) series. Still, it’s a kick to read if you’ve got a spare hour some afternoon.
English (US) · 