As many a teenager will tell you, all parents are evil. Malignant. Willful tormentors of the young. And this usually seems like mere adolescent overstatement. But what if it were true?

That's the premise of Brian K. Vaughan's Runaways series, of which Pride & Joy is the first volume. Six teenagers discover that their parents are all part of a ring of supervillains known as the Pride. They therefore run away from home and begin trying to bring down their parent's evil empire. I'd love to say more about the plot, but if I did, it would give things away.

It's a simple idea, but excellently done. The characters are fun and amusing, each one embodying a set "type." From Nico the goth girl through Chase the jock, you've seen these people before. But somehow, Vaughan makes them seem interesting and tongue-in-cheek. The dialogue is well observed, as are the character's mannerisms. Unlike many writers, Vaughan is actually funny, without having to try too hard at it. His writing seems like part of a natural progression from Stan Lee.

Adrian Alphona's art style is also a good complement to Vaughan's writing. The characters have distinctive looks, both in dress and facial expression, and Brian Reber's color work, as well as David Newbold and Craig Yeung's inks, fill it all out nicely.

This is an excellent comic and, more unusually, one that seems to actually be related to the Stan Lee style. It seems like a real heir to Marvel's earlier comics, the way the new mini makes sense as a modernization of the '60s one.

Runaways takes a lot of the elements of older Marvel stories -- such as young teens hiding from authority, and mutants -- and runs with them. I, for one, like where it's going.

by Theo deRoth
Rambles.NET
25 March 2006