Writer: Rainbow Rowell

Art: Andrés Genout, Dee Cunniffe, VC’s Joe Caramagna, and Kris Anka

Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 15th, 2020

So Runaways #29 is definitely a thing…

I’m honestly not sure what really happened in this book. Rainbow Rowell’s writing has kept its tone throughout, but yeah, this Runaway train definitely did not leave me running for my life.

 

We follow the Runaways as they settle into Doc’s outfit after Gert’s surprise return from the afterlife. And Rowell’s writing chops really keep the pace going, the exposition doesn’t feel heavy, far from it, in fact, it actually feels somewhat insubstantial. For this place is run to drop such bombs like revelations, and for it to not feel heavy and bogged down, shows real skill. The almost surgical definition between the powered and the powerless is nothing but jarring in its starkness. However, the bombardment of information doesn’t make me care. It’s important, no doubt but it also just leaves me asking “so?”

And as fast as the dialogue pushes everything along, the artwork by Genout makes it fly by at a rocket’s pace. The backgrounds are just understated enough to be unobtrusive, yet the palette choices push the tone of the scene home. It felt like you were flipping through the photos of Doc Justice and Co over time. I honestly got to “To Be Continued” before I expected it, and yet… if you quizzed me about the bulk of the contents, I think the finer details will be lost to time.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I want to love this book. But I don’t. I want to dislike it too… but I don’t. At worst, I’m apathetic toward this issue after reading. Sure, the writing and the artwork are fine, bordering great, but the content itself… meh. Or at least it was for me. That’s ok, not every issue is going to blow my socks off eh?

 6.5/10