Runaways: Think of the Children

Runaways (2025) #1-5

by Rainbow Rowell, Elena Casagrande (Illustrator)

Acclaimed writer Rainbow Rowell returns to the Runaways! Marvel's best and scrappiest found family has seen better days! Nico Minoru has lost her girlfriend, her best friend and her magic. With Karolina, Chase and Alex all out of the picture, Gert's doing her best to shake the remaining Runaways out of running on autopilot. But when Earth's new emperor, Doctor Doom, tries to reclaim one of their own, it's time to start running again. With perfect timing, Chase comes back from the future - looking more dangerous and broodier than ever! But what happened there that's got him so suspicious of Gert? Will any other original Runaways return to a warmer welcome? And where will Doombot's loyalties lie in a world under Doom?

Collecting RUNAWAYS (2025) #1-5.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Young Adult, Marvel

120 pages, Paperback

Expected publication February 10, 2026

About the author

Rainbow Rowell writes all kinds of stuff.

Sometimes she writes about adults (ATTACHMENTS, LANDLINE, SLOW DANCE).

Sometimes she writes about teenagers (ELEANOR & PARK, FANGIRL) .

Sometimes — actually, a lot of the time — she writes about lovesick vampires and guys with dragon wings. (THE SIMON SNOW TRILOGY).

Recently, she’s been writing comics, including her first graphic novel, PUMPKINHEADS, and the monthly SHE-HULK comic for Marvel.

She lives in Omaha, Nebraska.

More at rainbowrowell.com.

Reviews

[Emile Rudoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó, sin embargo siento que tiene un detalle. Creo que esta miniserie/tie-in del evento de Marvel de este año (One World Under Doom) no es para cualquier persona. Y es que siento que intentaron continuar la serie que ya había escrito Rainbow Rowell hace algún tiempo y aprovecharon el juntarla con este evento pero el problema es que la serie anterior terminó en el 2021 y entonces si hasta los fanes de los personajes estábamos un poco perdidos, seguramente mucho mas las personas que solo tomaron esto ya que son completistas y leen todo (lo se ya que yo solía hacer eso). Honestamente después de cuatro años había detalles que no recordaba (Karolina no estaba en la tierra por poner un ejemplo) y entonces creo que cuesta un poco agarrarle el ritmo (y repito, yo soy fan de los personajes). Ya una vez que sucede esto la verdad es que como digo, me gustó. Sentí interesante la manera en que resolvieron los problemas de Nico con sus poderes y obvio amé el volver a ver a Molly que es uno de mis personajes de Marvel favoritos. Al final comentan que en algo que se llamara "Strange Tales" (que estoy viendo será otra miniserie) veremos mas de Nico y Karolina, pero de momento no hay nada mas del resto del equipo. Ojalá sea pronto y no tengamos que esperar otros cuatro años para seguir con las aventuras, ya que la verdad si es complicado después de tanto tiempo retomar el paso.

[Silas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading Runaways since issue one came out on the spinner rack. I read these in individual issues, and it continues to capture the core of the Runaways while slowly expanding and changing things along the way. It is a fairly effective tie-in to a bigger event in a way that makes sense for this group of characters. The Doombot that has been hanging around after being reprogrammed in Avengers AI is the target for reclamation by other Doombots since Doctor Doom is in charge of an awful lot of things in other events. I haven't read any of those, but am dimly aware of them. With the Runaways split up and Nico being without the Staff of One, a squad of Doombots presents a fairly credible threat, and much of this book involves dealing with that. As such, there are considerably more fights in this book than a lot of other Runaways books, but a lot of the time deals with the dynamics of this close-knit, but not entirely functional group in interesting ways. Since this book doesn't continue from here, I suppose that not a lot of other people were reading this, but I look forward to the next time they get their own book, because I love to see how these characters continue to evolve.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as single issues, buying this trade the minute it comes out. What an excellent return to Runaways. Rainbow Rowell's run wasn't my favourite of the various Runaways iterations there have been over the years, but this volume is absolute perfection, from the inevitable Karolina return to the various interpersonal conflicts finally seeing some resolution (and two not getting a resolution, which was exciting, because it means there's still room to work with if Marvel brings the series back!) in addition to the exciting Doom subplot weaved throughout. This is marketed as being part of the Doom event, but that's really just the bow they've wrapped everything in - at its core this is a story about the Runaways, about their messy chosen family, about them finding their place in the world as young adults. I cannot praise this highly enough. If you ever, at any point, loved Runaways, you need to read this book.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Rainbow Rowell Runaways? Yeah, sign me the fuck up.

Set during the events of One World Under Doom, Think Of The Children sees Emperor Doom attempting to recall all of his errant Doombots, including Victor Mancha's bestie - which the Runaways are less than enthused about.

That leads to the Runaways doing what they do best - running away - and being pursued across the country. There's everything here that made Rowell's Runaways series work so well; excellent character moments, fun set pieces, and heartfelt conversations even in the heat of battle.

My only, ONLY complaint here is that it doesn't round off. Rowell's run on Runaways ended all up in the air, and when I heard that she was coming back to do another mini, I thought we'd get some closure on some things. Instead, we're just left with more questions. I know that's the nature of comics, but there's only so many chances that Rowell will have at these characters, surely - can't we have a bit of a wrap up?

[Sandra Blasco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siempre me encanta leer sobre este grupo de inadaptados, y poder volver a leer sobre ellos, aunque sea en este pequeño especial, ha sido muy nostálgico.

En este tomo se retoma la historia desde donde acaba la principal de los cómics (la cual está cancelada) y esto ha venido bien para desarrollar las tramas que se quedaron abiertas. Esto unido a la trama de Doom yendo a por uno de sus integrantes, ha hecho que lo disfrute y me divierta mucho leyéndolo.

Lo único que no me gusta cuando leo sobre los Runaways es que al final siempre dejan un final medio abierto, cuando se sabe que no van a continuar y me pone triste. Los echaré de menos... de nuevo.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

love the runaways and rainbow rowell, but this one was a tad disappointing

[André Habet]

I’ll never tire of following these characters.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.3 stars

WARNING: Issue five of this book contains a huge spoiler for the end of One World Under Doom, so you might want to read that first.

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the individual issues. This is Rowell's return to Runaways during the One World Under Doom event. Runaways and Young Avengers both are often relegated to event tie-ins, but I'll take it if it's the only way to get new stories.

This event worked out well for Rowell as she had given the Runaways a doombot, and now Doom is the emperor of the world. Doom wants his doombots back, but the Runaways don't want to lose their friend. To save him, Nico will need to learn to cast spells again.

It would be wrong to say that Runaways had a cliffhanger as it had more like five cliffhangers, and this tries to tie them all up. Chase returns, so does Karolina, and Alex, but they need to save doombot. I'm glad she tried to finish it all, but it's a tad overstuffed. It reminded me of when a canceled show gets a TV movie; not as good, but better than nothing.

I hope this leads to more. I think the Runaways works better when it can be an ongoing comic and not just a finale, but I'm glad Rowell's run got an ending of sorts.