Runaways, Vol. 5: Escape to New York

Runaways (2003-2009) (Collected Editions)

by Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona (Illustrator), Takeshi Miyazawa (Illustrator)

The team's lineup changes forever in the perfect jumping-on point for the series that Wizard said "could be the most original book to focus on teenaged super heroes since Spider-Man debuted all the way back in 1962!" When a dangerous alien invades Los Angeles, the Runaways' own Karolina Dean may be the only hero in the Marvel Universe who can stop him... but at what cost? Collects Runaways #7-12.

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

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Brian K. Vaughan is the writer and co-creator of comic-book series including SAGA, PAPER GIRLS, Y THE LAST MAN, RUNAWAYS, and most recently, BARRIER, a digital comic with artist Marcos Martin about immigration, available from their pay-what-you-want site www.PanelSyndicate.com

BKV's work has been recognized at the Eisner, Harvey, Hugo, Shuster, Eagle, and British Fantasy Awards. He sometimes writes for film and television in Los Angeles, where he lives with his family and their dogs Hamburger and Milkshake.

Reviews

[Baba]

The equal best volume so far although featuring an alien visit and then a trip to New York to help Cloak find his doppelganger that attacked Dagger, this volume is about the dark comedy touches Vaughan brings as the kids interact with Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers' team. Worth reading for the Molly Hayes meets Wolverine encounter alone! Also Takeshi Miyazawa is all kinds of awesome. 7.5 out of 12

[Chad]

This series continues to be a delight. First, Karolina deals with some outer space craziness. Then, Cloak needs some help and the Runaways head to New York. There are some exceptional moments with Spider-Man and Wolverine. The Spider-Man scenes are some of the best uses of the character in years while keeping him completely in character. I totally would love to see a Vaughan written Spider-Man book after this. Takeshi Miyazawa fills in on the 2-parter focusing on Karolina while Christina Strain continues to make Adrian Alphona's art look exceptional with her colors on the rest.

[Bradley]

Solid. Very solid run. Interesting stuff with aliens and how K leaves, building up to a whole new Cloak and Dagger run that was soooo much better than the last, and the whole requisite drop-ins with Cap, Wolverine, Iron-dude, (but no iron fist!) and even some Luke... but what was most fun was Spidey. Spidey is so cool.

All in all?

It was ONLY A LITTLE BIT of a puke-fest.

:)

[Paul]

14th book of 2019.

Another great volume of Runaways, in which we bid a tearful farewell to one of the team and then pop over to New York City for a catch-up with Cloak and Dagger. The team also clash with the Avengers.

P.S. - This book contains possibly my favourite Wolverine scene EVER. Go Molly! :-D

[Joana]

These characters going to New York was GREAT -I LOVED them interacting with the Avengers!!! It was really cool to see Luke Cage and more Cloak and Dagger (getting more and more excited for that show!!)
Also Karolina... breaking my heart... Glad I've already looked into the next comic :)
Also the art in this one changed again and it's so freaking GOOD!!! So beautiful and PERFECT!!
Really loving this series!!!

[Scarlet Cameo]

Ok, this book could have the same author but are two separate stories.

The first one didn't like me either dislike me, have some things that i already suspected but just that. Even the plot was so different from the other issues (before and after). And the drawings was n't my favorite, not a big fan of the Archie and Friends (Archie and Friends #82) look. Was really sad the goodbye and i hope maybe someday we'll see him/her again,

The second was a little better, we return to the artist from the beginning so...thumbs up. They go to New York to help an old friend who tried to help them before, but the journey isn't so easy...with the half of avengers against their mission, the drugs, obsessed lover and (again) a girl kissing everyone (i'm getting tired of that sh**t) we can meet more of they, are a little introspection that we already were needing.


P.D. The "Wolverin accident" was sooooo funny

[Cisz Geverink - Strasters]

freakin' AWESOME!!!!

[Gianfranco Mancini]

L'incontro-scontro Molly Hayes-Wolverine é da premio Eisner! :D

[Anne]

This is really a much better series than I expected. Definitely going to be looking for more of these guys in the future!

[RG]

The kids travel to NYC with Cloak, to help him out with a problem. Dagger is in hospital and needs help. We meet a few avengers, which is great especially the Spiderman scene.

[Courtney Daniel]

Great installment liked the part with Molly and the X-men and the spider man cameo was good too. Still enjoying this series a lot the characters are great and the whole thing is well done.

[Crystal Starr]

Bullet Review:

Continuing where vol 4 left off, some big changes are in store for our runaways. They have welcomed a new member, Victor, from last volume, and have been approached by Cloak to clear his name. I will admit, the setup is a bit hokey - the kids are asked to find out who who posed as Cloak who attacked Dagger. I mean, really, your best solution is to ask a bunch of kids?

For the first two issues, the artwork was changed from the previous 4 volumes to what I guess is an anime/manga style (not 100% certain as I don't typically read anime/manga). I wasn't fond of how it changed the characters' appearances - Gert is supposed to be pudgy, but she looks just as lithe and lean as Karolina, for example - but it wasn't horrible.

Really, though, this series stuns me with how GOOD it is. Great characterization (though I wish Molly got more to do), lots of female characters that are more than Love Interests, great humor, love seeing supes pop in (Spidey's humor was awesome!!), and honestly, even with its "flaws", it's still clever and unique. It's a bit irritating how it ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, but the Runaways is fun and enjoyable, a series I have no intentions of abandoning if it keeps going like it has.

[Shera (Book Whispers)]

This one went deep . . . . poor Dagger. However, I felt like it split in half and kind of left me in the lurch. The story with Karoline should have, at the very least, been brought up or visited as the next story came in. Or it could be that I wanted more of the intersteller stuff that was hinted at the start but sadly denied to me. And I'm a litte nervous it will never truly be expanded on.

And with some of the big character depth reveals I'm pretty sure I know who's going to day next in the Runaways. It seems glaringly obvious. Heavy handed with the hints much?

However, I loved the cameos. Awesome!

[Wing Kee]

Solid and fun.

World: Art is fine with strong facial expressions which really inform the characters. The world building is also solid with a trip to New York being like a holiday. There are a lot of cameos and they are fun.

Story: Solid and fun as a side quest. The cameos made it amusing and the continuation of the team dynamic was good. However the villain was drab and cliché making that part of the book a bore. Solid but nothing of note.

Characters: Still the best part about the book. Great little character moments and banter. The pieces are moving into place for something big and I'm excited.

Solid.

Onward to the next book!

[Caitlin]

In this volume, the Runaways have to help clear the name of Cloak and Dagger, who they ran into in a previous issue. I really don't like the new Manga-inspired artwork so I'm hoping that doesn't stick around. The storyline was interesting but not my favorite so just an okay volume in an otherwise good series.

[Taha]

Tek puanı sadece serinin ortasında çizim tarzı değiştirildiği için kırdım. Yoksa Vaughan yine harika bir cilt ortaya çıkarmış: Bol ters köşeli, bol eğlenceli ve bol karanlık...
Bu arada New Avengers'lı bölümler de harikaydı. Özellikle Ironman ve Wolverine'in diyalogları 10 numaraydı:)

[Jana]

4.5*

It's so cool to see other big Marvel characters in this series. I'm LOVING it.

[Alex E]

The team travels from one coast to another in order to help Cloak clear his name. Also, the team loses another team member to a reason that may surprise some.

This volume consists of two stories, the first has to do with Karolina finding out more about her past and choosing to leave the team in order to further learn about where she is from. Turns out her parents arranged a marriage for her, to a Skrull no less, and he shows up to collect. And while the team at first is defensive and against the idea wholeheartedly, Karolina realizes that this move will help in a few ways. First, she gets to learn about herself and where she is from. And second, the circumstances of their marriage actually have the fate of two worlds tied around them, so she is kind of sacrificing herself to see if she can help.

The second story has to do with Dagger being assaulted to such a degree, that she goes into a coma. The perpetrator? Cloak apparently. Well, not really, but it's up to the team to prove Cloak's innocence. They travel to New York and run into some of Marvel's biggest names once there. I loved the scenes involving Spider-Man and I think a Brian K. Vaughn Spidey book would be amazing. I would read the hell out of that. This was a super fun and lively story which is weird because of the darkness around it regarding Dagger in a coma... yeesh.

This book is tons of fun and the creators are in a definite groove by this point. If you have liked the series so far, this one is another good one.

[Paul Grubb]

Well, they can't all be winners, I guess. This volume of the Runaways saga had several problems that prevented me from giving it higher marks. First, the book was much more disjointed than the previous compilations (the Free Comic Book Day offering at the end felt particularly incomprehensible). The story itself was also much less interesting than the previous one (I'm almost completely unfamiliar with Cloak and Dagger, for example, and they played a big role at one point). And, worst of all, there is a critical plot development about midway through that feels forced, unmotivated, and completely unnecessary. Overall, as much as I continue to enjoy the series, this book just didn't fit in as nicely with the earlier ones, I thought. If you're reading the series, you'll read it all, and you should. If you're just looking for a graphic novel with a great story and fantastic art, you'll find only the latter here. There are better standalone options out there.

[Bill]

This series is starting to lose me. No longer running away, really, the children of the deceased crime-lords of the Marvel Comics west coast are apparently settling in and getting jaded as they take on super-villains coming to their town. A potentially powerful coming-out story is cut short by the characters involved departing for space, and a trip to the east coast feels like a poorly thought out attempt to shoehorn Wolverine and Spider-man into the series. There's an few intriguing hooks that the runaways may be more like their parents than they think -- I just hope those intriguing threads get developed further in later volumes.

[harper swan]

I dont know why the changed the art style in the first half of the story but I'm glad it changed back to how to was previously after, im not a big fan of the more cartoony style. I liked the plot better of the first half though because its centered around karolina and shes one of my favorite characters. But I hate that she disappeared to go to her alien planet with the shape shifter. I don't really like them together because we don't really know like anything about xaiver, opposed to karolina. It just happened so suddenly out of no where and it felt so forced.
All so why did nico have to kiss chase its so gross and felt so unnecessary

[Rey]

3.5?

I'm enjoying these all around the same amount! This one did have some more cringe "of-the-time" lines than usual but it also made up in having some pretty cool cameos/little story arcs.

I feel like I wasn't loving Nico in this vol, but love Molly and Karolina.

I only plan on reading like 3 more volumes + the Young Avenger tie-ins!

[Natalie]

I really liked this one. I think the story just keeps getting better and better.

[Paul]

Still a good mix of fun. Some good dialogue and great tongue in cheek plot

[Mikajae]

got a bit boring in the middle but the end was good

[Alice Rachel]

I liked the story. But I don’t think I’ll continue reading the series. Chase is a homophobic prick, and I’m sick of him.
This series has a gay main character. Why is her friend randomly throwing “gay” around like an insult? I don’t understand the purpose of this.

[Tally]

Nico, ur great but you gotta chill with the kissing thing

[Dan]

Another re-read for me. The cameos! I think the guest appearances were one of the things that made this series so great.

[Matt Richter]

Another brilliantly written collection from Brian K. Vaughan. I wasn't expecting them to go "there". But they did! oh yeah!! And after that they met the New Avengers. I'm imagining that these team-up stories are quite difficult to pull off effectively, cos like a new writer is now writing for a number of hugely popular characters which he may not have worked on before... and it makes for a different feel to a normal 'Runaways' story arc. But Vaughan does splendidly on all accounts!
The first arc has art by Takeshi Miyazawa which I didn't mind so much this time around as his previous work on Runaways. But Adrian Alphona was back in for the main story in this volume and was as strong as ever.

[Kaethe]

There's a tremendous amount of fun in a series like this: established characters and tropes to play off of, as well as new characters to explore. Because New York is traditionally home to Avengers, a visit there enables our West Coast teens to mock and engage in a completely different-feeling world.

And although we miss any character who is out for a series, there's delight in knowing that sooner or later that story will be filled in.

Natasha and I are having a great time reading these side by side. She's tearing through them with the kind of focus she doesn't usually bring to fiction. Good times.

Library copy.