Much like the way the Pride storyline as a whole touches on teenagers’ conflicted feelings about their parents, Topher and Nico also end up having some very real conversations. I’m still fully shipping Alex and Nico, but I found this love triangle an entertaining diversion from the large Pride story and Topher was honestly a welcome break from Alex’s super seriousness. Topher also creates some fun competition for Alex (and I think Karolina as well?) as he totally charms the pants off Nico. A food run turns into a chance for the Runaways to become friendly neighbourhood superheroes, and this in turn leads to an encounter with handsome teen Topher, who claims to be running away from super villain parents just like them. Volume 2 takes a slight detour from the teens-vs-parents storyline, and takes the Runaways on a series of mini-adventures. The ending also reveals a mole amongst the Runaways, who leaves an anonymous note supporting their parents’ vision. As an origin story, it’s pretty much sheer joy just to see these teens test the limits of their strengths and see how their powers measure up against their parents. Book 1 is all about them discovering their own powers and coming to terms with who their parents really are. I don’t want to detail all the characters and their powers, as discovering their powers was part of what made Volume 1 so much fun, but I love that we have an African American lead (Alex), a badass Japanese girl (Nico), and a plus-size purple haired girl (Gert). How amazing is this series? First, I absolutely love the diversity of the main cast. Vaughn’s work in particular, lent me the first book. I got hooked on this series after my sister, a fan of comic books and Brian K. They learn that their parents are actually part of a super villain group called The Pride, and that they themselves have inherited some super powers of their own. At their families’ annual gathering, they witness their parents committing a ritual sacrifice. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona’s Runaways series, these teens happen to be right. At one point or another, many teenagers think their parents are evil.

Runaways volume 3