Runaways (vol 2) # 26 - Dead-End Kids, Part 2
is an issue published by Marvel that was released on 7 / / 2007Plot Summary
Overview
The kids continue their New York adventure and encounter someone dangerous that they’ve never met before. Hint—LOOK BEHIND MOLLY ON THE COVER. Will he punish the Runaways? Superstar Joss Whedon (Buffy, ASTONISHING X-MEN) and rising star Michael Ryan (NEW X-MEN, NEW EXCALIBUR) continue a tale that will take the Runaways somewhere they’ve never been before! PART 2 (of 6)!
(Spoilers)
As the Runaways try escaping with the stolen articfact for the Kingpin, the Punisher fights the mysteriious man with the sword. The Runaways don't know who is on who's side. As they both turn their attention on the kids, Nico finally creates a spell to make them phase through the roof of the building they're on.
The Kingpin is in his office contemplating the Punisher's involvement. He admires him for thinking he's fighting a war but thinks he's a fool for believing that he could win it.
The Runaways make it back to the Leap Frog and realize that Chase and Old Lace aren't with them. Is it possible they didn't survive the explosion? Molly thinks maybe Chase jumped when he saw the missle and Old Lace could've grabed him and used her claws to grab the building. Nico and Xavin begin to argue after Karolina goes to look for them. Then Chase and Lace climb up over the edge of the building. Chase tells them that he jumped and Lace saved him. Molly is shocked that she was right. As Nico acts "like a girl" and cries over Chase being alive, Molly wants to know why no one is "awesomed" by her guessing what happened.
The Punisher shows up behind her. Karolina asks him if he's really going to shoot kids. He says it's wouldn't be the first time. When Victor says they're not criminals, Punisher says they stole something for the Kingpin. Chase thinks that they didn't take something that doesn't belong to them. The device looks like something his parents might have built. That makes it property of the Pride. He also tells the Punisher that he can punish his ass. As the Punisher is about to shoot him, Molly punches him in the stomach.
When the Punisher begins to recover from the blow, the others are talking (some are yelling) with Molly. She didn't know he didn't have powers. The Punisher tries not to fall over as the Runaways discuss whether or not he's bleeding internally. Nico doesn't want to waste a healing spell on him since he held a gun at them.
They leave in the Leap Frog and try to figure out if Chase's parents did create the device. The Leap Frog seems to react to the device but they don't know what will happen if they put them together. They don't understand why the Kingpin would send them to retrieve it knowing that they would figure it out. They know that if they don't give it to him, he'll have them killed. Chase suggest they let Molly hit him. She says she won't hit anyone else without powers, especially if "they've got glands." Following behind them is the winged man with the sword.
They return to the apartment the Kingpin lent them. They figure they have just enough time to get out of the state before they were to deliver the device. When they open the door, they find the Kingpin and heck of a lot of ninjas inside. He says he doesn't know why his client paid him a lot to have the kids steal something that is basically already theirs.
A fight begins. The ninjas are everywhere. One of them kicks Victor off the roof when the winged man grabs him. Victor threatens to mess with his mechanical wings if he doesn't put him down. The man tells him to shut up because Victor has a message to give. Nico gets slashed from behind and calls forth the staff. She makes them all fall asleep. Unfortunately, the Kingpin has already left after calling in a contact in Stark's R&D department. Victor tells them they have to run. A flying robot shoots a bunch of missles at the building as they jump into the Leap Frog. Not having a choice, they insert the device into the Frog as it hits overdrive.
As they land, the Leap Frog cannot determine where they are. Nico is still bleeding badly. Chase and Victor go out to see where "overdrive" took them. It seems to be more of a question of "when" as they see the street filled with horse-drawn carriages.
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Dead-End Kids, Part 2
One thing I complain about a lot in comic books, is when a writer uses a "guest appearance" in their books to make a character look like a dumbass. I complained about this a lot during Civil War with all the Iron Man appearances in other books. Some writers didn't bother understanding what Stark was doing, and just figured "In my eyes he's wrong... and that's how he's going to be portrayed here." and we ended up with Tony Stark being called the biggest villain in the Marvel Universe.
I found that extremely annoying... so how do you think I feel when a writer does something similar with one of my all time favorite characters? It seems that the Punisher turned into a complete moron before meeting the Runaways here. The really sad part, is that the character of Frank Castle has not had that much character development over the years, so researching what makes him tick isn't that hard... I'm not sure it would even fill an entire paragraph. He has two kwirks when it comes to people: nothing pushes his buttons more then seeing a woman being victimized, and he's over protective of kids in general. So what does Castle say when asked if he would actually shoot a kid? He says "Wouldn't be the first time." WTF? Huh? Did I miss something here?
Ok it's one thing to get the characterization wrong of a character that is simply making a "guest appearance", but Whedon's characterization of the kids themselves makes very little sense. First off they're runaways because they don't trust adults (not even Captain America), so what do they do? They decide to do a favor for the Kingpin of all people. I was hoping that this issue would explain why in God's name they would do something like this... but no there isn't. They also come to New York to "lay low" because they know that the superheroes know about them, and they don't want to have to deal with them. Ok... so they want to hide out in a city that has the biggest concentration of superheroes on the planet. Yeah it all makes perfect sense (where's the sarcasm font?).
Needless to say I miss Brian K. Vaughan.
Dead-End Kids, Part 2
(Spoilers)
I sad I was going to stop The Runaways with #25. Then they had to go and throw that all out the window with the last page of that issue when the Punisher appeared. I'm a sucker for Frank. So I hung in there for one more issue. But I was let down today.
I'm a words guy. A well written story can trump the art in a book for me. However, there are times when the art just doesn't "do it" for me and it's hard to make it through a book. The art in this issue really just doesn't appeal to me. Let me say, I'm fully aware the art is much better than I could ever do, but it just didn't capture me and became a distraction to the point I was thinking how bad it was while I was reading the book, thus taking me out of the book. It's just not my style. Ex. I don't see the Runaways as a "goofy" book. I think the stories are (for still being comic books) more serious. However when Molly suckerpunched Frank and he was standing there holding his stomach, it looked like a cartoon almost. Totally blew it for me.
Others have pointed out how great the cover is. YES! It's awesome! But then you open it up and the art is a letdown.
I did make it to the end and the story is "interesting." I will give it one more issue to see where this latest twist continues and plus I think it'll be fun if Frank somehow follows them, but the Runaways days are numbered in my pull list.
