The third volume of Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka's Runaways revolves around the return of original cast member Alex Wilder, who, as usual, brings trouble. This time, it's the Gibborim, the gods the kids' parents had agreed to hand the world over to. Gib, Bor, and Im didn't get the world, or the sacrifice they were promised (nor the power that comes with it), because the kids stopped their parents.
The godlings are a little irked about that, and tell the "Pridelings" they have one week to decide whether they're going to fulfill the contract and offer a sacrifice, or become the first sacrifice a new Pride will offer. They leave one of the three, Gib, there to keep an eye on the kids, make sure they don't try to run off.
With that groundwork laid, Rowell and Anka spend the next few issues showing how the cast deals with the ultimatum. Or doesn't. Alex, of course, tries to take command, but is met with resistance because a) he's a condescending, pushy dick, and b) he did try to betray them the last time they dealt with Gibborim. He is definitely the guy who says hurtful stuff under the excuse of 'tellin' it like it is.' Except he's not nearly as smart as he thinks. The thing with Nico's staff about not being able to reuse words isn't some mental block or artificial limitation of hers, it's an actual thing cooked into how the fucking staff works. But Alex can't accept that, so it must be Nico's fault. He's like the worst aspects of Reed Richards and Tony Stark, with 1/20th the intelligence.
To be fair, he's just about the only one who seems to be taking any steps. Gert and Victor are poring over the Pride's journals for clues and discussing Gert traveling back in time to try and warn everyone to prepare. Everyone else is either ignoring it, or in Chase's case, content to just wing it. Or as he puts it, 'fight like crazy and hope we win.'
In the middle of all that, Nico gets some new information about the Staff of One, which also explains why she has a left hand again, and not the big magical gauntlet she got during Avengers Arena. I hadn't really even noticed, but I'm used to expecting writers to just ignore whatever they choose these days, so I figured that's what Rowell was doing. The team takes time out to celebrate Christmas, and Victor finally decides he'd like a body, please.
Which doesn't feel like much, in terms of plot. Granted, that's been my impression of this book throughout. It's not a dense reading experience, generally, but that works in its favor here. There's a ticking clock until Bor and Im return and we're watching most of the cast do. . . not a hell of a lot. We don't see Molly or Karolina training feverishly, or Chase wracking his brains for a way to discover a weakness like we might expect if this was the Fantastic Four.
They are, as Alex says, seemingly putting their heads in the sand, which is why he can gain any traction at all, with them or the audience. At least he has a plan, as unpleasant and unfeasible as it seems. We know none of the others have come up with anything.
(As tough as the Gib, Bor, and Im seem, I really doubt Alex was going to be able to cut any of them with that dagger, assuming he could even get close enough to take a swing. As always, Alex' real gift is selling his bullshit plans.)
Kris Anka draws the last four issues, with Matthew Wilson on color duties. Most of the first two issues are by David Lafuente, who has simplified his style a bit since Patsy Walker: Hellcat. Maybe it was already like this when he took over as artist on Ultimate Spider-Man, I dunno, I'd long since dropped that book. it's still recognizably his work, but the lines are thicker, designs simpler. Fewer lines, but not necessarily less detailed in the important ways.
Although he gave Alex the same hair Egon had on the '80 Ghostbusters cartoon, which is hard to take seriously. He does make the Gibborim look more menacing than Anka does. Anka definitely pretties Gib up a lot. Although Anka makes everyone look pretty so maybe that's just unavoidable. While Lafuente doesn't make him unattractive necessarily, the nose is longer, the brow a bit thicker and scowlier, the horns a little more prominent.
Lafuente's also the only artist in this volume (Takeshi Miyazawa draws the second half of #14, which focuses on Old Lace) that draws Gib without pupils. Anka draws Bor and Im without pupils, so I thought maybe it was meant to be a significant thing, that Gib would gain them somewhere over the course of the holiday festivities or whatever. Gaining compassion as he spends time around mortals, that sort of thing. But no, as soon as it's not Lafuente on art chores, Gib has pupils, and that's that. Bit of a missed opportunity there, considering how the plot played out.
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