Oh boy.
New family! Gert? (We’ve done not-Alex already)
And then it just ends.
Super depressing. Just stop at volume 8.
Fin.
JP's Blog
Runaways, Vol. 10: Rock Zombies Runaways (2003-2009) #10
Music laced with spells turns anyone who has plastic surgery ugly. Not even kidding. Also zombies, but apparently they’re not actually dead (killing of like half of LA is apparently too much). So … just ugly.
It’s… fine?
I didn’t even take any pretty pictures.
If we weren’t down to one more volume and a new writer…
Runaways, Vol. 9: Dead Wrong Runaways (2003-2009) #9
That is quite an art shift.
And quite a cosmic plot line.
How do you even deal with billions dead somewhere out there across the universe?
Oh, and I feel like Chase got stupider. In a bad way.
There’s something of a reason… but he was off even before Scatter’ing.
Fine, but I liked the earlier works. We’ll see how it goes.
Betsy-Tacy Betsy-Tacy #1
“When Betsy is happy,” her mother said, “she is happier than anyone else in the world.” Then she added, “And she’s almost always happy.”
A cute book to read with younger children. In a nutshell, it’s the story about Tacy (she’s shy) and Betsy (she tells everyone that Tacy is shy). They go on adventures, have a clubhouse, and eventually find another new friend–just in time to start another book.
Runaways, Vol. 8: Dead End Kids Runaways (2003-2009) #8
When you’re (perpetually) on the run and need a favor, who do you call?
Kingpin… apparently.
So of course things go all sorts of sideways. And of course time travel gets involved—because comics.
Delightful.
And so ends the 2005-2008 run. Onwards!
Succulents and Spells Windflower #1
Marigold took a deep breath. “My name is Marigold Ann Nightfield. I use she/her pronouns. I’m a PhD candidate in biomedical science.”
Laurel offered her hand across the table, and Marigold took it.
“Laurel Windflower. She/her as well.” She didn’t mention the incomplete MA she’d been postponing, for one reason or another, for the past two years. “So, is your PhD in monster biology or something?”
That was delightful. It’s a cozy urban fantasy, light and cute with just enough touches of something bigger and more dangerous out there.
Well worth a read. And at a novella length 100 pages, it’s worth trying just to see if you like it. And if you do, there are a handful more to dig deeper! (I haven’t yet).
Runaways, Vol. 7: Live Fast Runaways (2003-2009) #7
You know, I didn’t expect turning 18 and then immediately turning to the dark side as a plot line. Fits though.
But he at last has good intentions and all that?
So of course it’s up to friends old and new to try to stop Chase from doing any number of dumber than average even for him things.
A solid story.
Onwards!
Skin and Other Stories
Skin and Other Stories
I’m really only familiar with stories like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. They’re certainly fantastical stories with a number of fairly subtle dark twists to them, but still well within the realm of children’s stories.
Well… it turns out he wrote some more adult, much more tense ones at all. It’s somewhere in that border realm between realism, fantasy, and horror, not quite terrifying but certainly creepy.
The stories are quick and always have the creepy sort of twist, although I’ll admit there were a few I just don’t really get. So it goes. Still worth it, in my opinion.
Year Zero
“The terms of this contract shall apply past the end of time and the edge of Earth; all throughout the universe; in perpetuity; in any media, whether now known, or hereafter devised; or in any form, whether now known, or hereafter devised.”
Take a sci-fi universe that’s got just enough ‘it’s that way because it’s amusing’ in it to feel an awful lot like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, build the story around the idea that aliens are bad at music, really dig into the music industry lawsuits from around the year 2000 (applied across space and time), and tell the story from the point of view of a low level copyright lawyer.
Voila. Year Zero.
“No, we haven’t stopped the spread of pirated music or movies online, nor have we slowed it even slightly. But we do get paid pornographically vast sums for trying our very best.”
It’s not a bad book.
Runaways, Vol. 6: Parental Guidance Runaways (2003-2009) #6
The one where we finally get a hint at what’s been going on with the other new Pride.
That never does go well. Plus short bits with Molly on her own and Karolina in space! The gang is back (ish)!
Until as the cover says… one of them has to die.
Oy.
Onward.