Runaways : Dead End Kids

‘Astonishing’ scribe takes over ‘Runaways’ from Vaughan with April’s issue #25 Posted September 11, 2006 8:26 PM

Brian K. Vaughan figured this was the end.

After four years and two volumes it was time to walk away from the kids in Runaways . The critically acclaimed, but low-selling Marvel title revolving around the runaway children of supervillains, teen angst, teen sexuality and just about every other topic that could make the mid-West blush, already escaped cancellation once, and the numbers weren’t getting any better. Why not walk... hell, why not run away?

Hollywood was already calling Vaughan. They liked his comics. They liked his style. They liked his voice and they were willing to pay for it.

"Adrian Alphona and I, we’ve been talking about the fact that we’ve been doing the book for almost four years straight now," said Vaughan of the reasons behind his departure. "There was a little break between the two seasons and I don’t know... I guess that we thought that this upcoming arc was so good and we just didn’t want to stay on the book until it started to stink and then leave, because we thought that would be a death sentence for the book."

He’d told his tales; he’d impressed everyone who’d given the book a chance, and lasted longer than most had imagined a book of all-new, teen characters could. He’d never relied on guest appearances by Wolverine or crossovers with popular titles either. He’d done just about the impossible when it came to mainstream Marvel or DC books on life support. He’d even turned down writer Joss Whedon’s offer to work the Runaways into an issue of the mega-selling Astonishing X-Men .

“I thought that he was just being nice and I didn’t want to ruin his Astonishing X-Men run with a gratuitous guest appearance,” chuckles Vaughan. “I was like, ‘No, don’t do that.’ If I had known that he really wanted to write the book I would’ve left a long time ago.”

Even though Whedon’s calendar is full for the next few years-with writing and directing a “Wonder Woman” feature film, finishing his 24-issue commitment to Astonishing , and the Buffy and Serenity comics at Dark Horse-when the writer heard Vaughan was exiting one of his favorite titles, he quickly took inventory to assure himself he was far too busy to pick up another monthly title.

The he called Marvel and told them he wanted to write the book anyway-handpicking artist Michael Ryan ( New Excalibur ) for the title.

“I was pissed and then my second thought was it would be fun, and then my sensible self said to stop that, and for God’s sake get dressed,” says Whedon. “First of all, you don’t want to follow a great act. You don’t want to be the lead-in band for The Stones and then play after them because no one is staying and it’s scary, but just so tempting. I was like, ‘I don’t think that I can... but I think that I have to do this now.’ Then I started talking to Brian and we started riffing on it, and then I was lost. I was just lost. I knew I was doing it.”

“It’s really depressing because publicly you want the best for the book, but secretly you hope that someone terrible will take over because then everyone will miss you when you’re gone,” admits Vaughan, who exits with December’s issue #24 before Whedon will hop on with issue #25 in April. “That’s why we got Joss-because after two issues everyone is going to be praying for my return.”

So what does the transition mean for the cast of Runaways? Vaughan outlined his last issues as the series’ writer:

"We’re doing two three-issue arcs," he explained. "One is called ’Dead Means Dead’ and then the one after that is called ’Live Fast,’ neither of which bodes very well for the Runaways. They’re both going to deal with the fallout of Gert dying, because when one of your friends dies, you can’t just take one issue and be like, ’Well, that was really sad. Let’s get back to punching things.’"

While Whedon has remained vague about where he’ll take the team, he plans to start by making the team live up to its name.

"I want to take them somewhere that they’ve never been before and really have them stuck in an environment where they don’t fit in or they really have to shuffle," said Whedon. "I am fascinated by the whole concept of not just the Runaways, but the teenagers and their place in this particular... not this Marvel Universe, but in our actual world. So they’re road-tripping in a very new way and that’s all I’m going to say."

For an exclusive roundtable discussion with Whedon and Vaughan on everything from the decision to leave, how the last arcs by Vaughan will wrap and where Whedon plans to take the title in 2007, check out Wizard #181 on sale in comics stores on Sept. 27 and everywhere else Oct. 10.