Runaways #11 Writer: Kathryn Immonen / Artist: Sara Pichelli

The new creative team stumbles a bit with their first issue. They get a few things right and a few wrong. Shifting the focus to the kids instead of a villainous plot was definitely a good move. Killing off a team member, again: bad.

Just like Kathryn Immonen, I'll get to the good stuff first. Immediately you can tell she understands the team. Runaways was never about an epic plot or super villains. This book is about a group of kids just being kids, except they happen to live on their own and have super powers. More importantly though, Runaways is about those kids depending on each.

Knowing that, Immonen finally revitalizes the book with character interaction. Molly is funny again and grossed out by Nico's prom. Nico is nagging, Victor is lovestruck, Karolina heartbroken, and Chase, as always, is a horn dog. Most of this issue is dedicated to the characters just being themselves with only a handful pages dedicated to an actual plot. That's exactly how this book should be.

The plot is where everything goes downhill. In all honesty, I'm not sure where the plot is going and there's nothing provided in this issue to judge the actual plot. The problem is the outcome of it. A team member dies. I'm used to members of the Runaways being killed off (heck, it's happened three times already if you include Xavin). What bothers me is that this member dies randomly. Not enough of the plot has been revealed for it to have such an important impact. The death of this beloved character happened too matter-of-factly.

Another problem with this issue is the art. Now Sara Pichelli actually does excel at her storytelling ability. The dancing was cute, all the talks looked appropriately girly, and Molly's wrestling was funny. The problem with Pichelli's art is her character depictions. Other than Molly and Klara, no one is recognizable. She draws Nico as a 30 year old and doesn't even maker her look asian. Victor also looks like a completely different person. Hopefully Pichelli will see some of Adrian Alphona's old work and start modeling her characters after his.

I came into this issue with very high expectations. Parts of it gave me hope while other parts left me worried. Hopefully Immonen will continue her focus on character interaction and although I didn't like the death of another team member, one is supposed to return. If it's who I expect it to be, maybe she can bring back the one lost in this issue. Then all will be forgiven.