Young Adult Angst Revives Doombot in Runaways No. 22
By Alex Widen
The Hostel Is Always Where the Drama’s At!
Molly Hayes, who once wanted to be a superhero dubbed “Princess Powerful,” is still reeling from losing her grandmother’s stable home and Alex Wilder’s last visit. Lately, Molly’s done trying to pretend to be happy, and is just lounging around. Like all of the Runaways, she’s trying to eke some conversation out of Gib. The god-spawn remains with them out of a sense of respect, but still can’t distinguish one mortal from another or be willing to eat anything but souls. Maybe his true place is on Wall Street!
Image by Marvel Comics
Karolina rushes in to meet Nico Minoru, who is the true reason why she’s so happy lately. Dating Lightspeed was great, but it’s rare to get a second chance at a first love — especially for lesbians who came out at different times. Nico suspects there’s a little more to Karolina’s mood than being thrilled to see her back from a retail gig. The irony is that Nico’s been where Karolina wants to go. She was a founder of A-Force and regularly had adventures with legendary heroines like Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Medusa and Dazzler against threats as big as Thanos! Unfortunately, Nico’s hardly been in a rush to return to a life like that. Seeing She-Hulk nearly die likely did it.
Image by Marvel Comics
While the Hostel may have a lot of love in bloom, it can also be where love goes to die. Hence is the case of Chase Stein, who’s learning that getting what he wanted can lead to unforeseen consequences. As the narration honestly states, Chase went back in time to save Gert not for her, but himself. He couldn’t let go of, and never moved on from, his first love. Considering she was murdered, that’s understandable. However, now their age gap has contributed to ending what was already dead.
Image by Marvel Comics