Yahoo News Marvel's Runaways review round-up: The best new comic book show to watch
Unlike the unstoppable behemoth of the MCU, Marvel's television outings have always tended to be a little hit-and-miss.
The studio still seems to be in the midst of exploring exactly what the format can offer (as opposed to the silver screen), and Hulu's new series Marvel's Runaways could be a positive step forward.
The show essentially adapts the superhero model into the YA genre; think of it as basically Riverdale, but they all have crazy mutant powers - and add to that the discovery that all their parents are actually supervillains hell-bent on destruction.
With a cast of unknown young actors, plus some bigger names like Buffy's James Marsters and 24's Annie Wersching, the critics' interest seems to have been perked.
Here's a round-up of what they thought.
Mike Hale - The New York Times
The show’s superheroic and science-fiction elements are restrained, sharing time with the mystery and the family dramas, but when they show up — that heavy-breathing alien, or Brittany Ishibashi, as a humorless tiger mom, wielding a magical staff that looks as if it were on sale at West Elm — they border on camp in a way that can’t be intentional.
Darren Franich - Entertainment Weekly
The pitch on Marvel’s Runaways is "teen drama with superpowers", but it pays careful attention to the fantastical activities of the adult characters. Their machinations seem supernatural, but in a zip code like this, maybe cosmic malevolence is just how you keep up with the Joneses.
Ira Madison III - The Daily Beast
Runaways is a superhero series with cults, time travel, and a dinosaur (yes, a dinosaur) so it could’ve devolved into the same chaos as has befallen our current slate of teen dramas. But fortunately, Runaways is superb.
The Breakfast Club meets X-Men with a splash of Stranger Things thrown in, Marvel’s Runaways is the richest, best-realized Marvel drama of the new TV season.
It’s the sort of mystery-driven, slightly X-Men-ish drama that could easily suck you in on a lazy Saturday, but one that doesn’t quite feel like a must-watch.
The new series makes a concerted effort to be as different as possible from the grim grittiness of Marvel‘s Netflix shows, but far more low key and authentic than the polished world of the CW.
A younger take on the genre that melds high-school dramatics with comic-book sensationalism. It’s a cheeky, splashy and addictive coming-of-age adventure that feels at once fresh and comfortingly familiar.
Describing Runaways as The O.C. meets The X-Men would be apt even though it sometimes lacks the immediate appeal of either. Still, there’s a sense that once the series really gets going, powers are on display, and Old Lace finds a way to not be cost prohibitive, the show could turn into something really special. Right now, Marvel’s Runaways is a cautious but hopeful wait and see.
Marvel's Runaways premieres in the US on 21 November on Hulu.
