Runaways Vol.7: Live Fast (Digest)

[Quirky Cat]

I’m continuing onward in my journey to read all of the Runaways comics before September. Having read volume 7, I’m not officially only a decade behind! That’s worth celebrating, right? Live Fast takes place after the events of Civil War, which explains some of the tension as well as some of the references made (Nico stating that they’re all unregistered super heroes and thus at risk of being arrested, for example. Or you know, the ending).



Chase isn’t handling Gert’s death all that well, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. When he had first heard about how Gert would die in the future, he didn’t take that too well either, and swore he’d do everything in his power to event that from ever happening; including killing the boy that supposedly directly caused her death – even if that meant killing him before he became a supervillian. It gives you a good perspective for just how poorly chase is taking this turn of events.
So desperate to get Gert back, Chase is even willing to bargain with the Giborim in order to get them to bring her back to life (credit to Chase: he asked for the fine print before he agreed to this bargain). Ultimately he doesn’t end up doing what they asked of him, but the temptation was real and very strong for the poor guy.
Alongside all of these events, Karoline and her betrothed, Xavin, appear to be back on earth for good. They’re adjusting to life on earth, as it is a whole new experience for Xavin (who is more used to a war torn universe). The team are likewise having trouble adjusting to Xavin, as they are male in their natural form, but prefer to be in a female form (at least in part for Karolina’s sake). The rapid transitions back and forth are jarring to a bunch of kids unused to seeing that much shapeshifting. Seeing them come to terms with Xavin was really endearing however, as was Molly’s revelation that Xavin (a Super-Skrull) puts everybody else’s comfort and safety above their own. It shows that you don’t have to be human to act humane.
As mentioned above; the Runaways are now fighting as unregistered super heroes, which makes them actively hunted targets (more so than when they were just Runaways and truant cases). This means that literally every fight they choose to have risks bringing the attention of the Avengers or another team. A relevant point – considering Iron Man (the leader of the registration act) tracks them down in the end. I’m curious to see where that one goes!
On the whole, this volume was more focused on character interaction and development than anything else, and I’m ok with that. We sort of needed them to take a step back and figure out what was going on inside their heads before watching them move on. I can’t wait to see what happens in volume 8!


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