Tag: matt conner

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Harley and Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica #1

Title: Harley and Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica #1 (of 6)
Written by Paul Dini and Marc Andreyko
Art by Laura Braga, Tony Avina, and Arif Prianto
Published by DC Comics

Riverdale, the CW’s sexy soap opera take on America’s iconic teens, comes back next week, and DC is getting in the mood by sending two of their most popular characters out of Gotham for a visit!

Hiram Lodge, the richest man in Riverdale, wants to build a combination university and shopping center, but the only available real estate is the protected Sweetwater Swamp. To promote his plans, he’s got his daughter, Veronica, arranging a Heroes and Villains costume gala with the begrudging help of classmates like her nemesis, Betty Cooper. Even worse, the only costumes left on the rack are going to mean these two have to spend the evening as one of crime’s most iconic couples!

Meanwhile, in Gotham, Poison Ivy is livid about the ecological destruction Lodge has planned, and Harley Quinn sees a field trip to Riverdale as a great way to effect change… and maybe dodge a few loan sharks. But when the thoughtful Powerpoint about environments fails to sway the mogul, it’s on to Plan B – let’s hit the gala and kidnap Lodge’s daughter!

This comic is a ton of fun, showing that the team understands both the oddly timeless mythology of the Archie gang and the violence just under the humor of the Gotham Sirens. But it’s also a great example of the range of female friendships. Harley and Ivy can criticize each other, but deep down, they’re together forever, and they like it that way. They may not keep each other out of trouble, but they know they can face anything they get into side-by-side.

Betty and Veronica? They’re stuck together, too, but they’re too focused on their differences to really coexist. For decades, the Betty-Veronica relationship has dipped too far into the love triangle, fighting over Archie in unflattering stereotypes. But since Dan Parent brought the line into modern times a few years ago, and since Mark Waid gave the property the realistic upgrade that paved the way for Riverdale’s onscreen adventures, writers have found much more interesting stories in this pair as frenemies. They don’t hate each other, and they aren’t waiting for Archie to pick one. They just know each other well enough that the opposite parts stand out.

I think this miniseries is set up for a fun romp – we’ll get an issue or two of the supervillains enjoying quaint Americana, and once Harley and Ivy kidnap someone (inevitably the wrong kid), we’ll get the sweetest teens over their heads in Gotham’s muck. But I think this book is going to truly shine if it can keep up the comparisons of these two female friendships.

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Runaways #1

Title: Runaways #1
Writer Rainbow Rowell
Artist Kris Anka
Colorist Matthew Wilson
Published by Marvel Comics

The Runaways are back! Hulu is THIS close to launching the live-action adaptation, so Marvel is taking a popular Young Adult novelist and one of their best artists and getting the band of teenage heroes back together. And not a moment too soon.

About fifteen years ago, Brian K. Vaughan dropped jaws across the comic world with the original Runaways series: a group of teenagers find out their parents are a secret cabal of supervillains and team up to take them down. They were an instant hit, and teen witch Nico Minoru became a breakout star, going on to join mainstream superheroics on teams like the last two iterations of A-Force. But not all of the original teens made it out of the series. Gertrude, who preferred the name Arsenic, died in the arms of true love Chase. And this series starts out with him trying to fix that.

Most first issues of team books spend time introducing all the cast members; most first issues of new volumes spend time recapping the story thus far. Rainbow Rowell takes a very different approach: the only Runaways in this issue are Nico, Chase, and Gertrude. Nico is down on her luck, living in a crummy apartment and mourning the end of her last superhero adventures. When Chase shows up in a time machine with a dying Gert in his arms, Nico flies into action with her magic powers. But because her powers only let her cast a spell once ever, and because she’s done this for a few years, she can’t go to spells like, “Heal,” or “Stop bleeding and get up, okay?” So the tension of the issue comes from two friends trying to find creative ways to do the kind of surgery this girl needs.

No supervillains. No guest stars. No velociraptors or mutants or aliens or any of their other former teammates. And it’s absolutely perfect.

Rowell doesn’t waste time with a huge recap. You don’t ever need to have read a Runaways issue to get this. Nico’s powers are explained in the story when you need them to be, the dialogue reminds us that Gertrude was stabbed to death, Chase has a time machine, we don’t need more. It’s still nostalgic, and original series fans are going to eat it up. But if the series is just about sitting back and talking about how amazing the first volume was, it’s worthless. Instead, we get something new, built on a clear foundation but original, tense, smart. And Kris Anka’s art fits this tone seamlessly, keeping the readers interest up in an issue that’s largely two teenagers yelling to each other, in one room, about how to fix this enormous problem on the floor.

I’m on board. This is the most promising version of Runaways since the first issue, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

And I really want to get the velociraptor back on the team soon.

–Matt Conner for Ultimate Comics