But You Can’t Hide

The Runaways have a home, they have jobs, and they have forgiven each other for past mistakes, but they still haven’t quite figured out how they fit into the new world that they’ve carved out for themselves. Whether it be romantic entanglements, educational journeys, or crime fighting, they’re still learning. However, they have bigger problems.

Doombot is still healing from being ripped apart by the Gibborim. When Chase tries to put him back together, he accidentally reverts Doombot to his original programming — the one infamous Marvel supervillain Dr. Doom gave him. Doombot goes berserk and attacks the Runaways.

But You Can’t Hide doesn’t give all the Runaways equal story time, but it still develops the characters. Each character is unique, inspiring, and independent. They constantly have to multitask, dealing with their personal lives and city-wide crises, like Doombot’s reboot. They learn how to grow from their various dilemmas. Alex Wilder leaves the Runaways’ hideout, and Molly follows him. Desperate to grieve for her parents, Molly bonds with Alex over their shared feeling of disconnection from the Runaways. Convinced Alex kidnapped Molly, the Runaways bring her home, leaving her feeling more adrift than ever.

Victor’s feelings for Gert intensify, and he yearns for a human body that they can both enjoy. Chase doesn’t know how to move on romantically from Gert, even though he’s had plenty of opportunities. Karolina can’t keep up with college, and nobody there understands what she’s going through. Each character must pivot and create a life outside the Runaways to improve their social-emotional health and grow as individuals.

The fourth volume of The Runaways is a graphic novel divided into six main parts, each focusing on a different character’s arc. This volume lacks a cohesive narrative thread, negatively impacting the story’s flow and making it feel more episodic than the previous issues. Additionally, since the story is part of the Marvel universe, the beginning of the story has a couple of side notes referring to separate comic series. This leaves a gap in the context, which will make the story confusing for those unfamiliar with Marvel. However, for the most part, the plot is easy enough to follow and worth reading.

But You Can’t Hide is filled with beautiful illustrations that highlight the characters’ best features and fantastical, magical battles. The panels alternate between close-ups and wide shots, designed to capture the scene and the characters’ expressions perfectly. The dialogue and sound effects are engaging, emerging from their own panels and overlaid onto others. Although events that occur simultaneously are depicted, they can occasionally be confusing when determining where to look based on the page layout. Yet, this doesn’t distract from the wonderful and detailed artwork on each page.

Readers who enjoy masked crime fighters, healthy relationships, and sarcastic comments will love the deep emotional conflicts, magical powers, and banter of the Runaways in this fourth volume. The story explores themes of identity, perseverance, and good vs. evil through the lives of strong, determined, and complicated teenagers. Each member of the Runaways must confront heartbreak and find a way to overcome their trust issues through increased interaction with the real world. Overall, this is an incredible story with an inspiring message: that everything has consequences, but with enough support, anxieties, mistakes, and losses can always be overcome.

Sexual Content

• On the title page, Gert and Victor are kissing and wrapped in each other’s embrace. The same image appears at the end of part three. It has no direct connection to the plot. It just re-emphasizes Gert and Victor’s growing relationship.

Violence

• On the title page for part two, Victor has a nightmare of Gert being strangled by one of the Gibborim. Her limbs are flailing helplessly, and a panel of Victor at the bottom of the page shows his horrified expression. Since it’s a dream, no one is injured.
• The Gibborim dismantled Doombot, a robot and friend of Victor’s, when they visited the Runaways in the last issue. The Runaways attempt to put him back together, but they accidentally trigger his evil and aggressive coding. Doombot turns on and attempts to destroy them. A few punches are thrown, and Karolina strikes him with lightning. He keeps fighting until Molly jumps on him and pulls out some of his wires. No one is grievously injured, though Victor is temporarily unconscious.
• While patrolling for crime, Nico and Karolina encounter three individuals working together for unknown purposes. Karolina blasts one of them with her magic, which looks like rainbow lightning. One of the bad guys is thrown to the ground. Nico casts a spell to make them dance, which ends the fight.

Drugs and Alcohol

• None

Language

• None

Supernatural

• Nico is a magician who uses a staff to cast spells against their enemies. She does so a couple of times. When she casts a spell, she speaks a command, and colorful streaks of light explode from the staff, streaming towards their target to complete Nico’s command.
• When Alex leaves the Runaways’ hideout to go back home, Molly follows him. She pesters him with questions about being dead. Alex says, “I don’t really have ghost powers.”
• A man on the bus starts bothering Molly, so Alex grabs his wrist. One panel shows Alex grabbing the wrist normally, but the next shows the two with a background of green smoke, and Alex’s eyes are grey and cloudy. In the next panel, the man on the bus runs away. Alex explains, “When people touch me, they feel like they’re touching a corpse. Because they are.”
• After Alex and Molly get to Alex’s house, Alex asks Molly to break into a locked room. She punches through the wall, and debris flies everywhere.
• On the way home from school, Karolina saves a little girl from being flattened by a car. Karolina can fly, and when she does, her skin and hair transform to a rainbow tint. She picks up the girl and flies her away. After the incident with the little girl, Karolina develops a passion for saving people, and she is depicted flying and with her multicolored skin a couple of times.
• After Karolina gets a taste for the superhero life, she convinces Nico to join her in patrolling for crime. While out, they stumble upon three bad guys working together for unknown purposes. One of them can cast a force field. The force field is blue with lightning crackling around him.

Spiritual Content

• None

by Kate Schuyler