Runaways Appreciation 2020

[Personamanx]

Even if she had the witch arm, it was still very much a magical instrument she used. She has never demonstrated any spellcasting ability on her own, even if the potential is there. Alex Wilder would be a better instructor.

I mean, if Nico is qualified to teach spellcraft than literally any of the Runaways are. Gib, Topher, and Rufus would at least have a passable chance of constructing a lesson plan.

[Pav]

But unless she's letting her students borrow the Staff, what can she actually teach them?
She doesn't know how to cast magic without it

Also it's ridiculously dangerous for her to be wasting spells teaching other people, every spell she casts at that school is a spell she can't use later when her life is in danger.

Even if she had the witch arm, it was still very much a magical instrument she used. She has never demonstrated any spellcasting ability on her own, even if the potential is there. Alex Wilder would be a better instructor.

I mean, if Nico is qualified to teach spellcraft than literally any of the Runaways are. Gib, Topher, and Rufus would at least have a passable chance of constructing a lesson plan.

1) Let's not pretend that Nico makes good decisions as a regular rule.

2) I think the notion is that she's a creative spellcaster based on her ability to come up with meaningful yet unique phrases every time she needs to cast a spell. Just a guess.

Still, she doesn't strike me as a realistic choice for a teacher either. She should very much still be a student -- or at least a T.A.

-Pav, who really hopes the return of Strange Academy means the return of Runaways as well...

[Drops Of Venus]

But unless she's letting her students borrow the Staff, what can she actually teach them?
She doesn't know how to cast magic without it

Also it's ridiculously dangerous for her to be wasting spells teaching other people, every spell she casts at that school is a spell she can't use later when her life is in danger.

I guess it's possible that her class is purely theoretical and not practical, so she doesn't have to actually DO anything. She could help the students by giving them tips on how to come up with new spells. Like learning new languages, broadening their vocabulary, etc, which are things that she has done herself to help her with her magic limitations. And if she ever needs to give them examples of spells, she could always write them down for them instead of wasting one of the Staff spells. I mean, it IS a little lame that a magic teacher wouldn't be able to actually do magic for her students, but that's comics for you. Stupider things have happened.

2) I think the notion is that she's a creative spellcaster based on her ability to come up with meaningful yet unique phrases every time she needs to cast a spell. Just a guess.

Still, she doesn't strike me as a realistic choice for a teacher either. She should very much still be a student -- or at least a T.A.

-Pav, who really hopes the return of Strange Academy means the return of Runaways as well...

Yeah, that was pretty much my take as well. And I agree that she should've been a student. Maybe we'll find out she's doing both; teaching the younger, more inexperienced ones, but also taking some classes from the more experienced staff. I think that would be a nice middle ground for her.

[Personamanx]

I would find it entertaining if this was a School of Rock/Bad Teacher hustle. Pretending to be qualified for the pay cheque while secretly getting her students ready for a rock concert.

[Sutekh]

Yeah, that was pretty much my take as well. And I agree that she should've been a student. Maybe we'll find out she's doing both; teaching the younger, more inexperienced ones, but also taking some classes from the more experienced staff. I think that would be a nice middle ground for her.

Agreed, and I wonder how much her invitation to teach isn't a backdoor way of surrounding her with more (and less!) experienced magic-users, so that she can learn at least how much she has yet to learn (and see the shenanigans that untrained spellcasters can get up to), in sort of a 'learn by example' way, but without being so condescending about it as to drive her away by saying, 'girl, Imma take that staff away because you have no idea what you're doing' (which would *totally* be how Tony Stark or Carol Danvers tried to deal with it...).

And if she learns some actual magic in the process, at least baseline witchy stuff like wardings and locator spells and communicating with spirits and detecting magic, she'll be far better equipped than just 'the one with the magic staff she barely knows how to use, that's obliterating/replacing her every time she does...'

It would be a welcome change to have her be the source of her own power, and not a magic stick she stole from her parents.

Ditto, I would love for Gert to get something going on as well. Perhaps locate some cache of her parent's future-tech that repairs her after an injury, but also upgrades her with some nano-injectors under her fingernails / nematocystic cells on her skin's surface that can inject sedatives (or more lethal toxins...) to poke at the foreshadowing of her originally calling herself 'Arsenic' to her dinos 'Old Lace.'

[Fokken]

It would be an interesting twist if the Staff of One was more of a trap/crutch for wizards/witches instead of a power source, and this spirit inside is actually just a malicious piece of **** manipulating Nico into believing they are the true source of the power, when they are merely a prisoner. Like....a reverse Genie?
The staff itself would be a conduit to direct/enhance the user's magical energy but requires a blood sacrifice to activate.

Then again, that wouldn't explain how other non-magical folk were able to use it. Oh well. haha

[Sutekh]

It would be an interesting twist if the Staff of One was more of a trap/crutch for wizards/witches instead of a power source, and this spirit inside is actually just a malicious piece of **** manipulating Nico into believing they are the true source of the power, when they are merely a prisoner. Like....a reverse Genie?
The staff itself would be a conduit to direct/enhance the user's magical energy but requires a blood sacrifice to activate.

Then again, that wouldn't explain how other non-magical folk were able to use it. Oh well. haha

It could be that *everybody* has a smidgen of 'personal power,' but not the deep (and slowly refilling over time) well that a true practitioner has, so even a rando off the street can squeeze out a few spells with the help of the Staff of One, before having all of their limited 'personal magic' drained, possibly *forever...* (Where someone like Nico or Dr. Strange or Ilyanna or whomever has enough to fuel dozens of spells, and their magic recovers much more quickly, perhaps pulling in 'ambient magic' or whatever to refill their own depleted reserves?)

It's a salvageable theory, and an interesting one, that the Staff of One seems like a great deal, but only is to a true practitioner, being something that will use up and discard anyone without the magical potential to survive it.

It could even be part of the 'growth cycle' of the (demonic?) entity that is the Staff of One. It 'grants wishes' of a sort, drawing upon the users own magical potential to power those wishes, and for each wish it saves a fraction of that power for itself, slowly growing and changing, until it's finally gotten enough from it's dozens of users over the centuries to evolve into it's final form...

(Or it is a pre-existing entity, bound in this form, a literal 'evil genie,' and it's instead stealing tiny bits of personal power with each 'spell' to erode it's chains a little more, until it can, at first, manifest to the holder, and then manipulate and influence them, and finally break free completely, a dark reflection of it's current holder (or possessing her?) perhaps with elements / personality traits from previous holders (such as her mother).)

[Fokken]

It could be that *everybody* has a smidgen of 'personal power,' but not the deep (and slowly refilling over time) well that a true practitioner has, so even a rando off the street can squeeze out a few spells with the help of the Staff of One, before having all of their limited 'personal magic' drained, possibly *forever...* (Where someone like Nico or Dr. Strange or Ilyanna or whomever has enough to fuel dozens of spells, and their magic recovers much more quickly, perhaps pulling in 'ambient magic' or whatever to refill their own depleted reserves?)

It's a salvageable theory, and an interesting one, that the Staff of One seems like a great deal, but only is to a true practitioner, being something that will use up and discard anyone without the magical potential to survive it.

It could even be part of the 'growth cycle' of the (demonic?) entity that is the Staff of One. It 'grants wishes' of a sort, drawing upon the users own magical potential to power those wishes, and for each wish it saves a fraction of that power for itself, slowly growing and changing, until it's finally gotten enough from it's dozens of users over the centuries to evolve into it's final form...

(Or it is a pre-existing entity, bound in this form, a literal 'evil genie,' and it's instead stealing tiny bits of personal power with each 'spell' to erode it's chains a little more, until it can, at first, manifest to the holder, and then manipulate and influence them, and finally break free completely, a dark reflection of it's current holder (or possessing her?) perhaps with elements / personality traits from previous holders (such as her mother).)

And perhaps the blood sacrifice to summon the staff itself (provided by Nico) is the temporary "fuel" or "spark" allowing non-magic-users like Chase to operate it, however briefly that may be. <shrug>

[Personamanx]

I don't like over thinking the staff, it worked better as a tool anyone could use that had limitations, and loopholes. It just bound itself to Nico, and before that her mother. The Witch Arm is more interesting to me as something that appeared to come from her own inherent abilities/untapped potential. Tina, and Robert had plenty of tools/spells at their disposal, it'd be interesting to have Nico explore some of that Vishanti magic.

[Sutekh]

Tina, and Robert had plenty of tools/spells at their disposal, it'd be interesting to have Nico explore some of that Vishanti magic.

IIRC, the original submission/write-up for Runaways had the Minoru's use a book of spells, not a 'Staff of One.' It might be interesting to let Nico find a hidden cache / lair of her parents where they keep a book of magic, which she could use to develop some actual magical technique / spellcasting outside of the Staff.

There could even be a plot point behind why it was locked away. It was stolen by Tina on her way out the door at Kamar-Taj, and it didn't much like her (or Robert) plundering it's secrets for their own selfish purposes, so they had to keep it bound and locked away under various warding spells, so that Dr. Strange couldn't find it and reclaim it. It might like Nico a lot more, especially after she helps free it from being locked away (and learning that Tina and Robert are dead, and it's the fault of Nico and her friends), and choose to remain in her keeping 'for the time being.'

Bang, new source of magical training / replacement for the Staff, and it delves all the way back to the roots of the character, the original Runaways proposal!

[Personamanx]

I'd be game with that, Nico having her own Ultimate book of Spells she has to master. I'm pretty sure the book in the pitch became the Abstract, but this can be completely divorced from the Gibborim. The series has never drawn as much from the Pride's villain archetypes as it could have, it'd be a good avenue of exploration.

[Sutekh]

I'd be game with that, Nico having her own Ultimate book of Spells she has to master. I'm pretty sure the book in the pitch became the Abstract, but this can be completely divorced from the Gibborim. The series has never drawn as much from the Pride's villain archetypes as it could have, it'd be a good avenue of exploration.

They've gone a little bit into Karolina's Majesdanian background ties, but still not enough for my tastes, and now in this latest run dealt a little bit with Molly's parents past, with her grandmother and her psychic cats, but it's true that they've haven't really touched on the other kids parental legacies continuing on into the present.

Did the Minoru's make magical pacts that are now coming due? Did they run a small cult / coven of flunkies whom they lured with parlor tricks, and exploited, for the most part, who have now turned to ever more dangerous attempts at tapping real power for themselves, with no guidance, unleashing all sorts of magical havoc on themselves and others with access to some of their former patrons resources, and not a crapton of good judgement or adult supervision?

Is the Wilder's gang influence now flailing about without anyone to lead them, leading to all sorts of gang war flare ups in LA, formerly coordinated by the Wilders, who had the gangs all coordinated to stay out of each others ways, and the cops equally coordinated to only prune out competitors and elements they deemed necessary to sacrifice (and is Alex, ensconced in his family home, answering his dad's emails and beginning to bring things back under some semblance of control?).

Are there caches of alien or future tech (or stuff from the past, like preserved dino DNA) or just advanced tech prototypes waiting for Karolina or Gert or Chase to find them?

Are some variation on Kang, or the Time Keepers, or Temporal Variance Authority, looking for the 'time portico' to impound and drag back to whatever future Gert's parents took it from? For that matter, do we even know if both of Gert's parents are actually from the future? It could be neat to learn that her mother was a researcher from the future exploring socially relevant folk of the past, and met an ahead-of-his-time man in the warring city-states era of Italy and snatched him away from certain execution. (Gert's dad is Machiavelli, saved from dying at the hands of angry political rivals, you read it here first!)

Did Molly's parents and their psychic mutation have anything to do with research started by, or spun off of that of, one Nathaniel Essex, and was 'grandma' one of his research assistants? (And did he lose interest after the whole Gibborim thing, as he felt that the supernatural enhancements they got to their powers after the pact 'corrupted the results of the experiment' and he washed his hands of it and walked away?) And would he be interested in Molly now, not 'tainted' by the Gibborim dealings of her parents, but just 'a normal mutant?'

There's a half-dozen trade-worthy story arcs just waiting to be told. At least one for each Runaway.

[Personamanx]

Honestly, I've thought for a while that it'd be neat if Molly's grandmother knew Dr. Sarah Kinney or had some kind of working or mentor/student relationship. It'd be a great way to finally get the Molly/Honey badger team-up that so many people want to see happen.

[Factor]

Runaways #32 will see print in February according to BC:

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/rain...s-in-february/

If true, I'm sad that it will take so long, but I'm also relieved the series will get at least another arc.

[Fokken]

They've gone a little bit into Karolina's Majesdanian background ties, but still not enough for my tastes, and now in this latest run dealt a little bit with Molly's parents past, with her grandmother and her psychic cats, but it's true that they've haven't really touched on the other kids parental legacies continuing on into the present.

Did the Minoru's make magical pacts that are now coming due? Did they run a small cult / coven of flunkies whom they lured with parlor tricks, and exploited, for the most part, who have now turned to ever more dangerous attempts at tapping real power for themselves, with no guidance, unleashing all sorts of magical havoc on themselves and others with access to some of their former patrons resources, and not a crapton of good judgement or adult supervision?

Is the Wilder's gang influence now flailing about without anyone to lead them, leading to all sorts of gang war flare ups in LA, formerly coordinated by the Wilders, who had the gangs all coordinated to stay out of each others ways, and the cops equally coordinated to only prune out competitors and elements they deemed necessary to sacrifice (and is Alex, ensconced in his family home, answering his dad's emails and beginning to bring things back under some semblance of control?).

Are there caches of alien or future tech (or stuff from the past, like preserved dino DNA) or just advanced tech prototypes waiting for Karolina or Gert or Chase to find them?

Are some variation on Kang, or the Time Keepers, or Temporal Variance Authority, looking for the 'time portico' to impound and drag back to whatever future Gert's parents took it from? For that matter, do we even know if both of Gert's parents are actually from the future? It could be neat to learn that her mother was a researcher from the future exploring socially relevant folk of the past, and met an ahead-of-his-time man in the warring city-states era of Italy and snatched him away from certain execution. (Gert's dad is Machiavelli, saved from dying at the hands of angry political rivals, you read it here first!)

Did Molly's parents and their psychic mutation have anything to do with research started by, or spun off of that of, one Nathaniel Essex, and was 'grandma' one of his research assistants? (And did he lose interest after the whole Gibborim thing, as he felt that the supernatural enhancements they got to their powers after the pact 'corrupted the results of the experiment' and he washed his hands of it and walked away?) And would he be interested in Molly now, not 'tainted' by the Gibborim dealings of her parents, but just 'a normal mutant?'

There's a half-dozen trade-worthy story arcs just waiting to be told. At least one for each Runaway.

Sutekh your BRAIN astounds me!!! You have so many incredible ideas!!!