Comic book movies are just as popular as ever, but the supply of well known heroes is starting to run short. We’ve even seen comics optioned into movies before they’ve even hit bookstands in the past year. That’s why it’s good to see some of the less recognized, but equally compelling comics get their chance at becoming movies. The latest of these is Runaways, which suffers from not having any known characters, but featuring some excellent writers.
Runaways tells the story of a group of super-powered teens who discover their parents are part of a villainous organization. The kids rally together to stop their parents and make up for their evil deeds. There are no costumes, super-hero code names, or even a team name in play here, however. While the characters do exist in the standard Marvel continuity, they are based in the less seen Los Angeles area (most of Marvel’s teams hang out in NYC).
According to JoBlo, Runaways is now on Marvel’s planned slate of movies. So how does a comic about a bunch of unknown characters earn that treatment? Easy. Runaways was created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. Vaughan is best known as a Lost writer as well as the creator of Y: The Last Man, which is already being adapted into a movie. When the creators left the series, the writing duties were picked up by a little guy by the name of Joss Whedon. Now tell me that doesn’t have instant marketability.
Right now no talent is attached to the adaptation, including cast, writers, and director. Personally, I’d like to see Whedon step behind the project. Not only has he already written the characters (albeit slowly – the series suffered a few delays while he was penning the comic), but he’s shown he can do action with Serenity. For some reason, I have this strong desire to see Whedon get a comic book movie, so why not Runaways?
