Creep Factor 4
This issue is notable in only how it reinforces plot points from the prior issue hamfistedly and increases the skeeve factor, to the point where it replaced Arena's vile factor at this point.
The Good
Yes, there is some good here. Some of the Hero-Villain interaction verges on being human, which for this book is saying something. It's rare, so it stands out all the more. Also, having a soft spot for some ridiculous villains, a few of the cameos were worth it. It stirred my heart to see the Grapplers again--even though they go Cougar on Chase.
The twists of Bloodstone being an accepted part of the Villain lair and then getting them to go after Arcade right away was a decent one. Not great, but decent. It's deeply stupid, extremely flawed and short sighted shock value, but interesting.
The preview for the third issue raised a concern regarding the lazy/ugly character design Undercover has had since its inception, with all the girls in slinky black dresses with only the cut of their tops being different. It was a bad design choice, but I like the no-prize reason for it that I came up with: Damian Hellstorm has no fashion sense.
The Bad
Hazmat's dance scene with Anachronism of them moving on from lost loves just feels "Too soon" on a narrative level. Why have them go through the loss if they're going to be over it in less than a year?
The exposition dump at the beginning was outright painful to read through. It doubly bad because it reinforces an annoying plot point from the last issue--something we didn't need or want to see. Namely, Chase and Nico being on the out with each other. Seeing these two who have swapped spit in the past be so mean to each other just hurts. No Runaways fan wants to see it, nor does it really add anything to their character. In fact, it's a disincentive for any Runaways fan to read this book.
Cammi being the only 'Level headed" one is an explainable plot point, but it's extremely annoying. Reeks of favoritism that lingers over from Arena.
Dennis Hopeless is a cowardly writer. He flees from topics like teenage/underage sex and moral complexities on a regular basis. Here, he has a fear of underage drinking. These are villains, criminals and murderers! In a bar! But no alcohol for them! Sure, they're legal to drink in many states and even more countries and they aren't in the US even, but Dennis Hopeless still flees from it. Doing so really undermines the entire idea of this being a villain place. It's more like a psuedo-edgy "Get Right with Christ" meeting than Villainy Relaxing.
The Ugly
I mentioned the exposition dump already, and how it's just bad to have them. However, it moves into ugly because the conversation between Nico and Chase is talking about stuff that they already know about! It's nice for the audience to hear (and makes me wish we could have seen a lock-and-load montage instead), but there's literally no in-universe reason for them to be talking the way they are about what they are talking about.
Damian hitting on Nico. It just skeeved the hell out of me. Sure, like Hazmat, she's been aged to 18 for no other reason than to be able to make her boobs bigger, but it still comes off as creepy, and I can only see the barest of intent of it.
The intentionally continued creeping on Death Locket (who now has the "Nanomachines" that Dennis Hopeless likes to rely on for his plot conveniences) just seems like more of the same. We've already had this established, there's no need to see it again. I mean, there was--to make the joke throw-away character Excavator from Volume 2 of the Runaways look good--even better than Chase. There's something intrinsically wrong with that very idea as well which just turns my stomach. We see a well rounded character dumbed down into a joke, and a joke turned into a well rounded character?
Using two members of the Runaways cast to do it. And this is supposed to appeal to them how?
Finally, slang. The slang in this is just painfully dated to about 4 years ago (about the same time anyone gave a damn about "Skanky Leg" which also gets plugged). It's more of the same sort of "Trying to hide that I'm really a 30+ white dude" style of teenage writing that makes them sound more like caricatures than human beings.
Overall, Dennis Hopeless continues his track record of sub par writing with a few hints of things that could be interesting if he did them intentionally, but the lingering idea of his belligerence and simplicity from other works dampens those hopes quickly.
Annoying Character Award goes to the Entire Villain Bar, for being the tamest villain bar in existence.
