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Chase knows what he wants.

The Original Series:

  • The opening scene where The Avengers start acting bizarrely out of character during a mission to stop The Incredible Hulk from destroying The White House. It turns out that it's just Alex playing an MMORPG with his online friends. Actually, scratch that, all of the opening scenes introducing the main characters and their families are quite humorous as well.
  • When the group spies on their parents and sees them in their supervillain get-up for the first time.
    Alex: Do you know what this means?
    Chase: Yeah, our parents are totally gay.
  • Some funny innuendo in issue 4:
    Karolina: Where am I going, anyway?
    Nico: The hospital! I've got a... a giant rod stuck inside my body!
    Chase: Heh.
  • During the team's first encounter with Old Lace, Chase thinks that she's just a hologram and tries to prove it by swatting her with a broom, convinced that the broom will go right through her. It... doesn't. His reaction is priceless.
  • During the Teenage Wasteland arc, some convenience store robbers (who turn out to be something else entirely) confuse the gang with Power Pack, a much earlier group of kid superheroes.
  • As the team reads through their copy of the Abstract, which tells the history of the Pride, they reach the part where the Pride first decided to have one heir each in order to avoid a fight over which six members of the Pride would get to live on after their plan for world destruction was completed. And why did they make this plan? Because Janet Stein, who, again, was planning on destroying the whole world in another decade, had gotten pregnant and was against getting an abortion.

The Second Series:

  • In the first issue, the Runaways take on the Wrecking Crew. Thunderball prepares to attack Gert, who has so far done nothing but go to lean against a tree.
    Gert: I've got the power to make grown men lose control of their bowels.
    Thunderball: Seriously?
    [Old Lace drops down out of the tree]
    Gert: More or less.
    • And her musings after about how she wished Old Lace had been her Bat Mizvah present, if only to have made her school days more tolerable.
  • When Nico mentions that defeating the Pride has left Los Angeles with a power vacuum that every two-bit supervillain has been trying to fill, Chase jokingly suggests that "Power Vacuum" should be Gert's new codename. Even Molly understands what he's talking about.
    Molly: Can you two go back to hating each other, please? It made me barf in my mouth less.
  • When Victor's powers suddenly emerge:
    Victor: Whoa...did you see how high I just jumped?
    Nico: Yeah. Did you see how high my stilettos are? Look closely.
    [kicks Victor in the face]
  • There's something funny about Ultron predicting that there's a 99.99% likelihood that the Avengers will have a distinct lack in diversity in the coming years — enough to let a new super who'd only recently come into his powers join the team.
  • During a shopping trip, Chase is overjoyed to find a five-pack of underwear on sale, as he's been wearing the same six pairs of underwear over and over since the team first ran away.
    Gert: Some days it is very hard to love you.
  • Apparently Xavin has an uncle whose name sounds similar to "you freak".
    Karolina: Get away from me, you freak!
    Xavin: Ewe'fareek is my uncle, Karolina. My name is Xavin!
  • Molly Worfing Wolverine, from near the front of a church, all the way through the heavy doors and across the street into a snowbank.
  • Spider-Man's appearance during the "East Coast/West Coast" arc.
    Victor: Ho... Holy...
    Gert: You're... You're...
    Spider-Man: Yes. I'm Batman.
  • In the Breather Episode before the New Pride arc begins, Molly has A Day in the Limelight where she gets kidnapped by a different team of runaways who force her to help them rob a bank. The story itself isn't especially humorous, but the following issue reveals that she made her way back to the Hostel... and got grounded by Nico, who found her explanation of where she'd been to be absurd.
  • "HELP! I'M BEING KIDNAPPED BY AN EVIL BLACK MAN FROM THE 1980s!" "Dude, you don't have to bring race into this."
  • Issue 17 has Nico and Gert fighting and making up at the same time, leaving Victor confused as to what was happening.
  • Xavin, a former Child Soldier, is absolutely livid when Molly beats them at Stratego.
  • During the battle with the Gibborim, Victor tries to do a Fastball Special with Molly. Molly is the strongest member of the team. Guess who gets to be Wolverine.
  • The "Dead-End Kids" arc:
    Nico: I told you like ten times to stay out of my stuff.
    Molly: But we're heisting! Why couldn't you wear normal-person stockings anyway? I'm gonna have waffle-face.
    • Chase talking to himself while waiting for the others to carry out their part of the heist.
    Chase: KKcht. Eagle One to German guys from Die Hard, what is your position? KKRrzt. This is German Guys, we are splitting up a bazillion dollars in diamonds and primo weed while you freeze your ass off up there pretending you have a walkie talkie, over. KHHHT.
    • "Why aren't you awesomed by me?!"
    • Nico's first encounter with the Difference Engine, a robot who is the height of technology... for 1907. He tries to scan her against his catalog of known villains. It takes several minutes, his teammates in the Upward Path look incredibly annoyed, and Nico has a "WTF?" expression on her face. Finally, a punch card comes out, informing him that she's not in the catalogs. Which everyone already knew.
    • Molly and Karolina take Klara to a restaurant, where she proceeds to pig out, trying to eat both a roll and a spoonful of peas. Simultaneously.
    "Mmhhff... frrgv me..."
    • In the middle of the arc, there's a rather serious moment when the Witchbreaker is torturing Nico, but Nico's retort to the Witchbreaker is pretty funny in its own way:
    Witchbreaker: I am going to hurt you some more. Do you understand why?
    Nico: Because you're evil, insane, have no friends and no life and nothing to do 'cause they haven't invented reruns of "Golden Girls" yet?
    • When Victor starts getting obvious about his thing with Lillie, which is shortly after he and Nico got together:
    Molly: "Victor's been kind of a ho-bag lately."
    • Molly's first curse: "1907 is ass."
      • Later, when Nico announces that Lillie will be coming back to the present with them, Victor tries to apologize, but she shuts him down.
      "You're a toaster and she's a ho."

The Third Series:

  • Molly telling Chase that there's a team meeting while he's doing some work on his upgraded fistigons, when he stalls:
    Molly: Don't make me pick you up and carry you.
    [Gilligan Cut]
    Chase: Put me down, you little gorilla!
  • At the opening of the "Rock Zombies" arc, we discover that not only has Klara learned how to use a Wiimote, she's also learned how to cheat at videogames.
  • The Runaways' first encounter with the Young X-Men is full of hilarity.
    Nico: Okay, see? This is why we should never leave the house.
    Klara: Lord save us... more demons!!
    Victor: Thaaaaat's not helping, Klara.
  • After fighting a giant serpent-monster that sprang up during a game of Truth or Dare, Karolina (who by this point has come out as a lesbian) is asked if she ever has considered trying being with a guy. Karolina's pissed response is to point out how the incredibly phallic monster they just defeated made her even less inclined than usual to consider the idea, leaving the rest of the team scrambling for Brain Bleach. Or in Victor's case, outright erase the memory.
    • During that same game, Karolina asks Nico who's the best kisser out of her, Chase, Victor and Alex. Nico tries to get out of it, but eventually snaps and says Karolina. Chase is okay with this.
      • Klara, who just walked in, is appalled.
  • In the opening issue of the final arc, Nico is concerned that Klara is spending too much time watching TV, and asks Molly to talk to her, and maybe "explain about the dangers of vitamin D deficiency." Molly... doesn't quite deliver this message:
    Molly: Hey, KLAAARAAAA! Hey Klara, Nico says you're deficient!
  • Commander Deering and his goons are utterly stymied by Klara's living forest.
    Deering: Someone tell me. Do we need to start recruiting singing guys in tights with magic swords? Again?!
  • After Hunter Stein breaches the forest of vines, Nico tries to come up with a way of securing him while she tries to get Chase's input on what to do with him. Her solution turns out to be having Hunter sit down while Molly stands over him while holding a massive rock over her head.
  • Nico uses magic to dispel Klara's vines... only to find the team is now surrounded by armed paramilitary goons who have only been held back because the vines were attacking them. Desperate to provide some cover, she suddenly shouts out "ABRAHAM LINCOLN!", which creates an extremely rickety-looking cabin around the team. A horrified Karolina demands to know what the fuck she was thinking.

The Fourth Series:

  • In the first issue, Nico desperately seeks to save Gert's life, and thus uses magic to summon a doctor. Said doctor turns out to be a podiatrist who was brushing her teeth at that very moment.
    • After Gert has been saved, Nico wipes the podiatrist's memory and sends her back home but forgets about the x-ray goggles that she gave her. When the podiatrist wakes up, the first thing she sees is her significant other's skull.
  • As sad as it is hearing Nico and Chase recount how the team fell apart, Gert's increasing incredulousness at Nico and Chase's incompetence is hilarious, particularly when they reach the part where the state took away Klara, who joined the team after Gert's death.
    Gert: Klara? Good job, Nico. You guys lost kids I haven't even met.
  • A bit of Black Comedy when Gert wonders where everybody else went:
    Nico: Two years is a long time, Gert. A lot of things have changed.
    Gert: Why are you suddenly talking to me as if I'm six years old and my potbellied pig just died?
    Nico: Gert—
    Gert: Oh my god, what happened? Did you drop Molly off at a "nice farm"?
  • How do Nico, Chase, and Gert get back to the Hostel? They call up a Lyft driver, who is apparently not the least bit perturbed about the fact that the three passengers are drenched in blood.
  • In Issue #3, as Chase, Gert, and Nico wait for Karolina to answer her door, her neighbor comes out, sees Old Lace, stares blankly at the large dinosaur in the hallway, and then elects to go right back inside.
    • Later Gert mentions if the team was an actual band, maybe they would have stayed together longer. Old Lace imagines them as one. The fact it looks like a reference to Jabberjaw only makes it better.
  • In Issue #4, Victor finally comes back to life... and finds himself at Molly's mercy, as she's always wanted one of those Barbie hairdresser heads and he has nice hair...
  • Issue #5: Victor's reason not to trust Molly's grandmother? She raised two supervillains who wore fishnet masks.
  • In the same issue, Chase's rallying cry while Victor is tied to his chest.
    Chase: Get your shoes on, girls. We've got a kind, accomplished elderly woman to clobber!
  • Chase shows up for Molly's parent-teacher conference wearing a t-shirt that reads "Problematic Daddy".
  • In Issue #8:
    • Karolina introduces her girlfriend, Julie Power, to the group. Reactions include:
      Molly: OMG, YOU'RE LIGHTSPEED! I watched "Power Pack: UNPACKED, A Six-Part Documentary" — and you were my favorite. I love your rainbow trail — can I see your rainbow trail? Will you sign my Power Pack poster? Did you really get your powers from an alien seahorse? I love seahorses! Did people really call you MOLECULA, MISTRESS OF DENSITY? I told people to call me Princess Powerful, but nobody ever does.
    • The team fights Doctor Doom. Molly tries to do her patented charge-and-punch attack... and Doom seizes her by the ankle and holds her upside-down with one hand. A few panels later, we see that he's still holding her upside-down. She looks incredibly annoyed.
  • Issue #9:
    • Chase and the Doombot fight over who gets to fix Victor:
      Chase: Now wait a minute, spare parts, I'm the one who's fixing Victor.
      Doombot: I found him wired to a Nintendo Wii.
      Chase: We were taking a break!
    • Their arguments continue later on as well:
      Doombot: Chase Stein, you make me long for Reed Richards.
      Chase: You longing for Reed Richards explains a lot... wait, you are a Doombot, right?
    • Victor, who is still a disembodied head, gets taped to a Roomba and acts as if he was driving a sports car:
    Victor: (Molly, I need you to lift up my sunglasses) You babes need a ride to the drive in? (Okay Molly, drop 'em) Just got some new wheels.
  • When the gang are talking about what movies to watch now that Molly is old enough for PG-13 movies, Gert insists that they watch Jurassic Park... and Old Lace looks so happy at the suggestion.
  • As the team goes off to fight Abigail, Gert suggests that they try and demoralize her by telling her that One Direction broke up. Nico informs Gert that One Direction did break up.
    • During the fight itself, Get tries to rush Abigail... and gets tossed flat on her ass. It turns out that Abigail has learned several martial arts over the years.
  • When the team finally locates Klara, the look on her face is not exactly enthusiastic. It's more of an "Oh God, these idiots found me" look.
  • Klara's reason for not wanting to go back to the Runaways? She's afraid of dying in a fire, just like Alex... and the Pride... and Victor's mom... and Gert. She is remarkably Genre Savvy.
  • Issue #14 gives us "Interlude with Dinosaurs", a short story told entirely from Old Lace's perspective as she wanders the Hostel. Highlights include her accidentally breaking up a romantic moment between Gert and Victor, her getting in a fight with Rufus, and Karolina offering one of her vegan sandwiches to Gib, who sniffs it suspiciously and then throws it towards Old Lace.
  • In Issue #16, Nico casts a spell that generates a Christmas party, complete with gifts... which all turn out to be socks. Even Gib gets a pair, and they are enormous.
  • In Issue #20, it turns out that Gib's never actually eaten anything in his life, and thus doesn't even understand the mechanics of chewing. This is illustrated by the others handing him a donut; even when they put it directly in his mouth for him, he doesn't realize that he's supposed to close his mouth around it, and thus it just falls out. And then he puts Old Lace's arm in his mouth.
  • How does Nico recognize Karolina in her makeshift superhero costume? She recognizes her thighs.
  • In #24, Nico and Karolina decide to become superheroes, but in their first actual fight with criminals, Nico can't come up with any spells that she hasn't already used, and thus resorts to "DANCE!"... which backfires because the criminals want to dance with her and Karolina.
  • #25 starts off with Molly sacrificing a stuffed toy, with a huge knife, to try and feed Gib. Shortly after, Chase gets a phone call from an irate Nico, whose call-photo looks as grumpy as she sounds.
  • In issue #26, the team relocates to Doc Justice's mansion. As part of their new living arrangements, the girls have a dorm room, with a sign helpfully admonishing them that girls are to stay in their room, while the guys stay in their room. Apparently, Doc Justice is aware of the sort of things they got up to in the Hostel.
    "THE REC ROOM IS FOR RECREATION."
  • The team gets outfitted for costumes. Chase and Karolina are happy with theirs, but Nico's initial costume is extremely stripperific, and her second one is an obvious '80s throwback. By the time they get to the third costume, a hideous cloak over a black bodysuit, she just shrugs and accepts it. Molly's first costume, meanwhile, is horrendously inappropriate for a thirteen-year-old.
    • While everyone else is either horrified or making snarky comments about Nico's skimpy costume, Karolina has a big, stupid grin on her face.
  • In issue #32, Doombot moves into the Hostel, convinced that the Runaways need someone to keep an eye on them.
    Doombot: Because apparently, the moment I look away, you will run off and join a suicide cult.
    Victor: It wasn't a suicide cult. It was supposed to be a superhero team.
    Doombot: Same difference.
  • Chase insists that Molly go back to school. He even wrote a note to her teacher to explain the time she was away.
    Molly: "Please excuse Molly's absences. She accidentally got recruited by a murderer."
    Chase: I said you had mono!
  • The "Problematic Daddy" t-shirt returns, this time worn by Gib.
  • Having moved into the Hostel, Doombot starts trying to lay down rules, including an 8 PM curfew.
  • Wolverine grabs Molly to try and carry her away. Molly manages to reverse the hold so that she ends up holding him.
  • While fighting demons, Pixie mentions that her pixie dust has no effect on them. Nico asks what part of her body produces the dust.
  • Amid everything else that's happening in issue #36, Doombot... vacuums the Hostel.
  • The Grand Finale is mostly a Downer Ending, but has some bits of levity:
    • Gert does not take it well when she finds out that her future self has been hooking up with Chase, letting out a string of profanity that can be heard as far away as Molly's room.
      • It is, in fact, so loud that Klara can hear it through Molly's cellphone.
      Gert: FUCK OFF FOREVER, CHASE!
      Klara: Honestly, the language.
    • Molly tries to explain Krakoa to Klara, who is utterly baffled and decides that she wants no part of it, though she would like to hear more about the plants.
    • As Karolina makes her goodbyes to her teammates, she gives Gert a full-on hug. Gert's expression is priceless.
  • An implicit funny moment: It's been two years since Gert died. The Runaways got involved in the first Civil War. This means from the perspective of the people of the Marvel Universe, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, Siege, Chaos War, Fear Itself, Avengers vs. X-Men, Infinity, Secret Wars, Civil War II, and many other world-threatening events happened in the span of two years. It's a miracle people are still sane.

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Alternative Title(s): Rainbow Rowells Runaways, Runaways Rainbow Rowell

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