Runaways grinds to a halt with surprise cancellation by Marvel

Newsarama has confirmed that Marvel Comics has canceled the Runaways comic book series, with August 11's Runaways #38 serving as the surprise series finale.

Runaways #38 was promoted as a celebration of the series' 100th issue between all its various volumes, which includes the return of former series artist Kris Anka and co-creator Adrian Alphona.

While details on the series finale's story are under wraps, recent issues have seen the team grow with the addition of Doombot and Gib, while Chase was found to be making out with a future version of Gert, and Nico sold a portion of her soul to a mysterious sorcerer known as the One who doubles as the Minoru family heirloom, the Staff of One.

"Bringing Runaways back was a dream come true for me," series writer Rainbow Rowell said when the 100-issue celebration was announced. "These kids are my favorite Marvel characters, and I felt like there were so many great stories we could tell with them. We'd have conversations when we were planning like, 'What can we do in six issues? What could we do in twelve? Could we get to 18? That would be amazing!' It's thrilling to be looking back now at 38 issues and to see how each of the characters has grown. And it's such an honor to be part of the team that reached this milestone with them."

Although the "milestone" Rowell referred to at the time seemed to be reaching 100 issues and counting, it is now 100 issues and done.

"This volume of Runaways is a high-water mark in my long time at Marvel," Marvel editor Nick Lowe said. "This book and characters are incredible and it's never too late to run away with us!"

Newsarama recently pointed out both Runaways and another Marvel teen title Children of the Atom could be canceled in this surprise fashion, and at least for Runaways, that's proving to be the case.

The current volume of Runaways (by Rowell, Anka, Andres Genolet) was launched in 2017 to coincide with the live-action MCU series of the same name on Hulu. The comic ended up lasting longer than the show, albeit with two significant hiatuses - one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With 38 issues, this fourth Runaways volume is the longest to date.

Runaways #38 goes on sale on August 11, with a collection of this last arc, titled Runaways by Rainbow Rowell Volume 6: Come Away With Me, scheduled for October 5.

The Runaways are on our list of the top teen superhero teams in comic books.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)