Morikawa, Michiru – Run Boys Run

Website

Run Boys Run

Quick, judge a book by its cover. Put together what you think this book is about in your head based on that cover before I say anything about it. Ready? This is a comic about three friends who run to and from school every day. One is a cyborg of some indeterminate origin, one is the displaced prince of a strange realm who can also transform into a giant wolf, and one is the magical descendant of a powerful witch who is also bad at running. Right around what you had in your head, right? Michiru does a fantastic job of setting these characters up right away, then delves more into their origins and how they met with shorter stories later in the comic. To start things off we get the explanation of why these kids never ride the bus (although their classmates remain in the dark): because they’re hunting shadow monsters. That the wolf prince can detect by smell, so he’s the one leading them around. That’s the only area where I wish I had gotten more information out of this comic, as I don’t get the motivation for the monsters or what their overall deal is. Then again, it’s perfectly acceptable for the motivation of a monster to be “being a monster,” so maybe I’m overthinking things here. A confrontation is had with this monster, battle ensues, and we get to see how all three of them handle themselves in a crisis situation. And like I said at the top, there’s a lot more to this comic than one measly monster fight, as we even get detailed bios for some of the side characters, which implies to me that there’s more coming with this crew/artist. Here’s hoping, as that was an intriguing first issue and I’d like to see more. If this is all there is ever, well, it is self-contained, so no worries about a lingering cliffhanger or anything like that. $5