Loners

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Loners

Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Runaways (vol. 2) #1
Created by Brian K. Vaughan
Adrian Alphona
In story information
Base(s) L.A.
Member(s) Rick Jones
Turbo
Phil Urich
Darkhawk
Lightspeed
Ricochet
Spider-Woman III
Hollow
Namie
Geoffrey Wilder magically posing as Chamber

Loners (originally named Excelsior) are a group of Marvel Comics characters, a support group for former teenage superheroes, founded by Turbo of the New Warriors and Phil Urich, the heroic former Green Goblin. Its stated goal is to help fellow teenage superheroes to adjust to mundane lives and dissuade other super-powered teenagers from becoming heroes. They were introduced in "True Believers," the first arc of Runaways (vol. 2). The story and team titles are an in-joke. Stan Lee often uses the phrase "Excelsior" and refers to fans as true believers in his "Bullpen Bulletin" in Marvel comic books and Who Wants to Be a Superhero?

At the close of the "True Believers" arc, it was revealed that the group was secretly sponsored by Rick Jones on the behalf of Captain America, who hoped to ensure the Runaways do not get into trouble. Following Excelsior's battle with Ultron, Rick offered to sponsor the team full-time.

Contents

[edit] Current members

[edit] Sponsor

[edit] Founders

  • Michiko "Mickey" Musashi, Turbo, formerly of the New Warriors. Deciding that she would do more good with her education than she would adventuring, she retired the Torpedo armor and returned to investigative journalism. With the help of Phil Urich, she got a job at the Los Angeles Times.
  • Phil Urich, the fourth, heroic, incarnation of the Green Goblin. After losing his costume and equipment during the Onslaught saga, he finished college and earned a degree in journalism.

[edit] Attendees

  • Johnny Gallo, Ricochet of the Slingers. He is a mutant who has an early warning sense much like Spider-Man's, as well as enhanced agility, sensory perception, amazing targeting skills with thrown objects, and coordination. He decided to quit adventuring after becoming disillusioned with his prospects as a superhero.
  • Chris Powell, Darkhawk. He decided to give up his powers after his nightmares became too intense for him to handle. Chris is short-tempered and prone to violence, especially in his Darkhawk form, attacking not only his targets, but his own teammates.
  • Julie Power, Lightspeed (former codenames include Molecula and Starstreak) of Power Pack. Convinced that the superhero lifestyle robbed her of her childhood, she quit adventuring and moved to California, hoping to become an actress.

[edit] Newbies

  • Mattie Franklin, Spider-Woman. After being exploited to create Mutant Growth Hormone, Mattie moved to Los Angeles to start over and has been going to the meetings regularly.
  • Hollow, formerly known as Penance of Generation X. It is unknown who is now residing in this hollow body.
  • Namie, a mystery female character that is not one of the previously introduced teen female characters[1]. Cebulski previously hinted that she does have ties to the Marvel Universe, eventually outed as a cyborg and the new model for the Red Ronin; UJ1-XD

[edit] Former attendees

  • Geoffrey Wilder, a time-displaced member of Runaways enemy The Pride, disguised as Jonothan "Jono" Starsmore, better known as Chamber, a former member of Generation X and the X-Men. Geoffrey only used the group as an opportunity to gain intel on the Runaways and never returned to them after the end of the "True Believers" arc. His false identity was hinted at by Molly Hayes when she asked who he thought he was fooling with his "British accent".

[edit] From Runaways to The Loners

Originally debuting in the book Runaways under the name Excelsior, the team received their own limited series. However, the title of the series and the team was changed from Excelsior to "The Loners," due to copyright issues as Stan Lee holds a trademark on the term "Excelsior!".[2] [3] The title premiered on April 11, 2007 and will run for 6 issues, with the possible option of becoming an ongoing series should sales warrant it.[4] Its creative team is C.B. Cebulski (writer) and Karl Moline (artist).[5] A preview of the new book in Wizard #181 shows that the team will have three new members: Penance (who will be known as Hollow), Spider-Woman,[6] and another female in a ninja outfit, who was revealed to be "Namie", the second version of the Red Ronin.

After the miniseries, The Loners appear in a special ten page Christmas story within the 2007 Marvel Holiday Special.

[edit] Story
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The first issue opens with Julie Power apologizing to Phil Urich on her cell phone; Phil tries to convince her not to do anything rash but fails: Julie steps off a tall building, free falls, and then saves herself by using her powers. Shortly afterwards, both Phil and Mickey Musashi discuss Julie's actions and plan their next move.

The support group meets in the basement of a church,[7] and after waiting for Julie to arrive, decide to begin without her. Mattie Franklin is asked to speak first, recalling her experiences as Spider-Woman. Julie finally arrives at the tail-end of a cell phone conversation with her brother Alex. She apologizes to the group for both her tardiness and her recent relapse.

Chris Powell insults Julie, who suggests that she has the hardest struggle of them all because she has had her powers the longest. Mattie, however, points out that although she hasn't been in the hero business as long as the rest of the group members, concealing her psionic spider-legs subjects her to constant physical pressure. After dramatically revealing her appendages, she storms out of the meeting.

Outside the church, Mattie explains to Chris that she has some unfinished business with MGH dealers,[8] who exploited her in the past: she has tracked them to Los Angeles. She asks that he assist her as Darkhawk for just one mission.

Darkhawk and Spider-Woman storm the MGH dealers' hide-out and take down the dealers easily, but are attacked by the person "supplying the materials" for MGH, Nekra. Luckily, support group member Johnny Gallo (Ricochet) has followed Darkhawk and Spider-Woman to the dealers' base of operations and aids them in escaping Nekra's clutches. After defeating her, the trio discovers a list containing the names of super-villains being supplied MGH by the dealers and decide to investigate further, while agreeing not to tell the rest of the group.

Issue two begins a week later; Johnny contemplates what to do next. Later at a restaurant, Johnny tries to convince both Chris and Mattie to tell the rest of the support group about what they have done; Mattie insists that she needs more time to follow-up on the information they have gathered. When Johnny sarcastically reminds Mattie of her "act" during the recent group meeting, she nearly attacks him and accuses him of attending the group for selfish reasons.

At the next support group meeting, Phil mentions the MGH bust and suggests that it could be used as an additional reason to further encourage teen superheroes to establish normal lives. Johnny gets up to speak, Mattie and Chris thinking he is about to reveal their recent actions. However, he tells the group about why he moved to Los Angeles. After the Slingers disbanded his best friend Eddie McDonough, Hornet, convinced Johnny to continue as a superhero; (Ricochet admits that he did so for the glory rather than to help people). However, when Hornet was killed by Wolverine; Johnny blamed himself for his friend's death, since he refused to help him prior to the situation.

Johnny unsuccessfully tries to contact both Mattie (who ignores his call while reading over some research about Ricochet's former teammates) and Chris (who arrives at Mickey's place to take her on a date). Ricochet heads to the deserted warehouse that is their main lead; he sneaks in and is shocked to see women held under sedation in fluid-filled containers. He is attacked by the Rose's former assassin Delilah, who assumes he is the same Ricochet who betrayed her in the past.[9]

Although Ricochet defeats her, during the course of the battle one of the containers is smashed and the former Generation X mutant known as Penance emerges.

In issue four, Julie and Johnny have lunch; he's astounded by her healing abilities caused by the Kymellian changes to her DNA. Julie is intrigued by Hollow staying and Phil Urich's place, and fans the rumors about Mickey and Chris' romance. The two arrive at Marvel Studios to keep Julie's appointment for an audition.

At Phil's apartment, he does dishes and looks over at the sleeping Hollow. An image of her kissing him as the Green Goblin appears within a dinner plate, leading him to smash the plate and awaken Hollow; she does her best to comfort him.

At the audition, the director suggests Julie needs acting lessons; she leaves in a huff. She and Johnny criticize the director, who (they think) over-uses CGI effects. Another director named Mark Lowell overhears them, and mentions the troubles he has in finding good stuntmen. Julie offers both her and Johnny's services, which pleases the director but creates doubts for Johnny — the two must use their powers to perform their new jobs.

At the James Dean Observatory;[10] Chris apologizes to Mickie; she admits that she doesn't trust Mattie. Chris notices that she is not jealous of Julie; Mickey begins to blurt out a response but catches herself, and covers by mentioning that it is because Julie is focused on her acting career, not men.

Julie, dressed as the Black Cat and Johnny, dressed as Iron Fist, perform stunts — the director expresses his satisfaction. His compliments lead Julie to fly off the set; Johnny contacts Mattie and tells her that they'll have to reschedule their meeting. Julie phones her sister Katie with her news.

Back at her dressing room, the director barges in and puts the moves on Julie; she rebuffs him. He threatens to report her unauthorized use of her powers; Julie counters that there are laws to protect minors against sexual predators. The director is shocked — he was unaware that Julie is only seventeen. Julie leaves the movie set.

At the meeting, Julie speaks first. As Johnny did previously,[11] she admits to lying about her reasons for quitting superheroics. She hands out a photograph of the Power Pack, suggesting that from early childhood she needed to learn to keep her powers and other information about her siblings' secret. She admits that a Hollywood career may not happen for her, and resolves to be more honest.

Julie's final admission is interrupted by Nekra, who informs the group that she found them by using the information regarding their support group that they regularly release on the internet and to attack them.

Issue five opens up with the group being overwhelmed by Nekra. Phil and Mickey are powerless to stop the villain and only the timely arrival of Namie ends the battle. Afterwards Phil learns of Chris and Mickey being a couple. At the same time Mattie and Johnny go back to Johnny's apartment. While Johnny is taking a shower, Mattie investigates his place. Johnny catches her and Mattie seduces him in order to keep her cover. It is later revealed she was hire to by the former Slinger Dusk's parents to locate their daughter. Meanwhile, Mickey confronts Chris about feeling helpless in the battle with Nekra, as well as for Chris not giving up the Darkhawk amulet. The argument is put on hold when Phil arrives with Hollow. Phil begins berating Mickey, then attacking Chris and stealing the amulet, in which he transforms into a Goblin-like version of Darkhawk.

Issue six has Chris recovering from the attack, only to witness Phil in Darkhawk armor attacking Hollow and advancing on Mickey. Chris managed to tap into the amulet's power and becomes Darkhawk in his second armored form.[12] While the two battle, the other Loners, including an armored Mickey, arrive. Phil is defeated and Chris takes back the amulet. Phil then leaves the Loners, but not before revealing that Namie is a cyborg, the new Red Ronin, and Mickey made a secret bargain with Fuyumi Fujikawa. Disgusted, Mattie berates the group about their past decisions about not using their powers, as well as her choice of sleeping with Johnny, and leaves.

A week later; the Loners are back together minus Hollow, Phil, and Mattie. With none of their problems resolved, the group starts all over and are next seen in the apartment of Mickey Musashi celebrating Christmas and attempting to solve some of there personal issues with each other through Secret Santa.[13]

[edit] Other versions

[edit] House of M

In House of M: Avengers #3; Darkhawk, Lightspeed and Turbo are members of a superpowered gang called the Wolfpack, in which the members also included Zero-G, Rage and Speedball.

[edit] Covers

The covers for each issue of the series are based on posters from 80s teen movies directed or written by John Hughes [2].

[edit] References

  1. ^ A'S For The Q'S: Cebulski Talks Loners - Newsarama
  2. ^ Lying in the Gutter, by Rich Johnston, Comic Book Resources
  3. ^ Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #158, Comic Book Resources, June 5, 2008
  4. ^ Newsarama[specify]
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ Marvel.com Blogs - Blah Blah Blog by Tom Brevoort
  7. ^ first seen in Runaways (vol 2) #1
  8. ^ from Alias #16-21
  9. ^ Amazing Spider-Man #434-#435
  10. ^ First seen in Runaways (vol. 1) #2
  11. ^ In Loners #2
  12. ^ First seen in Darkhawk #38
  13. ^ Marvel Holiday Special 2007

[edit] Links

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