When the Runaways broke up, it was the end of an era. But the team members all had to go on with their lives in their own ways. For Molly Hayes, that meant living with her grandmother and moving forward as a relatively normal tween. Will she want to give up that stability to jump back into the fray with her old pals? We talked with writer Rainbow Rowell to find out more about RUNAWAYS #4.

Marvel.com: Gert drove the effort to get the team back together. The others seemed kind of reluctant at first. You’d expect Molly to feel the most enthusiastic — as the youngest, she always really wanted to feel included in the group with the older kids. But now she has a normal life of her own, and she may not want to walk away from that.

Rainbow Rowell: I think Molly was part of what kept the older kids together back in the day. She needed a family, she needed to be taken care of… It would have been so much easier for the older kids to drift apart without Molly – and later, Klara Prast, the 12-year-old mutant they rescued from the past.

Letting Molly go really weighs on Chase and Karolina and Nico’s consciences. But what were they supposed to do? Molly has a grandmother who loves her and wanted to take care of her. She has real family, so to speak.

When the rest of the kids come back for Molly, in Issue #4, she doesn’t see it as a choice, Runaways versus her grandma. She can have both. She loves them all.

It’s really Gert who sees it as more of binary decision – are you with us or not?

Marvel.com: It makes sense that sticking with her normal life would seem appealing. But at the same time, no one will really ever relate to her or understand what she has gone through like the other Runaways.

Rainbow Rowell: That’s true for all of them, I think.

The Runaways has always been less of a team and more of a club – the “My parents were evil, so I sold them out, and now they’re dead” club. Maybe that’s why Victor fit in so well. He met the membership criteria.

Runaways (2017) #4

• Published: December 13, 2017
• Rating: Rated T+
• Writer: Rainbow Rowell
• Penciler: Kris Anka
• Cover Artist: Kris Anka

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Marvel.com: Molly always had intelligence and bravery, but she also had a silly, light-hearted side. Have events that happened since the last time we saw the team changed that at all? Where do we find Molly psychologically and emotionally these days?

Rainbow Rowell: Molly is a little older, a little more mature. But she’s still Molly. She’s still high-spirited, open-hearted. She still wears the cutest hats. Molly came into this world to have fun and be with people she loves; she doesn’t waste time on chumps.

If anything, being with her grandma and having some stability has allowed Molly to be even more carefree. She feels safe for the first time in a long time.

Marvel.com: Since all the drama that went down previously happened to Molly at a younger age than the others, did it have more of an effect on her as she started to grow up?

Rainbow Rowell: Molly didn’t really witness her parents’ depravity the way the older kids did. They protected her from the worst truths. And I think, because of that, she’s not as convinced that her parents were bad guys. They were loving parents to her. They were good. How do you process that at 11? At 13?

In a way, her grandmother is giving Molly a second chance to connect with her parents, with the ways they were good.

Marvel.com: Would you like to tease or mention anything else?

Rainbow Rowell: Well, Issue #4 is special to me because it’s the issue that brings Victor Mancha back to the Marvel Universe in a real way.

Victor died (sort of? mostly?) in the VISION series, one of my all-time favorite Marvel books. But we came up with a really cool and compelling way to bring him back. And I am just elated about it. Victor’s an absolute joy to write. He’s smart, humble, kind – he has a wonderful dry sense of humor.

I love writing him, Kris [Anka] loves drawing him. Victor isn’t an original member of the Runaways, but he’s a core member. I just couldn’t imagine doing this book without him.

1917 to 2017: 100 years of Kirby.

Join us to celebrate Jack “King” Kirby’s 100^th birthday by learning about the characters and stories he created that changed comics forever. To commemorate Jack’s centennial, we’ve sat down with the modern-day creators he influenced—and the decades of work he gifted us all.

After he spent a trip abroad—and several issues drawn by Gil Kane—Jack Kirby and Stan Lee returned Captain America to New York City in TALES OF SUSPENSE #92–94. As our hero ruminated on love and loss while wandering his way towards Avengers HQ, Steve Rogers stumbled into an A.I.M. plot to kill Nick Fury at the secret barber shop entrance to the underground organization’s NYC locale with a Mecho-Assassin! However, he arrived too late to stop the android from blasting away at Fury and seemingly killing the S.H.I.E.L.D. head honcho. Enraged, Cap flew into battle against the assailant. However, the creature nearly defeated the Avenger until the real Fury revealed himself and the droid disintegrated itself.

Fury then explained to Cap that the whole ruse had been set in place to help cover an undercover agent who had infiltrated A.I.M.. As a way to garner favor with her marks, she pretended to offer her boss up on a silver, bloody platter. Unfortunately for the mission, the Sentinel of Liberty’s presence threw a wrench in their plans and put the operative—soon to be revealed as Agent 13, a.k.a. Sharon Carter—in grave danger. So, to help the S.H.I.E.L.D. spy who happened to remind him of his girl during the war, Captain America agreed to take on Advanced Idea Mechanics once again!

Tales of Suspense (1959) #92

• Published: August 10, 1967
• Added to Marvel Unlimited: April 28, 2007
• Penciller: Jack Kirby
• Cover Artist: Jack Kirby

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The Shield-Slinger used the gorgeously designed Mini-Cruiser to track down A.I.M.’s gigantic sub base in the ocean, but those yellow-clad villains managed to capture him and serve him up to their master, M.O.D.O.K., who would make his first full appearance in #94! Agent 13 ended up saving Cap rather than vice versa, sending the two on a wild run as they attempted to escape the A.I.M. sub. First, they reclaimed his shield and then worked to fulfill her original mission of finding out who or what had been code-named “M.O.D.O.K.”

They soon succeeded in seeing this strange being up close, including his various mind beams, which he unleashed in an effort to destroy Captain America. A surprise came not long after they engaged in this battle, as A.I.M. agents flipped on their supposed leader and helped the heroes take him out! Being an upstanding sort, Rogers wouldn’t let the A.I.M. agents finish off M.O.D.O.K. and put a stop to their insurgence. He and Agent 13 then loaded the remaining yellow hoods in a sub and took off while M.O.D.O.K. set off a self-destruct sequence that destroyed the larger base, apparently killing himself in the process!

Stay tuned to Marvel.com for more throughout Kirby Month and beyond! And join the conversation on all of our social channels with the hashtag #Kirby100.

Every Friday we use the powers of Marvel Unlimited to look back at the very first appearance of a major character, place, or object that made waves this week.

Sam Wilson just can’t seem to catch a break. First he had to deal with bigots and nuts during his tenure as Captain America, then he thought Steve Rogers turned evil during Secret Empire and now Blackheart’s trying to destroy him in Chicago. With Mephisto’s son causing all kinds of problems for the FALCON star, it’s time to look back at his first appearance in 1989’s DAREDEVIL #270 by writer Ann Nocenti and artist John Romita Jr.!

Blackheart sprang up in the modern era when a couple snuck onto the hill and the man attacked the woman. The newly formed demon lashed out, destroying both before a brief meeting with his father. Mephisto appeared to offer his offspring some advice after making him look more human: “You must walk among men in this form, for the eyes of men diminish evil. If too many see your true form, you lose power.” As the devilish dad disappeared, he offered one more pearl of wisdom: “When you see a worthy foe, you may reveal your true self.”

A few pages later, the humanized form of Blackheart laid eyes on Daredevil leaping around an abandoned amusement park. Sensing a worthy foe, the villain changed back to his real form and attacked ol’ Horn Head. Thanks to his advanced senses, our hero dodged the initial attack. Nearby, Peter Parker found himself sitting on a bus returning from a trip when he saw smoke rising from the old park. Spider Sense a-tingling, he swung into action, knocking the creature away from DD right before a potentially catastrophic blow. However, Blackheart’s physical attacks acted to mask his real intention of corrupting the goodness in Matt Murdock’s heart.

Daredevil (1964) #270

• Published: September 10, 1989
• Added to Marvel Unlimited: April 20, 2015
• Writer: Ann Nocenti
• Penciller: John Romita
• Cover Artist: John Romita

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The do-gooders used their combined might as well as the disposable roller coasters around them to try and stop Blackheart, but didn’t do much aside from draw a crowd. However, that proved exactly the right move as their foe remembered his father’s words about familiarity diminishing evil’s power and used a distraction to return to a more human form and escape—but not before Daredevil recognized the stink of Mephisto on the departing demon.

Blackheart returned in DAREDEVIL #278–282, a story that found DD helping Black Bolt find his son, but ultimately lead into Hell and a confrontation with Mephisto. Since then, the villain has popped up in a variety of books ranging from GHOST RIDER and X-FORCE to WONDER MAN and now FALCON.

Flash Forward

For a character without a plethora of appearances in comics, Blackheart’s done a great job of getting his name out there in other formats. Many people first heard of him when he appeared as a playable character in 1995’s arcade-turned-console classic “Marvel Super Heroes.” Mephisto’s bouncing baby boy would go on to appear in crossover games like “Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter” and “Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.” You may have also seen him on the big screen portrayed by Wes Bentley in “Ghost Rider”!

Some team-ups end at just the right time. Others leave you wanting more. Writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Joe Quinones have become the rare team that exists as both. When they concluded their collaboration on HOWARD THE DUCK, the timing proved perfect. But, come on, we all knew we needed more of Zdarsky’s words and Quinone’s lines bringing sweet comic book storytelling to our eyes.

In PETER PARKER: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #301, we all get our wish as the duo reconnect for the three-issue arc “Amazing Fantasy.” We pulled them away from planning their new treehouse just long enough for them to talk about how happy it makes them to be together again.

Marvel.com: How different is it to collaborate with each other on a book like SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN versus HOWARD THE DUCK? What unique challenges did PETER PARKER present you both with?

Joe Quinones: Well so far he doesn’t cry nearly as much.

Certainly there are through-lines with both series in Chip’s writing style, which balances a combination of humor and heart, but it’s a question of degrees. The jokes are there, but where with Howard the gags were more front and center, here we pull the punches a little. Chip’s Spider-Man is very self-aware and funny but it’s delivered with some amount of restraint, offset by more drama and super-heroic flair.

Chip Zdarsky: I mean the big thing is having more eyeballs on a Spider-Man book than you would a Howard the Duck book! So, there’s some pressure there. Joe’s work is really fun and light, so we also needed to make sure the story being told would suit his style, while being decidedly more serious than a standard HOWARD issue. I think people are going to dig it.

Marvel.com: To rejoin with someone you already had an established relationship with must, I imagine, carry a fair amount of comfort to it. Does working with each other again make you feeling free to take risks that you might have been more hesitant to do with someone you were less familiar with? If so, where might readers notice that in the book?

Chip Zdarsky: I think it’s less about taking risks and more about knowing your co-creator’s strengths and being able to play to them. [Artist] Adam [Kubert] is the king of big action scenes, Joe is the king of facial expressions and body language. So, writing for Joe, I tend to do more scenes where I push those abilities, by writing scenes like “okay, he’s sad, but not too sad, more wistful, but there’s also an underlying anger.”

Joe loves it when I do that!

Joe Quinones: Of course! I really loved working with Chip on HOWARD. I think we complement each other well. While it seemed like a good place to end the book where we did, boy once it was gone, I really missed the collaboration. It’s been fun teaming up again.

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #301 cover by Joe Quinones

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #302 cover by Joe Quinones

Marvel.com: You both are taking Spider-Man, along with Teresa and J. Jonah Jameson, back in time. From what you’ve seen and discussed, how do you try to realize the look of the Marvel Universe from several years earlier?

Joe Quinones: Well we’re at once literally traveling back to the early aughts and spiritually to the 1960’s, so it’s a fine line of fedoras and Nickelback posters, of low-rise jeans and double-breasted suits. It’s a fun balancing act of two very different eras, but essentially we’re transplanting classic [Steve] Ditko [art] into the 21st century.

Marvel.com: Chip, as a writer, did you feel the need to change anything about your approach to scripting to make that time period come to life?

Chip Zdarsky: With Marvel books we’re dealing a lot with the sliding timeline, so I wanted to make sure young Peter looked like he would in, say, 2004-2005, while not cementing it too much in that period, y’know? The big thing was to make him look awkward and different enough from our Peter that it’s a bit of a shock how young he is. I mean, he’d be 15-16 at this point. We’re used to older guys playing teen Peter in the movies, so I wanted to make sure this Peter actually felt young. Joe’s designs for young and old are so perfect, it just inspires me to write them forever.

Marvel.com: Were there any characters you were particularly thrilled to take on? Any that proved to be an unexpected treat or challenge?

Joe Quinones: J.J! No, Doc Ock! No, Green Goblin! These were all fun to work on, really. I particularly enjoyed designing 15-year-old Spidey vs. 28-year-old Spidey. Adolescence is such a great, funny, horrible time, where we’re all in this transitional period and haven’t quite figured ourselves out yet, awkwardly inhabiting our own skin. There’s an implicit misery in it, and who better [encapsulates] misery than Spider-Man?

Marvel.com: One of the fan favorite issues of your run so far has definitely been #6 which focused on JJJ and his relationship to Spidey. With the changes that occurred in that story, how might we see that echoed in this “team-up”?

Chip Zdarsky: Yeah, Jonah’s been thrown in the deep end of the pool. There hasn’t been a lot of down-time to process everything, so he’s pretty discombobulated by everything that’s happening. What he sees though, is that Peter lacks structure and guidance, which Jonah is more than willing to provide.

Marvel.com: On the subject of Jameson, it seems everyone is going to have to do their best to keep him from altering the past. Does he have something in particular he wants to see changed or is it more of making sure he does not mess things up by accident?

Chip Zdarsky: Like anyone, he has things he wants to change. But time travel’s a complicated thing. How will Jonah of the past react to our Jonah showing up on his doorstep? What chain of events does that set in motion?

Marvel.com: Any moment or sequence of the art either of you can’t wait for fans to see? Can you tease it a bit for us?

Joe Quinones: Wow what a joy it is to draw Spidey and Spidey bouncing off of Ditko-era Spider-Man villains like Doc Ock and Green Goblin. They’re so fun to draw and Chip writes their interactions perfectly.

Chip Zdarsky: Oh man, it’s all so good. But seeing our two Spideys teaming up to take down classic rogues through Joe’s gorgeous illustrations is worth the price of admission.

“Amazing Fantasy” reunites Chip Zdarsky with Joe Quinones and kicks off in PETER PARKER: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #301 this March!