Last week Brian K Vaughn announced that he and Adrian Alphona would be leaving Runaways, a smash hit series from Marvel Comics that he has been writing for from the beginning. Since then fans have no doubt been waiting on the edge of their seats to find out who would be his successor.

Today On Sunday Marvel announced that successor: Joss Whedon, author of the Astonishing X-Men. Joss will be picking up the series with issue #25 along with artist Michael Ryan.

Runaways is my favorite comic that Marvel has to offer. Will this switch kill the series? I know the Whedon is supposed to be this great author that everyone loves, and I don’t think he’s terrible, but he’s not my favorite by any means. Now, I’ll admit that I only read the first volume of the Astonishing X-Men, and I wasn’t completely turned off… but it was lacking somehow. It almost seemed a bit too minimal in style. One of the greatest things about Runaways is the dialogue and character development. From what i recall Joss did a good job on character development for Astonishing X-Men, but keeps the dialogue rather thin. I truly hope he treats this series right and keeps it interesting and worth reading, and I believe he will.

So far as Michael Ryan (New Excalibur) is concerned, I am not too familiar with his art. I do know that he has a traditional Western style, and I’m curious to see if he’ll be able to pull off, or even attempt, the fusion style of art that Runaways currently has. if not, a Western approach to the comic may be fun to see, but the series could also lose something in the transition.

I’m keeping positive about this change and will look forward with great interest to the coming issues of Runaways.