Astro City

KURT BUSIEK/BRENT ANDERSON/DC/HOMAGE

     Kurt Busiek remains one of the most consistent writers working in comics today; virtually everything he writes is of the highest caliber, and ASTRO CITY, being his own creation, is at the apex of his distinguished body of work.

     Imagine the wonder and awe the Marvel Universe must’ve evoked during its glory days in the 1960s, combine that with the very cream of the modern era’s most sophisticated, more worldly writing, and you have ASTRO CITY.  The vision Busiek began to flesh out in the groundbreaking MARVELS is consummated in ASTRO CITY.

     As in MARVELS, the superheroes of ASTRO CITY still evoke awe and admiration from we, the little people.  But Busiek, through often poignant, heartbreaking vignettes (ASTRO CITY#1/2, “The Nearness of You,” is one of the single most moving, tender comic book tales I’ve ever read) reminds us of the cost normal humans must face living in a world of heroes, as well as the cost of being a superhero, or a supervillain; the toll it can take on one’s public image and personal life.  Busiek proves his greatness by never letting his audience forget that humanity, en masse, is an easily startled, fearful, impressionable entity easily manipulated to do evil.  Through media manipulation, misconception, and sheer curiosity, ASTRO CITY’s heroes are often as reviled and misunderstood as they are revered; their fantastic powers the source of human envy and fear as much as wonder.

      This book is at its most powerful when portraying the toll a superhero’s life takes on his or her private life.  What happens when two heroes go out on a date?  When the gov’t turns the people against them?   Mistakes and regrets are a burden to both hero and villain, as they wrestle with the consequences of their choices.  The saga’s best story to date, “Confession” from issues 4-9 (collected in one edition as well), explores the trials and tribulations of a young man attempting to learn the role of sidekick to one of the city’s most mysterious and misunderstood superpowered guardians.  This arc definitively portrays Busiek’s talent for balancing a love for the glory of superheroes with the more sordid, all too human situations such beings would deal with and create if they really did walk among us.

     The entire Astro City saga has been reprinted in a series of 5 trade volumes.  A new story, 'The Dark Age', has just begun, and can be found on a semi-monthly basis right here at WildPig.