Astro City is the super-hero comic fan's super-hero comic

I've loved Kurt Busiek's Astro City book since its inception. Abetted by Brent Anderson on the interior art and Alex Ross on the covers, Busiek plays with, respects, and brings freshness to super-hero tropes in a way nobody else does in the industry. He also spends a lot of time in the series telling about ordinary citizens of Astro City and how living there affects their lives as well.

It all has a remarkable combo of realistic grittiness with Silver/Bronze Age hope and drama.

I tend to prefer the one-offs to the larger arcs, but it's all good and worth buying. There are many collections from the past two decades and for the most part they can be read in any order, since it's less of an ongoing story than a series of tales spanning many decades.

Triffic stuff. If you love the super-hero genre, you should give it a try.

Originally shared by +Curt Thompson:

A little #nerdy9th love for one of my favorite comic book lines/universes, Astro City, which is getting a little love on Slate.

Originally created by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, Astro City is basically a distillation of the archetypes and tropes of superhero comics. The stories feature analogs of Superman, Bat Man, Wonder Woman and such, but without the continuity and IP protection baggage of the original characters, which frees them to tell great stories in the specific mode of those characters without using the characters themselves.

What makes Astro City rise above the level of mere pastiche (or homage) is the deftly and deeply human storytelling. When we discover that the Superman character, Samaritan's favorite thing in the world is flying, but he literally counts off the seconds doing it, because every waking moment can be better spent saving people, our heart breaks for him a little. Here is a living god, who lives a life of monastic denial and service.

The Confessor is a dark avenger of the night who has spent a century fighting crime because he can, without hope of any reward because he already knows he's damned beyond redemption. His bleak faith has him saving his city, even though he knows that he's outside of humanity and even grace. (I disagree, but that's what he thinks.)

And so it goes. Each of these superhuman archetypes has a story. A heart. And for my money, Astro City: The Tarnished Angel is the best superhero noir story ever told, about Robert Mitchum (seriously, it's him, and you hear his voice in the narration) playing an aging supervillain fresh out of prison who tries, in the twilight of his life, to do right. To be on the side of the angels. It's sad, it's brilliant and it's lovely.

Astro City is about superheroes. But it's about what superheroes mean to us, too. it's slice of life fiction set in a superhero universe and told with empathy, grace, humor and a deep understanding of humanity, both good and bad.

If you're not a superhero comic fan? Well, I'd say at least pick up one of the graphic novels and see if it hooks you. Good storytelling is good storytelling.

And if you a superhero fan and haven't read these books? Go forth and purchase/borrow. They are worth your time and money and dedication.

In an increasingly cynical, shallow and movie IP oriented industry, Astro City is a series you can love because the creators love comics, love the genre and love the other fans.

And that's the best kind of storytelling, for me.

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