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Post by rberman on Jan 21, 2018 19:12:39 GMT -5
I read a few issues of Astro City years ago but decided to explore the series in earnest, so I'm going to post newbie thoughts about each issue. Pretty much all my information comes from just reading the series, plus my knowledge of geek media in general, so hopefully those of you with more info will chime in. Most comic fans know that Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross collaborated on the Astro City concept, with Busiek doing the writing, Ross the cover art, and Brent Anderson the interior art. Busiek uses a mix of heroes and villains to explore a variety of superheroic and regular world themes. Some characters map easily to famous Marvel or DC characters; others are a mix, or perhaps I’m just not well enough versed in older and more obscure characters to know whom he’s referencing directly. The series is also loaded with proper names, at least some of which are obviously referencing figures from the comics industry. I’ll point all these out while working through the various issues. Starting with:
Issue #1: In Dreams (August 1995)
Theme: With overwhelming power comes overwhelming responsibility. Focus Character: Samaritan is a straight-up Superman lift, a blue (I originally though black) -haired uberhero whose alter ego (using white hair instead of glasses) works at a major metropolitan tabloid, The Current. He has a gadget called the zyxometer which helps him organize both his day job and his crimefighting, but even so, he gets only a few hours sleep each night due to the never-ending cascade of disasters around the world. Like Sam Lowry in Terry Gilliam’s film “Brazil,” when he does sleep, he dreams of flying high and carefree. Most of the text in this issue is Samaritan’s internal monologue. He also keeps his trophies in an extra-dimensional storage space. His costume features reversed blue and red compared to Superman, and the waist is a cape-attachment position whose resulting drape fits with his first century codename. I think his chest insignia is a stylized white dove? Places: Astro City recalls the “Space Age” of the late 1950s and early 1960s, between Korea and Vietnam, when many Americans were transfixed with the prospect that technology and space travel would usher in utopia. One shot from the sky shows the downtown part of Astro City to be a peninsula or island like Manhattan, with bridges to other nearby urban areas. The newspaper name Rocket fits the Space Age theme as well. FBU has a biological laboratory which does some crazy uncontrolled experiments. Astrobank is, well, a bank. Biro Island has a prison. Named Civilians: Asa Martin is Samaritan’s secret identity. It’s an anagram of his code name; you probably noticed that. His co-workers at include Rich, Karen, Shakira, and “ Lady Cavendish.” Other Heroes: Honor Guard is a Justice League analogue with an invisible floating headquarters. The rotating membership currently includes Samaritan, Quarrel, Cleopatra, Black Rapier, N-Forcer (Iron Man meets Wildfire?), and M.P.H. (a speedster said to be “85% human, 15% alien”). The Traveler is some sort of annoying interplanetary being described as a “gadabout.” A news clipping on the wall has a vague picture of a team called The Irregulars with a headline asking, “Shouldn’t they be in school?” Sounds like a teen X-Men parody. The First Family sounds like a Fantastic Four pastiche, recalling the latter’s origins in part as an homage to JFK’s family. Focus Villain: The Living Nightmare, the personification of fear, who can manifest even within Samaritan’s extradimensional sanctum. He can be defeated but not destroyed by being thrown far into space, away from all the frightened human minds upon which his power draws. He is the thematic opposite of Samaritan, who embodies hope. But on past occasions, Living Nightmare has been controlled by good minds, even joining Honor Guard. He was created by a psychologist, and Samaritan intends to ask Dr Prochnow (perhaps a nod to German actor Jurgen Prochnow, who played Duke Leto Atreides in David Lynch’s 1984 film version of Dune?) more about the Nightmare. Other Villains: Pyramid is an evil group which employs assassins. Dr. Saturday is a villain who uses giant robots. The Deacon is mentioned. The Xenomorph, a murderous three ton blob of protoplasm, is said to be in Leavenworth prison, which in our world is a maximum security Federal prison. The Menagerie are an Ani-Men type gang of anthropomorphic animal bank robbers, including Foxy Loxy. The Zonn are undescribed villains who attacked Honor Guard HQ in the past. My Two Cents: A great introduction to the series. Busiek is deconstructing the most famous of all superheroes, showing how fatigue hits even the most altruistic of heroes; the Biblical name "Samaritan" fits perfectly. I'm reminded of a Silver Age superman story where Superman was doing so many good deeds and getting so little sleep that he developed a split personality that set up all sorts of death traps for Clark Kent in an attempt to kill the alter ego so Superman could get some more rest. Busiek lampshades the absurdity of such a hero even spending two seconds (which is about all he gets a day) trying to hold down a 9-to-5 job while the whole world is crying out for help 24/7. The first issue also teases a world full of characters, some of whom (like The First Family) are obvious just from the name, and others who will have to be seen to be understood.  |
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Post by kirby101 on Jan 21, 2018 19:22:07 GMT -5
One of the best series the last few decades that nobody talks about.
Great idea for a thread.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 21, 2018 19:40:46 GMT -5
Definitely one of my favorite series, and the opening arc has to be one of the best comic stories period.
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Post by Icctrombone on Jan 21, 2018 20:54:01 GMT -5
I have the entire first and second series , but still have to acquire about half of the Vertigo series. I found it to be a great series but I got a bit burned out by the man on the street POV. Also they had a long arc involving two brothers that dragged on and lost my interest.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,197 
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Post by Confessor on Jan 21, 2018 20:56:34 GMT -5
Big time Astro City fan here, as you can maybe tell from my forum user name. I've been on board right from the very first issue and, today, AC is the only comic book I still regularly buy. Looking forward to this thread.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 21, 2018 21:12:47 GMT -5
I didn't read it for a while but I started up again a little over a year ago and I've been collecting the back issues for the current Vertigo series. I think I have every issues from #21 on and six or seven issues from #1 to #20.
I've mentioned my mini-library, next to my bed on the nightstand. It's mostly reprint copies (like a Millennium edition of Wonder Woman #1, for example) of some carefully selected stories that I LOVE! But I recently decided to start adding a few carefully selected RECENT comics ... and my first modern addition was Astro City #44.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 21, 2018 21:38:23 GMT -5
Awesome to see this here! Astro City is a great series and deserves more discussion than it gets.
Getting to some of you comments on issue 1... I always thought the Irregulars struck me more as the New Warriors than the X-Men. I had forgotten about Cleopatra... Winged Victory is so prominent later, after all.
The First Family is a pretty blatant Fantasic Four riff (as much as Samartian is a Superman Riff), but actually shares alot with "Noble Causes" as well in its expansion/differences from the archetype, which I find interesting.
You know, when I first read this, I had no idea Biro was a comic creator, I remember wondering why everywhere else was a homage, but somehow it never occured to me to look it up.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,197
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Post by Confessor on Jan 21, 2018 21:41:51 GMT -5
Busiek uses a mix of heroes and villains to explore a variety of superheroic and regular world themes. Some characters map easily to famous Marvel or DC characters; others are a mix, or perhaps I’m just not well enough versed in older and more obscure characters to know whom he’s referencing directly. You may or may not know this, but AC is a close stylistic relative to Busiek's earlier groundbreaking mini-series Marvels from 1994. That was the series where the author first used his story concept of "what would it actually be like to be an ordinary person living in a world that is populated by super-powered heroes and villains". AC was Busiek's chance to take that basic storytelling idea and really go to town with it in his own creator-owned series. Samaritan is a straight-up Superman lift, a black-haired uberhero... Actually, Samaritan's hair is blue, not black. Busiek and Anderson are having fun by subverting the old four-colour comic tradition of colouring black-haired character's hair blue, by actually having their character have blue hair. It's kind of meant to be an in-joke for old comic nerds.  Astro City recalls the “Space Age” of the late 1950s and early 1960s, between Korea and Vietnam, when many Americans were transfixed with the prospect that technology and space travel would usher in utopia. One shot from the sky shows the downtown part of Astro City to be a peninsula or island like Manhattan, with bridges to other nearby urban areas. The newspaper name Rocket fits the Space Age theme as well. FBU has a biological laboratory which does some crazy uncontrolled experiments. Astrobank is, well, a bank. All very true. I just wanted to point out, however, that this first issue is set in 1995 and that the characters in AC age in real time. So, Samaritan in the latest issues of the comic is 22 years older than he is here. Biro Island has a prison. Charles Biro worked on a lot of the Crime Doesn't Pay comics, which is why Busiek named the Astro City prison after him.  My Two Cents: A great introduction to the series. Busiek is deconstructing the most famous of all superheroes, showing how fatigue hits even the most altruistic of heroes; the Biblical name "Samaritan" fits perfectly. I'm reminded of a Silver Age superman story where Superman was doing so many good deeds and getting so little sleep that he developed a split personality that set up all sorts of death traps for Clark Kent in an attempt to kill the alter ego so Superman could get some more rest. Busiek lampshades the absurdity of such a hero even spending two seconds (which is about all he gets a day) trying to hold down a 9-to-5 job while the whole world is crying out for help 24/7. The first issue also teases a world full of characters, some of whom (like The First Family) are obvious just from the name, and others who will have to be seen to be understood. This issue is widely regarded as a classic by most of those who are fans of the series, but I've always felt a little bit "meh" about it. It's an interesting take on a Superman-like being, for sure, and is well written and beautifully drawn...and yet, I'm left thinking, "is that it?" Incidentally, that's exactly how I felt about it back in 1995 too. Still, it's a decent first introduction to the series, to Samaritan and to the world of AC. It teases us with a much bigger canvas just on the periphery of the reader's vision, with enough detail from this larger world hinted at to hook us. However, I've always felt that issue #2 is the one where the series really took off. Incidentally, I've always loved the "You Are Now Leaving Astro City" road signs on the final page of each book. That's such a cool touch. Nice review, rberman. Keep 'em coming. |
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Post by rberman on Jan 21, 2018 22:33:16 GMT -5
You may or may not know this, but AC is a close stylistic relative to Busiek's earlier groundbreaking mini-series Marvels from 1994. That was the series where the author first used his story concept of "what would it actually be like to be an ordinary person living in a world that is populated by super-powered heroes and villains". AC was Busiek's chance to take that basic storytelling idea and really go to town with it in his own creator-owned series. Yes, I will deal with the Marvels connection explicitly tomorrow in discussing Issue #2. Heh. In that case I missed the joke and just assumed that the blue=black trope was still in force. Good to know! I find it interesting that Busiek, born in 1960 and thus a Baby Buster of the 70s, chose to make the more idealistic early Silver Age his thematic center, even for stories set in later decades. There's so much world building to do in a new universe. This issue name-drops a ton more characters than the next few do, but it still spends most of its time on thematic elements, chiefly optimism. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 21, 2018 23:11:23 GMT -5
Astro City Chamber of Commerce member since inception.  One of the consistently enjoyable elements is Busiek's spot-on names. Samaritan, the Silver Agent, the Hanged Man, Crackerjack, etc, etc. They are beautiful in their simplicity and brilliant in their ability to capture the essence of the character in just a name. I also loved the homages to comics history: Biro Island (Charles Biro, Crime Does Not Pay), a district known as Chesler, after Harry A Chesler and his comic sweatshop, Hillman Aviation (Hillman Comics, publishers of Airboy and the various Airfighters), Mt Kirby, etc, etc. The best is the alien race, the Enelsians, named after E Nelson Bridwell, longtime DC writer/editor and walking encyclopedia. |
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Post by rberman on Jan 21, 2018 23:43:07 GMT -5
I also loved the homages to comics history: Biro Island (Charles Biro, Crime Does Not Pay), a district known as Chesler, after Harry A Chesler and his comic sweatshop, Hillman Aviation (Hillman Comics, publishers of Airboy and the various Airfighters), Mt Kirby, etc, etc. The best is the alien race, the Enelsians, named after E Nelson Bridwell, longtime DC writer/editor and walking encyclopedia. Yeah, I catch some of the jokey referents, but I am sure many are slipping by me, so I'm counting on the rest of you to fill in the historical gaps! |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 22, 2018 9:26:00 GMT -5
Astro City Chamber of Commerce member since inception. One of the consistently enjoyable elements is Busiek's spot-on names. Samaritan, the Silver Agent, the Hanged Man, Crackerjack, etc, etc. They are beautiful in their simplicity and brilliant in their ability to capture the essence of the character in just a name. I also loved the homages to comics history: Biro Island (Charles Biro, Crime Does Not Pay), a district known as Chesler, after Harry A Chesler and his comic sweatshop, Hillman Aviation (Hillman Comics, publishers of Airboy and the various Airfighters), Mt Kirby, etc, etc. The best is the alien race, the Enelsians, named after E Nelson Bridwell, longtime DC writer/editor and walking encyclopedia. I totally agree about the character names... I remember thinking several times as it was coming out 'how the heck has there never been a superhero named 'xx' before!' |
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Post by rberman on Jan 22, 2018 13:14:44 GMT -5
Issue #2: The Scoop (September 1995)
Theme: Older Is Better. Focus Villain: Shirak the Devourer is an extra-dimensional shark-demon in the Dormammu category. He transforms Karnus and another dozen human cultists into shark-men monsters after they sacrifice a shark to him in a subway tunnel, but Honor Guard prevent Shirak from breaking through into our dimension. Focus Civilian: Elliot Mills is the editor of the Astro City Rocket newspaper. He regales an unnamed new staff member with a tale of his youth (1959), when he was the sole civilian witness to a battle in another dimension between Honor Guard and the shark-man minions of Shirak. He tried to write it up for the paper, but his editor wouldn’t accept the story because there were no other witnesses to cite. Mills has carried this ethos forward, seeing confirmation as an important component of the media’s responsibility to the public. Mills has a “ World’s Finest Granddad” coffee cup. Future Astro City stories will be from a mix of POVs, super and regular. History: We’re told that Astro City was “rebuilt and renamed” in 1947. No details given why. Heroes: The Frontiersman appears on a billboard, hawking his brand of cigarettes. Lamplighter and All-American had just retired in 1959. Silver Agent has been active since 1956; he wears blue chainmail and leggings and a silver breastplate and uses some sort of high tech hand weapon. Seems kinda Blue Beetle-ish, but I bet there’s a more direct referent intended. Wasn’t there a guy called The Shield like this? Agent’s coming death is referenced. Commando K is said in an old newspaper to be “lost near Pyongyang.” Honor Guard in 1959 included Silver Agent, a clunkier model of N-Forcer, a white Cleopatra who uses a “power pyramid” (the Cleopatra from issue #1 was black), giant-in-tuxedo Max O’Millions, Leopardman and his sidekick Kitkat, and The Bounching Beatnik, who speaks in hipsterese. Max founded Honor Guard. The Old Soldier shows up late to turn the tide of the battle between Honor Guard and Shirak’s minions, draped in an American flag and equipment from the 19th and 20th centuries, including a huge sword. He’s said to have been presumed dead repeatedly, beginning as early as 1863. Newspaper headlines hint at other stories and characters: “ First Family to City: Goodbye!” “Who are The Experimentals?” Civilians: Jack Meskin is a senior reporter at the Rocket who scoops Mills on a story. One of these early issues also namechecked Veidt (Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias from Alan Moore’s Watchmen), but I can’t find the exact page now. Places: In a street scene, Toth’s Fineries is a clothing store probably named after artist Alex Toth. Tripp’s and Briefer’s and Maneel’s are other stores seen. The Deadline is a bar with free typewriters to encourage journalists to gather there. Elias Street has a subway station, as does Iger Square. Feldstein’s Bar and Grill appears in a street scene. My Two Cents: As in Busiek’s Marvels series from 1994, the protagonist is a newsman trying to survive and hustle as a peon in a super-world; photographer Phil Sheldon would be right at home beside Mills. In Mills’ flashback story, the Silver Age superheroes are rescued by the Golden Age hero, just as Mills’ editor rescues him from ruining his career trying to publish an unsupportable (but true) story. The moral is a conservative one: Listen to your elders, like Elliot Mills did. Verify, attribute, and footnote. Let every case be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. (Deuteronomy 19:15) 
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 22, 2018 14:33:23 GMT -5
Issue #2: The Scoop (September 1995)
Theme: Older Is Better. Focus Villain: Shirak the Devourer is an extra-dimensional shark-demon in the Dormammu category. He transforms Karnus and another dozen human cultists into shark-men monsters after they sacrifice a shark to him in a subway tunnel, but Honor Guard prevent Shirak from breaking through into our dimension. Focus Civilian: Elliot Mills is the editor of the Astro City Rocket newspaper. He regales an unnamed new staff member with a tale of his youth (1959), when he was the sole civilian witness to a battle in another dimension between Honor Guard and the shark-man minions of Shirak. He tried to write it up for the paper, but his editor wouldn’t accept the story because there were no other witnesses to cite. Mills has carried this ethos forward, seeing confirmation as an important component of the media’s responsibility to the public. Mills has a “ World’s Finest Granddad” coffee cup. Future Astro City stories will be from a mix of POVs, super and regular. History: We’re told that Astro City was “rebuilt and renamed” in 1947. No details given why. Heroes: The Frontiersman appears on a billboard, hawking his brand of cigarettes. Lamplighter and All-American had just retired in 1959. Silver Bullet has been active since 1956; he wears blue chainmail and leggings and a silver breastplate and uses some sort of high tech hand weapon. Seems kinda Blue Beetle-ish, but I bet there’s a more direct referent intended. Wasn’t there a guy called The Shield like this? Bullet’s coming death is referenced. Commando K is said in an old newspaper to be “lost near Pyongyang.” Honor Guard in 1959 included Silver Bullet, a clunkier model of N-Forcer, a white Cleopatra who uses a “power pyramid” (the Cleopatra from issue #1 was black), giant-in-tuxedo Max O’Millions, Leopardman and his sidekick Kitkat, and The Bounching Beatnik, who speaks in hipsterese. Max founded Honor Guard. The Old Soldier shows up late to turn the tide of the battle between Honor Guard and Shirak’s minions, draped in an American flag and equipment from the 19th and 20th centuries, including a huge sword. He’s said to have been presumed dead repeatedly, beginning as early as 1863. Newspaper headlines hint at other stories and characters: “ First Family to City: Goodbye!” “Who are The Experimentals?” Civilians: Jack Meskin is a senior reporter at the Rocket who scoops Mills on a story. One of these early issues also namechecked Veidt (Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias from Alan Moore’s Watchmen), but I can’t find the exact page now. Places: In a street scene, Toth’s Fineries is a clothing store probably named after artist Alex Toth. Tripp’s and Briefer’s and Maneel’s are other stores seen. The Deadline is a bar with free typewriters to encourage journalists to gather there. Elias Street has a subway station, as does Iger Square. Feldstein’s Bar and Grill appears in a street scene. My Two Cents: As in Busiek’s Marvels series from 1994, the protagonist is a newsman trying to survive and hustle as a peon in a super-world; photographer Phil Sheldon would be right at home beside Mills. In Mills’ flashback story, the Silver Age superheroes are rescued by the Golden Age hero, just as Mills’ editor rescues him from ruining his career trying to publish an unsupportable (but true) story. The moral is a conservative one: Listen to your elders, like Elliot Mills did. Verify, attribute, and footnote. Let every case be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. (Deuteronomy 19:15) It's Silver Agent. Busiek teased so much there and kept us wondering, until he dealt with it in The Dark Age. I even asked him about it at a convention and all he would say was that he would be dealing with it soon. The Name Meskin was a nod to artist Mort Meskin. Eliot Mills might be a reference to Eliott S! Maggin. This one was the closest to Marvels of all of the stories, to me, as we are dealing with a journalist's perspective on the fantastic. Eliot and Phil Sheldon are different characters; but, there is that same sense to them. You also have the freedom of focusing on events and characters that haven't happened, vs Marvels, where Busiek and Ross had to be faithful to established Marvel stories. The Silver Agent is an interesting mix of several characters; there's a bit of Captain America, a bit of the Shield, a little original Blue Beetle, a few other Golden Age characters. You get the sense that he is a normal human, but something special. I loved Old Soldier; it immediately spoke to me, as a history buff and a veteran. "Old Soldiers never die..." It is a brilliant premise for a comic hero and Ross' design works so well. It's like Connor McLeod's circular room, with his treasures, in the original Highlander. You see bits and pieces and you start to build backstories in your head. |
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Post by rberman on Jan 22, 2018 15:11:13 GMT -5
It's Silver Agent. Busiek teased so much there and kept us wondering, until he dealt with it in The Dark Age. I even asked him about it at a convention and all he would say was that he would be dealing with it soon. The Name Meskin was a nod to artist Mort Meskin. Eliot Mills might be a reference to Eliott S! Maggin. This one was the closest to Marvels of all of the stories, to me, as we are dealing with a journalist's perspective on the fantastic. Eliot and Phil Sheldon are different characters; but, there is that same sense to them. You also have the freedom of focusing on events and characters that haven't happened, vs Marvels, where Busiek and Ross had to be faithful to established Marvel stories. The Silver Agent is an interesting mix of several characters; there's a bit of Captain America, a bit of the Shield, a little original Blue Beetle, a few other Golden Age characters. You get the sense that he is a normal human, but something special. I loved Old Soldier; it immediately spoke to me, as a history buff and a veteran. "Old Soldiers never die..." It is a brilliant premise for a comic hero and Ross' design works so well. It's like Connor McLeod's circular room, with his treasures, in the original Highlander. You see bits and pieces and you start to build backstories in your head. Whoops! Silver Agent. I think I had "bullet" in my head because I was watching The Tick cartoon featuring The Human Bullet ("Fire me, boy!") a couple of days ago with the kids. Thanks. I corrected the error in my post. Busiek's use of character archetypes means that we can import lots of existing comic book knowledge onto these characters without him having to tell us. So we don't really need a story from the perspective of, say, Jack-in-the-Box where he explains his backstory and motivation. All we need is to know that he's a hero and inventor, and we can draw upon heroes and villains like Batman, Blue Beetle, Night Owl, Toymaker, the Mad Thinker, Henry Pym, Mr. Fantastic, and others to fill in the sorts of likely stories which drive an inventor to put on a clown suit and prowl the rooftops at night. |
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