Local Heroes #2: Shining Armor (June 2003)

Theme: Lois Lane, reconsidered

Frame Story: Flying Fox rescues an evening school bus from the Bonebreakers street gang. That’s not usual gang activity. What were they going to do with school kids? And why was a bus full of kids out at night? Anyway… We meet Samantha, who is romantically involved with Kath. Mom tells Samantha that she needs to find a man before she gets too old. Mom then reminisces about her own youth before drifting off to sleep. Samantha praises her sleeping mom before riding off into the night as Flying Fox.

Focus Civilian: Irene Meriwether’s mother Tatie became a bitter drunk after losing her construction job to men returning from WWII. Irene came to Astro City in 1960 to find a job and a husband. She volunteered for Morton’s mayoral campaign and talked her way into being his aide after he won the election. She’s got the job she wanted; how about the right man?

Focus Hero: Over at Fort Kanigher’s Atomic Research Lab, the Russians come to kidnap Dr. Petrov. But inside the reactor chamber, hero Atomicus emerges and rescues him. Irene positions herself as his mentor/lover, but Atomicus says she needs to prove herself. Shortly thereafter, bumbling Adam Peterson joins the mayoral staff and disappears during every crisis that Atomicus solves. Irene is sure Adam is really “Atom, Son of Petrov,” i.e. Atomicus in disguise. Irene tries a number of ploys to prove her theory, but she always ends up on the short-end of the stick; one caper involving a Nucli-Glove gets the whole office knocked unconscious. When she finally succeeds in unmasking him publicly, he flies off in a rage, never to be seen again, and she turns to booze like her mom before her. She recovers enough to marry an older man, State Senator Cronin, later to be Samantha’s deceased father.

People and places: Assemblyman Singer is another politician. Doc Siegel gives Irene “radium lipstick.” That sounds carcinogenic! Carla and Pete work in the mayor’s office. Schaffenberger Avenue is mentioned.

Other Heroes: Silver Age heroes Leopardman, Supersonic, and the Bouncing Beatnik are mentioned. Samantha’s mom has a Beautie doll still in its packaging. I’d noticed that Beautie looks like Barbie; we still don’t know anything about that character.

Other Villains: Atomicus defeats Balloon Bandits, Computermen, Dr. Cyclotron, Gnomicron, Living Nightmare, The Imperial, and The Dimension Hounds.


My Two Cents: Screwball comedies like “Bringing Up Baby” (Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, 1938) featured men and women trading barbs and tricks as a form of flirtation. In comic book form, these stories often looked like Silver Age Lois Lane’s constant attempts to prove that Clark Kent was really Superman. As a story trope, it made for some silly fun. In reality, this would have been a really irresponsible idea that would put herself and all her co-workers constantly at the mercy of his enemies, if she had succeeded. File it under “things people do in fiction that would get them arrested or killed in real life." Busiek lets this trope play out to its disastrous logical conclusion.

Busiek also adds an element of tragedy: The hero, Atomicus, is not the right guy for Irene. She’s smart and ambitious. She could do well making a “power couple” with some high-octane man, or she could find her soul-mate in a calm guy who protects her from the worst excesses of her impetuosity. Instead, she chases a guy who looks dashing and strong, but is really a man-child, totally naïve in the ways of the world. His “bumbling civilian” face isn’t an act; he really is clueless. It makes me think of William Hurt’s dumb newscaster in Broadcast News (1987), dependent on brainy Holly Hunter to be his Cyrano de Bergerac of the newsroom. Or of poor Rita on Arrested Development (2005), forever doomed to have her mental retardation written off as quirkiness because her British accent makes her seem smart.

Then the final punch is that Irene has given up on exposing heroes, so much so that she misses the clues that her own daughter is a Huntress-looking vigilante. So the frame story technique pays off much better this time around than it did for, say, Loony Leo’s story, which could have been told just as easily without the frame.

A bit late chiming in here, but I will point out that if you want to follow the publication order for the entire Astro City comics line, there is a nifty little web site that provides an in order chained link of each issue, along with full publication lists. My closing indentia has the link.

- jb the (humble) ib

Wow! rberman, with all these reviews, you've covered a lot of ground in a short span of time, analyzing and dissecting one of my favorite comic book series of all time. I'll try to catch up with all you've done and add some commentary of my own along the way. I'll cheat a bit for expediency sake and just pull bits and pieces from your excellent work here, and add my quick thoughts.



re: "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."



It's not quite that clear cut. As Kurt has mentioned in interviews, online articles, his own letters columns, and within the framework of additional articles provided in his Astro City trades, the creative aspects fudge a bit. Alex and Brent have worked with Kurt on fleshing out several of the characters. Not all of them, but it sometimes goes beyond just costume design to include character defintion and growth. A good example would be the Living Nightmare story arc. In an early Wizard article, Alex and Kurt demonstrated how it worked, and in the process the created the Infidel.



re: "Theme: With overwhelming power comes overwhelming responsibility."



Very clever summation of Samaritan's mantra. There was a pleasing grin stetching across my face when I read this.

re: Issue #1: In Dreams (August 1995)



RE: "Samaritan is a straight-up Superman lift" and your earlier comment about characters mapping to "famous Marvel or DC characters"



First off thank you for not saying analogous. I think is fair to say that Kurt plays off well know troupes, themes and metaphors of super-heroes. But I don't agree with any of them being straight up lifts.



re: "Honor Guard is a Justice League analogue with an invisible floating headquarters."



Oh shit! You did use analog. I missed this on first read.





re: " Busiek is deconstructing the most famous of all superheroes, showing how fatigue hits even the most altruistic of heroes"



I'll go along with Kurt exploring an aspect of superheroes and their responsibilities, self perceived or otherwise, to be continually striving to use their powers to make things better, but I will have to say that overall, Kurt's work, on Astro City especially has been to reconstruct super-heroes as heroes, unlike the work of Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and other works from the previous couple of decades that preceded the first issue of Astro City that I snagged several copies off the newsstand  in August of 1995.



For me this first issue of Astro City was a giant breath of fresh air. My interest in super-hero comics had waned tremendously in the dozen or so year proceeding this issue. The only other bright spots were Zot!, Rocketeer, and Beanworld. The idea that there was a vast array of new characters, new situations, new insights, to explore all around a super-hero mythos was exciting, intriguing, and delightful. I couldn't wait for future issues. This issue was the perfect tease for what was to come.



- jb the (Kurt Busiek gave him his moniker) ib

You forgot to mention these  dubious characters...


herocopia.com/Byoosik%27s_Bumblers

Yes! This is a fascinating aspect of art in general. Some artists get agitated when their readers get inevitably something out of the art besides what they themselves were trying to put into it. That way lies endless frustration. Better to be able to say, "Interesting; where I was coming from, that wouldn't have occured to me."

As has been noted in this thread, maximum appreciation for Astro City requires a deep and wide knowledge of both the stories in comic books and the personalities and situations resulting in their creation. No Astro City character is exactly some hero in another mythos, but neither can Samaritan exist independent of Superman, Captain Marvel, Hyperion, Gladiator, The Utopian, and all the other characters occupying that similar bank of overlapping archetypes.

Local Heroes #3: Pastoral (August 2003)

Theme: City Mouse, Country House

Focus Civilian : Cammie grudgingly goes to lives with Aunt Ellie and Uncle John and their daughters Holly and Lynn in rural Caplinville while her parents are teaching in France for the summer. She tries hard to look older than she is, constantly baring her midriff and wearing a “foxy star” tank top. It’s boring in farmville, but when Kyle, Andy, and Steve rob the local bank, local hero Roustabout (think Bo Duke in a Lone Ranger mask) gives Cammie something to be interested in, despite her constant protestations that everything is cooler in Astro City, including the supers. She figures out his secret identity and seriously thinks about turning him in to TransGene for fame and a big reward. But she realizes that everyone in Caplinville is covering for him, even the cops, and that he’s in a relationship with her older cousin Lynn, so she lets the secret rest.

Focus Hero: Roustabout (Calvin Arnold Rory) was kidnapped and experimented on by TransGene International. He couldn’t prove his accusations against the company, was jailed for trespassing there, and is now a fugitive from the law following a prison break. He has adopted the identity of carnival worker Rick. He subdues Team Carnivore (more Ani-Men types) when they attack the carnival to flush him out.

Other Heroes: N-Forcer fought Scargoyle. Cleopatra saved a suicidal jumper. Cami considers Crackerjack to be a “real hero.”

Other Civilians: Mr. Debeck is a grumpy Caplinville neighbor. Kingman Barstow and Delbert Styles work for TransGene. Shondra is Cammie’s email buddy.

Names and Places: Herocopia.com is an online OfficIal Handbook of the Astrouniverse. The carnival has a Fontaine Pavilion building.

My Two Cents: This was a good one that showcases Busiek's ability to sketch a new character clearly over the course of a single issue. He also keeps finding new angles on the “civilian out of his/her element” theme. In this case, a teen girl, jaded with the wonders of Astro City as only a teen girl can be, finds even more to disdain in an idyllic country vacation. The thrill of a solvable secret identity mystery draws her in despite herself, in an echo of the Irene/Atomicus story from last issue. In that case, Atomicus’ lack of appropriate human cues and Irene’s lack of empathy proved a disastrous combination. In this case, Cammie keep the secret out of respect for her cousin. In the process, she comes to appreciate the power of community, as Caplinville circles around their Local Hero to protect him from both a rapacious corporation and an unjust criminal reputation.

Local Heroes #4: (November 2003)
Theme: Reasonable doubts

Focus Civilian: Vince Oleck is a defense attorney who lives with his son Jeremy and his wife Maria on Cicero Street. He recalls a case from 1974: Mob scion Richie Forgione murdered his girlfriend Lisette Palais in a jealous rage. Vince has trouble dealing with the prosecution’s airtight case, Richie’s mobster dad is threatening him, and he’s having knightmares about the Blue Knight, who looks like Ghost Rider in SWAT riot gear. For some reason, “mind control” is not an allowable defense. But “possible shapeshifting impersonator” is, as is “interdimensional evil twin” and “sometimes seemingly dead people will actually come back to life.” Vince (whose name means “conquering”) does conquer the prosecution in his case. A little too well; dad Forgione insists that Vince work for him full time. And the Blue Knight is out there…

Other Heroes: Silver Agent is dead by now. The Apollo Eleven are on the run. Old Soldier fought against America in Vietnam! That’s some potent imagery there. Is Street Angel working with The Raiders? He defeats the Andrones and Brainfever, rescuing Senator Everett. N-Forcer just got a dorky new uniform in 1974. Supersonic somehow cheated death at the hands of Lady Lethal in 1966.

Villains: The Doppel Gang (in the guises of LBJ, Jimi Hendrix, Bobby Kennedy, and Elizabeth Montgomery) gave Silver Agent a tough time in 1967. The Worst Family are interdimensional evil twins to the First Family, hah! The Kardonese are an enemy nation.

Civilians: Vince works for Grant, Miller, Healey, and Valada law firm. Jerry is a mailman. Josh is a cop whose son Damon died. Howard Waldinger is a judge for Romeyn County. Bolle-Hollingsworth is an expensive wine. Alton Winslow is a prosecuting attorney. McConnell is another lawyer. Nick Dipreta is some mobster. Miss Joanie is Jeremy’s teacher. Walter Overgard is a police detective. Dr. Belfi is a forensic pathologist. Dr. Giunta is the coroner.

Places: Vince has lived in Derbyville and Fass Gardens. Bodies were fished from Gaines River. Tallarico’s is a club “near” Kamen Street. But not on it, I guess? Kotzky and McManus Towers are swanky residences. Guardineer Warehouse saw some rough business.

My Two Cents: This issue is loaded, maybe overloaded, with proper names. It combines two familiar stories, now in an Astro City setting: “The overly competent defense attorney has pangs of conscience” and “Don’t do a good job for a powerful psychopath.” Its central super-conceit is that in a super world, there’s almost nothing of which it can be said in court, “That never happens.” The justice system cannot function without ruling out unreasonable alibis, so when all alibis remain on the table, how can anyone be convicted? This story proves too much; Biro Island should be empty. But it’s a multi-part story, so perhaps the ending will make sense of it all. Regardless, it’s a fun conceit to explore.