Issue #5: Reconnaissance (December 1995)

Theme: Fools and the wreckage in their wake

Focus "Hero": The vainglorious Crackerjack saunters into a battle-in-progress singing the Mighty Mouse theme song. He dresses like a star-spangled Team America reject in a hair-baring cowl and a deep V-neck to showcase his hairy, hairy chest. His alter ego is Eugene Wallace, an affable, mulleted, aspiring actor. But Crackerjack has shorter, darker hair and an Inigo Montoya mustache. So he wears a mullet wig in his secret identity, and attaches a fake mustache when he’s in costume. I guess?

Civilians: Maxine is an old biddy at Eugene’s boarding house; one of her friends is the widow of Herman.

Point of View Alien: Mr. Bridwell (homaging DC/Mad Magazine’s E. Nelson Bridwell, who was already homaged in 80s Captain Carrot comics as Birdwell), an alien mantis disguised in human form, shambles through the December snow in an overcoat, hiding a cool computer in a shopping bag, gathering intel on the super-folk. His true form is surely an homage to Alex Toth’s Zorak villain from the Space Ghost cartoons. He watches Crackerjack lurch from one misadventure to another all night, saved repeatedly by fool’s luck. Bridwell almost decides that humans are too much trouble to conquer. But then he sees what idiots the octogenarians from the boarding house are. Begin the invasion!

Villains: An unnamed giant monster from beneath the earth, a la FF#1. Robot Gnomicon mentioned is in a headline (vs heroine Cleopatra, who apparently destroyed him). Steel Devil, like 80s DC third string hero Blue Devil, shoots energy blasts from a pitchfork. The Techsperts are attacking museums but prove little trouble for three unpowered heroes.

Heroes: Three of The Astro City Irregulars make their onscreen debut: El Robo (= robot Colossus), bug-man Palmetto, (a Palmetto bug is technically not a roach, and Palmetto takes umbrage when a teammate calls him “roach”) and a Jubilee-looking teen heroine whom Palmetto refers to as jailbait. The Museum of Modern History has a Starwoman retrospective; she’s an alien with a Night Girl-style beehive hairdo. Quarrel is revealed to be the second hero of that name. Confessor is mentioned again. Bridwell confirms that there are indeed two Jack-in-the-Boxes, having their respective debuts in 1964 and 1989. Jack-in-the-Box zips past Crackerjack without a word. Nightingale and her teen partner Sunbird are on a stakeout, recalling the Nightwing and Flamebird adventures that Silver Age Superman and Jimmy Olson would have in the bottle city of Kandor, confirming once and for all that even Superman thinks Batman is the coolest.

Places: Nordling’s is a Nordstrom-type department store. Crackerjack leaves some villains dangling at the corner of Wallace and Klein streets.

My Two Cents: The least compelling issue so far. Crackerjack’s buffoonish bravado is effectively established early on, but watching him be obnoxious to various heroes and villains for a whole issue doesn’t make me hate him more; it makes me wish Busiek had put more other material into this story. The whole thing could have been a three page flashback in whatever future issue (I assume) the alien fleet arrives. Nightwing implies that Quarrel is dating Crackerjack, which I find impossible to imagine, even though I don’t know anything about her yet. Bridwell is shown to be a poor scout for the aliens, making the decision to send the invasion signal based more on a fit of pique than a careful consideration of the threat posed by, say, Samaritan. He’s as much a fool as Crackerjack, in his own way.

There's also some sort of statement about sexual politics going on here. Bridwell resents the women of his own species for their cultural dominance, and it's a woman's comments that sends him over the edge to order the invasion. Crackerjack is a host of negative male stereotypes. But I can't bring the two stories together into a cohesive mutual commentary.  The next issue of AC will deal more explicitly with this topic.

Klaus Nordling was a long-time comic writer-artist best known for his work on Lady Luck in the Spirit newspaper section.  

George Klein was best known as an inker at DC who worked extensively on Superman stories with Curt Swan among a lot of other assignments.  He also was probably the inker on Fantastic Four #1.  

Wallace Wood would certainly be the most famous Wallace who worked in comics.  Klein did ink Daredevil 46-49 over Gene Colan and Woody famously re-designed Daredevil's costume so the corner is probably a reference to them.  

I enjoyed Crackerjack, as a more obnoxious send-up of the trickster heroes, like Spider-man and Daredevil. We will soon learn that the first Quarrel was not a role model and the main thrust of this issue was to set up another storyline, down the road, in which Crackerjack will play a part, as well as the mysterious Confessor. It's one of the truly great storylines of the series. One of the reasons for naming the Nordlings Department Store after Klaus Nordling wasn't just to invoke the idea of Nordstrom; Lady Luck fought crime in a rather fashionable gown and evening gloves, complete with hat and veil.


Also, Brent Anderson's work here really evokes the feel of Gene Colan, one of Anderson's artistic influences and the best Daredevil artist.

Julie Schwartz, though Kirby-ized.

Issue #6: Dinner at Eight (January 1996)

Theme: Gender politics makes for an awkward date discussion topic. Also, don’t date people from work.

Focus Character 1: Winged Victory gets set up on a date with a tongue-tied Samaritan by members of Honor Guard. She has yellow eyes. When in her secret identity (which we learn is a rare thing nowadays), she wears a pendant (she calls it a “medallion”) of a tiny sheathed sword. When she unsheathes the tiny sword, she transforms into super mode, including wings and a full-size sword and sheath. But sheathing the big sword apparently doesn’t reverse the transformation. Does she try to sleep with her wings? I’d think she’d transform back at night. Samaritan knows her secret identity, but initially not vice versa.

Focus Character 2: Samaritan can apparently get drunk, so he orders club soda. He reveals his alter ego to WV; it now includes glasses as well as white hair. He says he works for a weekly celebrity tabloid called The Current. This is consistent with the material he was shown working on in the first issue. I initially thought that he worked at the The Astro City Rocket newspaper because people in his office were reading Rocket. But looking back at the first issue, the glass door of his office area clearly says “The Current.” My bad! He tells her about his organic computer, the zyxometer, as well as his origins in the 35th century, sent back to our time as an intended secret agent to avert ecological disaster. Instead, Empyrean Fire energy buffeted Samaritan during his journey through the timestream to 1985, giving him powers which he used to avert the Challenger space shuttle deaths (his primary objective) and many other disasters. This saved the future but also changed it unrecognizably, so he stayed in the past. We don’t have a lot of “man caught out of time” culture shock vibe to him yet, but someone from an ecologically ruined dystopian future ought to feel really out of place back here.

Other Heroes: Black Rapier foils a securities theft. Cleopatra tackles a tornado. By spinning around, like 1970s TV’s Isis, I hope! Rex Furst (Who I think is the one that’s the Thing with a tail) and Natalie Furst deal with an ax-toting giant. Nick Furst and family apparently are there too. I am unsure as of yet who “Gus” and “Mr. Swordo” and “Astra” are, but future issues doubtless will spell it all out more clearly. M.P.H. thwarts the theft of a super-car. Beautie is a pink-haired lady in Honor Guard, powers unknown (seems to involve punching), but she dresses like Duo Damsel. N-Forcer, Quarrel II, and Crackerjack deal with an avalanche in Montana. Do not ask me what the latter two of them were attaching their cable lines to off-panel as they swung around on ropes rescuing skiers from a mountainside, but this does prove that they work together (as claimed last issue).

Other Villains: Honor Guard bested the Iron Horde recently. Samaritan fought Eterneon once. Beautie defeats Goldenboy, who has gold skin and seduction powers and dresses in a karate gi. Fever is in Winged Justice’s rogues gallery; Samaritan and JW have a little discussion about the incongruity of each hero having a specific rogue’s gallery in the first place.

Civilians: Judge Marston and Senator Haney interrupt the super-date, seeking autographs.

Places: Astro City has a Stock Exchange where you can heist securities. Is that a real thing at stock exchanges? I didn’t think anything of value was kept onsite. Gascinny’s is a fine French restaurant next to a theatre where “Phantom of the Opera” is being performed. Mama Angka’s Yak Palace in Tibet is facetious, not a real restaurant. Probably. Beefy Bob’s is a burger joint on Stallman Street. Arriola’s Taco stand is an automated restaurant in the 35th century. At the end of the issue, there’s trouble on Sekowsky Street.

Miscellanea Samaritan refers to himself and Winged Victory as “addicted to our beepers.” That comment will get ever less intelligible to future readers. Technology dates quickly! The heroes are shown battling problems all over the country. That’s no problem for Samaritan or M.P.H., who can fly at Mach zillion. But how long does it take Crackerjack to get to Montana to fight an avalanche that would be over in minutes? Seems like regionally based heroes would be better than everybody living in Manhattan, I mean Astro City. Send out the Great Plains Avengers!

My Two Cents: Samaritan’s and Winged Victory’s date goes south when she comments that she preferentially targets sexually predatory male super-villains and preferentially saves women victims over men. Rather than just sipping his Coke and offering a non-committal “Mmhmm,” Samaritan challenges her on it, and she hits back, pointing out the absurdity of his retention of a secret identity that he never has time to live, when she has abandoned hers. Things degenerate, and she flies off with an “I’m happy with my super self! Everything is fine! Raaaar!” retort. She clearly envies the satisfaction Samaritan has with his Asa Martin self, while she has no identity but The Job and needs it, and the validation it brings her, to feel good about herself. We’re left wondering how her self-loathing is impacting all the young minds at her school. It’s a pretty deep topic, the question of how we can pursue vocation without losing ourselves in it. It’s “adult content” in the best sense of the word. So, two thumbs up for an issue that for a while seemed like it was on the verge of becoming “A very special issue of Green Lantern/Green Arrow shrilly debating gender roles.” By the end, both of them have learned something, and they kiss and make up (and make out).

No, it's the same character. She's always been called Winged Victory. I think rberman just got her name wrong.

Astra gets a great story, in the near future, and we get a lot of the Furst Family. Made me wish that Busiek had been writing the FF at Marvel. Sometimes I got the feeling that Astro City was Kurt Busiek doing the kinds of things he was prevented from doing at DC and Marvel.

Shouldn't that be Goscinny?