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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 1, 2018 10:59:32 GMT -5
That confessor arc was pretty good. I remember it being longer for some reason. Probably due to the release schedule. There was a two month gap between issues 5 and 6 and then between 7 and 8. So, it took 8 months for 6 issues to come out. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 1, 2018 11:58:36 GMT -5
The Confessions arc also ties in with issue #5 of the first AC series, as I'm sure most will remember.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 1, 2018 12:00:11 GMT -5
That confessor arc was pretty good. I remember it being longer for some reason. Probably due to the release schedule. There was a two month gap between issues 5 and 6 and then between 7 and 8. So, it took 8 months for 6 issues to come out. Which is still pretty speedy for Astro City! Waiting for the Dark Age to get completed was like having to live through the '70s in real time!  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 1, 2018 13:56:10 GMT -5
Probably due to the release schedule. There was a two month gap between issues 5 and 6 and then between 7 and 8. So, it took 8 months for 6 issues to come out. Which is still pretty speedy for Astro City! Waiting for the Dark Age to get completed was like having to live through the '70s in real time! For the second time, for some of us. |
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Post by rberman on Feb 1, 2018 18:54:01 GMT -5
Volume 2, Issue #5: Learning the Game (January 1997)
Theme: Solo flight Focus Hero: Kinney (first name still unknown) is now Altar Boy, sidekick of The Confessor. He did not get to choose his code name or costume. He cracks his first case and nabs his second villain (after Gluegun) solo. Focus Villain: A shapeshifting monster (alien?) has been impersonating Crackerjack and committing crimes. Kinney catches him, and of course the real Crackerjack shows up to steal the credit, so I’m going to file him under “Villain” too for the time being. Places: Gibson is the street where the thugs meet. Grandenetti Cathedral and Abbey is the site of Kinney’s training. He now lives at Sprang House at Robinson Prep High School, even during summer when dorms (and their attached cafeterias) are normally closed. Mooney’s is a nearby pizza joint. Fass Gardens Astrobank was robbed. Shadow Hill has a string of unsolved murders. I’m surprised that is news, what with all the Chthulhoid creatures skulking there. Civilians: Enzio Grandenetti was a Catholic Cardinal of the 19th century. Chet lives in Kinney’s dorm too, once school begins in autumn. Steve McCann is a high school student who once spent the night in Shadow Hill on a bet. Other Villains: Andy Tugliewski is a normal thug in The Deacon’s gang. Religious themed hero AND villain! Guilloteam is a clever group name. Other Heroes: Honor Guard foiled a Pyramid attack on the United Nations Security Council. Winged Victory spoke out against parochial schools as “mystical rubbish,” earning the ire of the pious citizens of Astro City. Other Villains: Sean Hadrahan, a.k.a. Queen’s Bishop, was first in the Chessmen (a Hellfire Club analogue?) and then worked for Headstone. Miscellanea: AstroMart convenience store still has a comic book spinner in 1997! Now we know this really is a fantasy story. We see Zot!, Little Lulu, Groo, Air Ace, and First Family comics in the rack. This issue unfolds over a period of weeks or months, as evidenced by the training montages. The heat wave mentioned last issue is still going strong into the autumn school session. My Two Cents: Kinney’s new father figure, the Confessor, is a controlling guy whose motives remain inscrutable. He’s putting a lot of effort into training Altar Boy, exhorting him to sleuth out the patterns, and he praises him for taking the initiative to strike out on his own one night. Again I’m pleasantly surprised to see religion portrayed positively as in the previous issue. It’s often used as a punching bag, a convenient “unreasonable authority figure” foil for a sympathetic hero to push back against. This origin story for Altar Boy, showing how he himself alters through training, seems like a fairly standard Robin origin so far. It’s unfolding over a longer time period than the standalone stories that comprised many issues up to this point, so there’s not as much to say thematically about each individual issue. 
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 1, 2018 22:22:02 GMT -5
The Chessman are more of a Zodiac/Iron Man's enemies (Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, etc) analogue. It's a criminal gang with chess-themed armor. The armor will pop up again later, with the Mock Turtle. I enjoyed Brian's reaction to the name, Altar Boy. You'd have to think Sandy Hawkins had a similar reaction....
"Sandy? Why am I even wearing a mask? I sound like I'm Little Orphan Annie's dog!"
"You could be Roy, the Super Boy...."
"Sandy it is!"
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 1, 2018 22:35:10 GMT -5
I always thought of the Chessmen as a Royal Flush Gang analog... funny how that sort of thing goes.
The Confessor arc is my favorite, I think (though the recent Winged Victory one was right up there)... I love Kinney! I've definitely always wanted more on the Crossbreed, too... I sorta pictured them as the Christian X-Men.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Feb 1, 2018 23:26:35 GMT -5
Yeah, I need to reread (and get caught up with!) Astro City. This is a great thread.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 2, 2018 2:01:05 GMT -5
I always thought of the Chessmen as a Royal Flush Gang analog... funny how that sort of thing goes. The Confessor arc is my favorite, I think (though the recent Winged Victory one was right up there)... I love Kinney! I've definitely always wanted more on the Crossbreed, too... I sorta pictured them as the Christian X-Men. Yeah, that popped in my head after I posted the above. Kind of mix them up and there you have it. When the stuff appears later, in the Mock Turtle episode of Tarnished Angel, it felt very Alan Davis Captain Britain, to me, especially with the Lewis Carroll theme running through it. |
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Post by rberman on Feb 2, 2018 8:58:24 GMT -5
I loved the name Ironhorse and want to see more of that character. You know there is a great story there. I don't think this is a retcon, so much as a reflection that the general public thinks of the Aviator as the first superhero, when Ironhorse predates him, much as Superman is considered the first superhero, whe he is predated by Hugo Danner, John Carter, Doc Savage, Tarzan, and characters of myth, like Hercules. I suspect it is a commentary that popular opinion and common knowledge are often wrong. I now recall Vol 1 Issue 2, in which Old Soldier's earliest known apparent death was in 1863 (i.e. during the American Civil War). Elliot Mills recognized him in that issue, so the public does know about heroes older than Air Ace, but perhaps consign 19th century heroes to some forgotten category. People often display that sort of myopia, thinking that Elvis invented rock music or whatever. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 2, 2018 11:29:06 GMT -5
I loved the name Ironhorse and want to see more of that character. You know there is a great story there. I don't think this is a retcon, so much as a reflection that the general public thinks of the Aviator as the first superhero, when Ironhorse predates him, much as Superman is considered the first superhero, whe he is predated by Hugo Danner, John Carter, Doc Savage, Tarzan, and characters of myth, like Hercules. I suspect it is a commentary that popular opinion and common knowledge are often wrong. I'd dearly love to see more of Ironhorse. Everything about him is interesting and just calls out to me. |
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Post by rberman on Feb 2, 2018 18:23:51 GMT -5
Volume 2, Issue #6: The Gathering Dark (February 1997)
Theme: Witch Hunt Civilians: Sara-Lynne Felton, the latest victim in the Shadow Hill murder series, was young and white, so finally there’s a media frenzy. That rings true to life! Kinney’s dorm buddy Chet suggests that a hero could be the serial killer. Those darned masks! Can’t trust ‘em. Mayor Stevenson announces mandatory registration of superheroes. Trench is a lowlife with information about heroin dealing by a squad of Viet Nam vets who are now getting murdered one by one. Mr. Vlacek is the Orthodox priest of Shadow Hill. Focus Hero: Still Altar Boy. He considers The Confessor’s power set (turning to mist, working only at night, hypnotizing people) and the fear he evokes in Shadow Hill, and realizes what sort of creature his boss is. Other Heroes: Samaritan, Quarrel II, Crackerjack, and the Hanged Man futilely watch for the serial killer from rooftops. Cyborg Mordecai Chalk looks like Deathlok. He’s a monster hunter contracted to solve the Shadow Hill murders.. E.A.G.L.E. (Extranormal Activities Garrison for Law Enforcement) has “troopers,” so presumably a S.H.I.E.L.D. analogue. Winged Justice and Jack-in-the-Box protest the mayor's registration policy. Honor Guard and the Irregulars stop a mob from attacking Shadow Hill, which appears to have an Orthodox church right next to the Cathedral. Other Villains: Gunslinger escapes capture by Confessor and Altar Boy. He’s been targeting members of a particular Viet Nam squad across the country; they had dealt heroin and killed his father, their sergeant. Frigians and Thermians fight Honor Guard in Antarctica. Aliens called Thermians would later appear in the Galaxy Quest movie, but there was nothing hot about them. Places: Crime is rising in Chesler due to the distracted heroes. Gaia Women’s Clinic suffered a bombing. Kenny spends a day riding back and forth on the Biro Island ferry. My Two Cents: It’s an homage to Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and various “witch hunt bandwagon” stories. The temperature is rising, and everybody’s angry. The citizenry lash out at the First Family, E.A.G.L.E. troops, and Crossbreeds alike. Busiek builds the fervor nicely across the whole issue as the mayor gets progressively more strident in his panic to “do something” about the rash of murders. Shadow Hill was previously shown to be an Eastern European community, so I’m surprised the first seven victims were all non-white. We do see Hanged Man in a black neighborhood, but he’s specifically said to be outside of his usual Shadow Hill stomping grounds at that moment. 
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Post by Confessor on Feb 2, 2018 18:40:23 GMT -5
^^ Is it in this issue or the last one where Alter Boy and Confessor catch three criminals hiding under a manhole cover? Any similarity between those three crooks and Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross and Brent Anderson is purely coincidental, of course!  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 3, 2018 0:24:16 GMT -5
EAGLE is definitely a SHIELD analogue; it's made more deliberate in The Dark Age. Pyramid is their HYDRA. I liked Mordecai Chalk; and, like Ironhorse, would have liked to have seen more. He's got a bit of Deathlok, some Abraham Van Helsing, some Blade, some Hellboy. Would have been nice to have a monster hunter story. I also like the fact that Busiek is emphasizing logic and deduction with Confessor and Altar Boy. It fits in with the classic Batman, which has been greatly reduced in more recent years. Used to be you'd get a lot more clever mysteries. Too often these days, that just means conspiracies, without real clue gathering and deduction. Brain power used to be a central thing with many superheroes; part of why I really loved this series and Starman, as Robinson was a mystery fan and used it well in that series.
I suppose Gunslinger's teleporting guns were an homage to Dave Cockrum and Corsair, of the Starjammers, as he would touch the jewels on his gauntlets to transport his rayguns into his hands.
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Post by coke & comics on Feb 3, 2018 1:51:47 GMT -5
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. Whereas I think "In Dreams" is the second best issue of the entire series and one of the best single-issue comic stories I have ever read. Will we ever agree? |
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