Astro City

AUTHOR: Busiek, Kurt

ARTIST: Brent Anderson (illustrator); Will Blyberg (inker); Alex Sinclair (colorist); Wes Abbott (letterer); John Roshell (letterer); Rob Steen (letterer); Alex Ross (cover artist)

PUBLISHERS: Image Comics; DC Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1995-

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1995-2011

Publication History

Astro City began as Kurt Busiek’s Astro City (cover dates August, 1995, to January, 1996), which was published by Image Comics, though produced by Kurt Busiek’s Juke Box Productions (comprising Busiek and his wife, Ann) and funded by Busiek through the royalties that he had earned through the hit 1993 Marvel Comics limited series Marvels. After the sixth issue came out, Astro City went on hiatus in order to “build up some more inventory” of stories. During this period, Busiek received several offers from publishers and eventually decided to go with Jim Lee’s Homage Comics, which at the time was separate from Lee’s WildStorm Productions under the Image Comics imprint. This allowed Busiek to try to make deadlines without having to do most of the trafficking, promotion, and production work.

The next Astro City story was Wizard Presents Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, Volume 2, issues 1 and 2, which was put out by Wizard: The Guide to Comics, in conjunction with Homage, and was made available in 1996 through an offer in issue 62 of the magazine. The short story in that issue, “The Nearness of You,” was nominated for awards and has been cited by Busiek as one of the stories of which he is most proud. Later that year, Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, Volume 2, issue 1, was released with a September cover date. The first three issues of this series were published by Homage. Image Comics became the publisher (and the Image Comics logo appeared on the cover) starting with issue 4 (December, 1996). During its twenty-two-issue run (and a half issue that reprinted the Wizard Presents story and an unrelated text story by Busiek), the series suffered publication delays caused by a number of factors, the most important of which was a mysterious illness affecting Busiek, which was later revealed to be mercury poisoning. During one such delay between issues 14 and 15, Lee sold WildStorm (of which Homage had become part) to DC Comics, and issue 15 (December, 1998) became the first DC Comics issue (though the Image Comics logo was still on the cover). After issue 22, the series went on hiatus again so that additional stories could be completed in order to build an inventory and prevent future delays.

The next Astro City story to appear was a six-page story featured in 9-11: The World’s Finest Writers and Artists Tell Stories to Remember, Volume 2 (2002), an anthology put out by DC Comics, with profits going to the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and their families. This was followed by the five-issue Astro City: Local Heroes (April, 2003, to February, 2004). Beginning in 2004, the Astro City stories, and the three one-issue books that came out that year, were published by WildStorm. The three books were Astro City Special; Astro City: A Visitor’s Guide, which included character pinups by twenty-nine different artists; and Astro City/Arrowsmith, a “flip book” that contained both an Astro City story and a prequel to another Busiek work, Arrowsmith, that led to the next big project: Astro City: The Dark Age.

The twelve issues of Astro City: The Dark Age were divided into four four-issue “books” that came out from August to December, 2005; January to November, 2007; July to October, 2009; and March to June, 2010. During this period, three other Astro City titles came out: Astro City: Samaritan, issue 1 (September, 2006), Astro City: Beautie, issue 1 (April, 2008), and Astro City: Astra, issues 1 and 2 (November to December, 2009). Following the end of The Dark Age, the two-issue Astro City: Silver Agent was published in 2010. DC Comics ended the WildStorm imprint, and subsequent Astro City titles will be published by another imprint. The series has also been reprinted in Germany and Italy.

Plot

The world of Astro City is one in which superbeings and other costumed heroes and villains have been around for more than sixty years. While the heroes are based all around the world, most tend to congregate in Astro City, located in the western United States. Unlike most other comics, Astro City has no primary character or characters and often the focus of the stories is on a regular person who is living in a world of fantastic individuals. Many of the stories are narrated by the individual (or in some cases, a hero or a villain), and a number of stories take place in the past (though they are usually told from the point of view of someone in the present).

Most stories are only one or two issues long. Some of the memorable examples of these include the stories of a small-time crook who has to decide what to do when he discovers a hero’s identity; two of the world’s major heroes going on a first date; a gimmick-laden criminal who is annoyed when no one realizes that he committed the perfect crime; a superhero who must decide whether the importance of fighting crime outweighs that possibility that his unborn child will grow up without a father; the life and troubles of a cartoon character come to life; a man who remembers the love of his life who, because of a “cosmic crisis,” never existed; an artist who works on comic books based on actual heroes; a Lois Lane-type woman who finds out what happens when she exposes a hero’s identity; and a lawyer who exonerates a criminal by pointing out the problems of positive identification in a world of shape changers, clones, and evil duplicates.

Unlike the characters in many other comic worlds, the characters of Astro City tend to age in real time. Astra, a member of the multigenerational First Family, is first shown as a ten-year-old who wants to live a normal life and then years later as a college graduate who has to deal with the superhero equivalent of the paparazzi.

Three major multipart Astro City stories exist. In “Confession,” teenager Brian Kinney comes to Astro City with a desire to become a hero and is recruited by the mysterious hero the Confessor to be his sidekick, Altar Boy. At this time there is a rise in antihero sentiment, mysterious murders, and strange behavior by both heroes and politicians, which results in many heroes being arrested or otherwise detained. In the midst of this, Altar Boy learns the truth about the Confessor: He is a vampire. In the end, the Confessor exposes, at the cost of his own life, that much of the strangeness about him is attributable to the work of shape-changing aliens called Enelsians who are invading the Earth. The invasion is stopped by the world’s heroes, and in an epilogue, after years of training, the Altar Boy becomes the new Confessor.

In “The Tarnished Angel,” Carl Donewicz, the metal-skinned Steeljack, gets out of prison and returns to the neighborhood in which he grew up and one that is home to many criminals, costumed and otherwise. Someone has been killing the criminals, and the community asks Donewicz to investigate. Since he cannot find a steady job, he agrees. The truth behind the murders involves a disgraced former hero. Even if the other heroes will not believe his accusations, Donewicz is still able to stop the former hero and find himself a place in the community.

The four-book “Dark Age” takes place during the 1970’s and early 1980’s, a time of turbulence in the world of Astro City and its heroes. The main characters in the books are Charles and Royal Williams, two African American brothers whose parents were killed in 1959 during a fight between the hero the Silver Agent and an agent of the criminal organization Pyramid. Charles became a police officer, while Royal became a criminal. However, when they find that the Pyramid agent is still around, they dedicate their lives to taking him down. There are a number of semirelated subplots in the books involving the superheroes, most notably the story of the Silver Agent, who was framed for murder and executed, but who appears later on because of his ability to time travel. Other subplots include the strange heroes of the Apollo 11, the problems of the Street Angel, and early adventures of characters seen in previous Astro City issues.

Much of the story is narrated by brothers, in what is revealed to be an interview with a writer who says that when telling the story he will change the brothers’ names to “Charles and Royal.” The story has its origins in a proposal that Busiek created for a sequel to Marvels.

Even though the stories deal with a variety of characters, there is occasional foreshadowing, which may be a reference in a flashback story, a framed newspaper headline, or a character that appears for a panel in one issue and then is seen more later. For example, the Enelsians were first introduced with the appearance of a spy who was gathering information on the heroes (Volume 1, issue 5), a story which also included the first mention of the Confessor. The fate of the Silver Agent was hinted at for years, starting with a reference in a flashback story (Volume 1, issue 2) as “the poor doomed Silver Agent.” Other hints, such as a memorial statue inscribed “To Our Eternal Shame,” created interest in his story, which was finally featured in the first volumes of The Dark Age; additional information was given in the other volumes and the two “Silver Agent” issues.

All of the Astro City stories listed in this essay have been collected, with the exception of the stories and features of the Visitor’s Guide. Besides the collected material and an introduction, each volume has a section that includes early sketches and designs for the characters and locations featured in the collected issues, with commentary by Busiek. These sections have different names in each volume. A cover gallery is also included in each volume, showing not only the published covers of each issue but also Alex Ross’s rough drafts and, occasionally, the photographs of people who he used for reference purposes. The earliest collections were published by Image Comics but have been reprinted by DC Comics, which published the subsequent issues.

Volumes

•Kurt Busiek’s Astro City: Life in the Big City (1995). Collects Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, Volume 1, issues 1-6. This introduces the city and several characters, including Samaritan, and contains various stories, including the award-winning “Safeguards.” The volume also includes an introduction by Busiek and “Infrastructure.”

•Kurt Busiek’s Astro City: Confession (1997). Collects Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, Volume 2, issues 4-9, and Wizard Presents Astro City ½. A teenage boy becomes the sidekick of a mysterious hero. The volume also includes “The Nearness of You,” about a man who dreams of a woman who no longer exists; an introduction by Neil Gaiman; and “Dramatis Personae.”

•Kurt Busiek’s Astro City: Family Album (1998). Collects Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, Volume 2, issues 1-3 and 10-13. This volume includes various one- and two-part stories, featuring Astra, Jack-in-the-Box, and others, including the Junkman in the award-winning “Show ‘Em All.” Also includes an introduction by Harlan Ellison and “Snapshots.”

•Kurt Busiek’s Astro City: The Tarnished Angel (2000). Collects Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, Volume 2, issues 14-20. An ex-convict supervillain must protect his old neighborhood from a mysterious killer. The volume also includes an introduction by Frank Miller and “Mugshots.”

•Astro City: Local Heroes (2003). Collects Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, Volume 2, issues 21-22; Astro City: Local Heroes, issues 1-5; and a story from 9-11: The World’s Finest Writers and Artists Tell Stories to Remember Volume 2. Includes stories and items that appeared in various WildStorm titles to promote Astro City. Also included are an introduction by James Robinson and “Homegrown Heroes.”

•Astro City: The Dark Age 1, Brothers and Other Strangers (2008). Collects Astro City: The Dark Age, Book One, issues 1-4; Astro City: The Dark Age, Book Two, issues 1-4; and the Astro City story from Astro City/Arrowsmith, issue 1. Set during the 1970’s, this tells the stories of the Williams brothers, the fate of the Silver Agent, and the dark times that befell the people and heroes of Astro City. Also includes an introduction from Marc Guggenheim and “Dark Designs.”

•Astro City: The Dark Age 2, Brothers in Arms (2010). Collects Astro City: The Dark Age, Book Three, issues 1-4, and Astro City: The Dark Age, Book Four, issues 1-4. These volumes continue the story of the Williams brothers into the early 1980’s, along with the story of the Blue Knight and other events. Also includes an introduction by Ed Brubaker and “Dark Draftmanship.”

•Astro City: Shining Stars (2011). Collects Astro City: Astra, issues 1-2; Astro City: Silver Agent, issues 1-2; Astro City: Samaritan, issue 1; and Astro City: Beautie, issue 1. A collection of solo adventures, including expansion on the Silver Agent story. Also includes an introduction by Mark Waid and “TBA.”

Characters

•Samaritan, a.k.a. Asa Martin, one of the major heroes of the Astro City universe, was sent back from a dying future to change the past. The “empyrean fire” of the time trip gave him great powers, which he now uses to save the people of the “present.” His secret identity is Asa Martin, a fact checker for a weekly news magazine.

•The Confessor, a.k.a. Jeremiah Parrish, is a mysterious hero who is revealed to be Jeremiah Parrish, a priest who was turned into a vampire over a century earlier and uses his supernatural powers to fight crime. After his final death, the role is taken over by Brian Kinney, who was briefly his sidekick, Altar Boy.

•Jack-in-the-Box, a.k.a. (at separate times) Jack Johnson, Zachary, and Roscoe James. Johnson was an African American toy designer during the 1960’s; his son Zachary took on the role six years after his father was killed; and James was recruited by Zachary to take over the role of this clown-costumed, gimmick-laden hero.

•The Hanged Man, a strange, mystical being who protects the Shadow Hill area of the city.

•The Honor Guard, the main superhero team, first founded in 1959.

•The First Family, a multigenerational team of adventurers, including brothers Augustus and Julius Furst; Augustus’s superpowered adopted children, Nick and Natalie; Natalie’s reptilian husband, Rex; and their daughter, Astra, who is the subject of two stories.

•Steeljack, a.k.a. the Steel Jacketed Man and Carl Donewicz, was a petty crook until his body was changed to metal. After twenty years in jail, he returns home to Astro City.

•Crackerjack, a wisecracking acrobatic hero, who can be a braggart. His true identity is unknown.

•Charles Williams and Royal Williams are two brothers whose parents’ deaths lead them to opposite sides of the law in a quest for justice during a dark time in Astro City.

•Supersonic is a retired hero persuaded to go into action one last time.

•The Silver Agent, a major hero, was framed for murder and executed before the truth was told. Thanks to time travel, he continues to help the world. A statue dedicated to him bears the words “To Our Eternal Shame.”

•Beautie is a sentient robot built to look like a life-sized “Beautie” doll (which is similar in appearance to the Barbie doll).

Artistic Style

The Astro City covers, painted by Ross—who had previously worked with Busiek on Marvels and who, along with longtime comic artist Brent Anderson, also helped to design many of the characters—are striking. Like those of Marvels, Kingdom Come, and other works, Ross’s covers often use people as models, sometimes even putting them in rough versions of the costumes.

Because Anderson is the penciller for all of the Astro City stories, the artistic style is relatively uniform. The primary, noticeable change is seen in issues that feature Will Blyberg’s inking instead of Anderson’s penciling. Characters look “realistic,” except when they are not supposed to be. Exceptions include “Looney Leo,” a cartoon lion come to life; Beautie, who is a “living doll”; and other various nonhuman characters.

Given that stories in Astro City take place over many decades and that there have been many occasions in which a character has appeared without being identified, Anderson’s artwork is helpful; it helps the reader recognize particular characters, which is useful when the character is finally identified by name. Other characters are meant to remind readers of certain character archetypes, specific characters, or real people. For example, many readers commented on Steeljack’s resemblance to the actor Robert Mitchum.

The style of the panels varies as needed in both shape and quantity per page. Panels are often “busy” and filled with various details, some of which give more information about the world of Astro City or contain a reference or an inside joke. The coloring fits the stories, being as bright or dark as needed, even adding in such elements as indications that a character is glowing. Letter balloons are used in the standard way, though some changes are made for characters, such as the Confessor, that are not quite human; in these cases, the lettering is sometimes done in an odd way as well. The narrators’ thoughts and recollections are shows in text boxes. These boxes are located in different areas of the panels, and sometimes there are more than one per panel. In the case of The Dark Age, which has two narrators, differently colored boxes are used to indicate the speaker.

Themes

One of the main themes of Astro City is the question of, as Busiek has stated, “What else happens in the worlds the superheroes inhabit?” What is life like for regular people who live in a world of superheroes, costumed villains, and entities with the power to destroy the world? This theme is also present in Busiek’s Marvels, which is told from the point of view of a photographer.

Even when the focus of the story is a supercharacter, “stopping the bad guy and saving the world” is not the main point of the story. The points of the stories are, for example, Jack-in-the-Box worrying about being a father or Astra wondering what it is like to be a normal child. “Confession” has a worldwide alien invasion in it, but the main character plays only a small part in stopping it. Whereas other comics may stretch an “infinite cosmic identity war” into a multipart story, Astro City would employ such a story as, at best, the “b-story,” happening in the background, while the main focus is on its effects on a particular character or characters. One example of this is in the story “Welcome to Astro City” (Volume 2, issue 1). Neighbors in an apartment building are gathered on the rooftop watching a fight between superheroes and a powerful cosmic being. The narrator is surprised that with everything going on, a neighbor let her son go back to the apartment to work on his homework, but she points out that things are out of their hands and “hey, if the world does not end he’s still got school tomorrow.”

As one critic has stated, Astro City is “an unabashedly fanboy series.” Busiek was a comics fan long before he was a comics writer, and he includes in Astro City many of the superhero archetypes: the superpowerful character admired by the whole world (Samaritan); the “warrior woman” (Winged Victory); the wisecracking athletic hero (Crackerjack); the “dark” hero with his “bright” sidekick (Confessor and Altar Boy); the team made up of the “best and brightest” (Honor Guard); and the “family of heroes” (the First Family).

The history of comics is often referenced in the pages of Astro City in the naming of people and places. One of the most prominent landmarks in the city is Mount Kirby, named after Jack Kirby, cocreator of Captain America. Some of the names are chosen for a specific reason. For example, the Bakersville neighborhood that has a high African American population is named for Matt Baker, one of the first African Americans in mainstream comics. The prison is on Biro Island, named for the popular “crime comics” pioneer Charles Biro, and the “Sprang Museum of Popular Advertising” has items, such as giant typewriters, that Dick Sprang put into Batman comics. The information gatherer for the invading Enelsians is Mr. Bridwell, named after comics writer E. Nelson Bridwell, who had a great knowledge of comic book characters. In addition, the Silver Agent was shown to be active from 1956 to 1973, the years that some feel are the starting and ending dates for the Silver Age of comics. For readers unaware of these names and facts, they are just part of the story, but for the knowledgeable reader, they add to the enjoyment of the series.

Impact

Along with Marvels, Astro City has been credited with shifting some comics away from the “grim and gritty” and “deconstruction of superheroes” that had been prevalent in many comics of the time. Since Astro City, there have been other comics that deal with how regular people cope in a world of superheroes, such as Gotham Central, which deals with the police officers in the city where Batman fights crime. In addition, other comic book series have emerged with new worlds of superheroes, many of which fit into the main archetypes, ranging from the slightly humorous, such as PS238 (first published in 2002), to the more mainstream, such as Invincible (first published in 2002), and the occasionally profane, such as The Boys (first published in 2006).

Another title of this type, Irredeemable (first published in 2009), is based in a world in which the Superman/Samaritan character type has gone mad and become a threat to the world. While many stories deal with the mad superhero and the superheroes trying to stop him, there have also been stories about the regular people affected by his actions, including a Lois Lane-type character and a reformed supervillain, who appears in the companion title Incorruptible.

Further Reading

Busiek, Kurt. Marvels (1994).

Grayson, Mark. Invincible (2003- ).

Waid, Mark, and Jean Diaz. Incorruptible (2010- ).

Waid, Mark, and Peter Krause. Irredeemable (2009- ).

Bibliography

Busiek, Kurt. Introduction to Kurt Busiek’s Astro City: Life in the Big City. La Jolla, Calif.: Homage Comics, 1996.

Guggenheim, Mark. Introduction to Astro City: The Dark Age 1: Brothers and Other Strangers. La Jolla: Calif.: WildStorm, 2008.

Klock, Geoff. How to Read Superhero Comics and Why. New York: Continuum, 2002.

Robinson, James. “Around Town.” In Astro City: Local Heroes, edited by Kurt Busiek. La Jolla, Calif.: WildStorm, 2005.