Astro City

Astro City 22

Kurt Busiek finishes off volume 2 on the same low as the previous issues.  Here, an actor turned hero realizes it isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.  I’m discovering that I really don’t like the Astro City stories about losers.  Busiek rarely makes them sympathetic enough for me to care about them, resulting in a disappointing reading experience.  I did like the lesson from this issue, though:

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Astro City: Local Heroes 1-5

Busiek returns to form here.  This did come with the revelation that he’d been suffering from mercury poison, impossible to say if his recovery is related to the improvement in his storytelling.  Issue one has a beautiful ending with a callback to the opening scene:

Page 2

Flashback scene.

What a wonderful, unspoken connection.

Issue two has a nice take on the “Lois Lane trying to prove Superman is Clark Kent” trope from the 50s.  Issue three introduces us to a girl who learns to appreciate the intersection between farm life and superheroes.

The last two issues are about a lawyer who goes down the slippery slope of introducing comic book science into the courtroom.  It’s cleverly done, and the Blue Knight character is pretty cool too.

A nice little run, let’s see if Busiek can maintain it.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Astro City/Arrowsmith

A flip book with super short stories for each one.  Complete filler.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Astro City: Supersonic

A pointless issue.  A sad retired cop convinces his retired superhero friend to put on the suit one last time to fight a giant robot.  Poor Supersonic prevails after getting the crap kicked out of him, and I got zero joy out of watching a 70-year old guy get smashed into the ground.  Totally cuttable if I end up gutting this collection.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Disliked