Astro City Metrobook, Volume 1 by Kurt BusiekMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Astro City Metrobook 1 collects Astro City 1-6, Astro City volume 2 1- 12, and Astro City 1/2.
So I didn't really get Astro City when I was a teenager but I've read a fair bit of it as an adult and dug it. In fact, I've blocked a few people on Twitter who shit talk it. Anyway, I decided to free up some shelf space and trade in my old collections for these big honkin' Metrobooks.
So Astro City seems like an homage to archetypical comics, and it is, but it mostly focuses on the human side of things. Samaritan can fly around the world in minutes but doesn't leave himself time to go one dates. Astra from the Furst Family is a third generation hero that wants to be a normal kid. Jack in the Box wonders how he's going to juggle being a super hero with fatherhood. There are dozens more examples to back up this viewpoint.
The artwork by Brent Anderson is understated but it fits the human tone of the story. You don't need a behemoth with bulging muscles and eye burning coloring to tell human focused stories. The plot of Astro City turning against the super heroes due to a political demagogue is a plot that seems just as fresh today as it did in the 1990s.
That's about all I want to say. I don't want to spoil anything for people who've never read this. This is my third time through Astro City and it just gets better with age. Five out of five stars.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment