lurkerwithout | Sunday Trade: Astro City (Reply)

Astro City: Confession written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Brent Eric Anderson, inks by Will Blyberg, colors by Alex Sinclair

I found this dusty, beat-up edition just last week. Only ten bucks for the first multi-issue story arc of Astro City. And what a story arc. A dark, brooding detective hero with mysterious powers. A young teen-ager looking to become a super-hero. Super-hero hang-outs. Alien shape shifters. Super-human registration. This is one Busiek's best arcs on his best book. For me, tied with Steeljack's story...

And whats more telling is how in around a half-dozen issues Busiek manages to tell clever stories that feel original with old tropes like super-hero registration and invading alien shape-shifters. A reminder that Mark Millar and Brian M. Bendis aren't just hacks, they're fairly unoriginal hacks...

Man do I love this. The way he creates a Christian themed super-hero group in the Crossbreed. Who I like. Who come off as a group you WANT Christians to be. Or the samples of the giant, rich world Busiek created. Not just the title city. But the heroes and villains and monsters from around the world. The way an invasion of Earth is actually treated GLOBALLY. Not just an invasion of New York City...

And then bonus. The trade also includes "The Nearness of You". Originally a zero issue or 1/2 issue or something. I think it came with an issue of Wizard or something. A story about the consequences of those big time-shattering Events that happen in comics. And fuck. "No one forgets. No one..."

That still gets me. Stupid awesome Busiek...