A Visitor’s Guide to Kurt Busiek’s Astro City

Life in the Big City
That said, some of the collections offer a better jumping off point than others. The best place to start is at the beginning, with Life in the Big City. It starts out with a look at the daily life of Samaritan, Astro City’s Superman analogue. A few Astro City heroes are homages to well-known superheroes (Winged Victory parallels Wonder Woman, Confessor is similar to Batman), but that’s actually a very small part of the book, and Busiek always takes those characters in unexpected and emotionally revealing directions. You learn a lot about Astro City here, and a lot about Astro City too—that it’s not really about invading aliens or cosmic reality shifts, or terrorist supervillains, but the emotional stories that play out in and around those spectacular events.

Confession
Your next stop in Astro City should be Confession, which, at first glance, seems a thinly disguised Batman & Robin story, but is really much more. Told from the point of view of Confessor’s sidekick, Altar Boy, it examines the cost of keeping secrets, the desire to make a name for yourself, and the sacrifice required to keep a city safe, all wrapped up in an intriguing mystery. As a bonus, this collection also reprints “The Nearness of You,” a story originally published as a Wizard Magazine issue #1/2. It concerns an ordinary man who has haunting memories of his deep love for a wife who no longer exists—because at some point some superhero/supervillain battle rewrote reality and altered the timestream. It is without a doubt one of the finest single issues of any comic book you will ever read. Be warned: it might make you cry.

Local Heroes
If Life in the Big City made you want to visit Astro City, Local Heroes will get you to start apartment hunting. These are the smallest stories in the series, about everyday people who live among super-powered beings. The collection shows off one of Busiek’s strengths: examining the big picture of a world full of superheroes and finding a seemingly minor thread he can follow to its fascinating conclusion. Like, what would happen to a tabloid newspaper that covered the lives of the superheroes? What’s it like being a doorman who tries to protect the tourists who get a little too close to the action? A lot of reviewers describe Astro City as “realistic,” but that might give you the impression that it’s some kind of gritty Watchmen-esque drama full of despair. Astro City gleams. It is relentlessly optimistic about human nature, even amid tragedy. It’s not afraid to break your heart, but it’s also brave enough to give you a happy ending. And Brent Anderson’s art is always vivid and colorful.

Through Open Doors
This is where Astro City restarted after a publishing hiatus of several years. It’s certainly a great place to begin if you want to get into the current run, published by DC. There’s a lot going on in the city at this point, but a lot of it revolves around the appearance of a giant cosmic doorway in the middle of a park. A race of godlike beings shows up, essentially opening up diplomatic and trade relations with Earth. By the way, did I mention that the covers and character designs are by Alex Ross? The trade paperbacks have the advantage of including design sketches and notes on each character when a new one is introduced, or when and old one is redesigned.

Victory
Victory focuses closely on Winged Victory, a woman whose superheroic efforts have always included an implicit feminist drive. She’s framed for something, and her shelters and schools for women are infiltrated, leading to a conflict between her, Samaritan, and Confessor. It’s something of a dark tale about self-doubt and mistrust, but it’s also about friendship, and how to be an ally to someone going through a hard time.

Dark Age: Book One
In Dark Age: Book One, Busiek takes on the idea of regular humans losing their faith in superheroes. It’s about two brothers who struggle in different ways to make peace with a tragic event from their childhood, getting involved with superheroes and a supervillain organization. Meanwhile, larger events are sweeping the city, creating a wave of anti-superhero anger. Combined with Dark Age: Book Two, this storyline makes up the longest continuous arc in Astro City‘s publishing history. If you enjoy books with a bit of an edge—check that gritty 1970s setting—you’ll want to grab them both.
If you want to sample Astro City before you dive in, check out both the first issue and “The Nearness of You” for free on your Nook!