Traditionally, "before seeking revenge, dig two graves," not "buy a boat."

I read the series pretty religiously for some time, then missed several mini-series before its stint at Vertigo: no idea why I missed them, but that just means I was able to read them now. From 2010, Astro City: the Dark Age, Book Four #4, "Storm's End" Written by Kurt Busiek, art by Brent E. Anderson, cover by Alex Ross.

This was the conclusion of the fourth and final Dark Age mini-series: there's probably more of a sales bump with four #1 issues instead of this being issue #16 or whatever. All four series follow the Williams brothers, Charles and Royal, mostly from 1972 to 1984. They lost their parents when they were kids, in a superhero incident that also led to a lifelong resentment for the Silver Agent, one of Astro City's most prominent heroes. Charles had gone on to become a cop, Royal a small-time criminal; neither with the successes they would've liked, but by this issue they were both vigilantes hunting the man that killed their parents, former Pyramid agent Aubrey Jason. Aubrey had been forced to enhance himself to stay ahead of the Williams, who appropriated tons of high-tech weapons and gear to go after him.

The Silver Agent had been executed in 1973 for a crime he didn't commit, but travelled fairly extensively in time before his death, and was back again in 1984. A rift in space had been infecting the city with darkness, released the vengeance-crazed Pale Horseman, and powered Jason: the Agent was there to stop it, but the Williams are a little put out thinking he was stepping on their thing. (After their parents' deaths, the boys had hidden from Jason, then from the Silver Agent as well; later they thought the Agent didn't care about them.) Faced with a choice of saving the Agent (momentarily...) or chasing Jason, Royal opts to save the Agent, since he had seen something in his face and his brother's, that reminded him too much of Jason. They still get a measure of payback, though, as the Pale Horseman and Jason are sucked into the rift, possibly forever. And the Silver Agent moves on through time, ever closer to an appointment in the past...

Several years later, a writer completes an interview with the brothers on their little boat in Baja. They aren't keen on all of their story being told, since they could still have enemies and possibly warrants; but the writer assures them he'll use "cosmetic identities" to cover them: how do you like the names Charles and Royal Williams? The brothers also aren't sure all the darkness of that time can be blamed on any rifts or anything; but also know exactly when the dark age ended: when a new hero, Samaritan, saved the space shuttle Challenger...(It isn't named in the issue, but is clearly visible on the variant cover!) 

Although he accepts his fate as something that will inspire future heroes, the death of the Silver Agent is perfect and infuriating: the public turns on him, then regrets and laments to the point it almost becomes a cult built around his prophesized returns. Something like an apology, all too late. The whole Dark Ages story is a bit of a love letter to comics of that timeframe: a bit of Captain America, more than a little Kirby, and quite a lot of Punisher and Ghost Rider elements. He doesn't appear this issue (although his knockoffs do, briefly) but the Blue Knight is one of the series' best designs, and they've had some standouts.