Just buy Astro City whenever you see it, huh?

I often say, I try to avoid buying quarter books I already have; but this is a good one, and we mentioned it some time back: from 2003, Astro City: Local Heroes #2, "Shining Armor" Written by Kurt Busiek, art by Brent Anderson, cover by Alex Ross.

In the present, Irene Cronin laments her daughter Sammie might not find herself a man; but her fear is less because she was a lesbian, than regret over choices she had herself made. Back in 1960, she came to Astro determined to have it all, the perfect career and the perfect man; and schemes and works her way from a volunteer for the mayoral campaign to a full-fledged mayor's aide. (Irene took great pains to stay out of the secretarial pool, where her input would be nonexistent at best.) About that time, at the atomic research lab at nearby Fort Kanigher (a familiar name!) an anomaly in the reactor core manifests as a new superhero, dubbed "Atomicus" by the press. The atomic superman's origins were unknown, but he saves Irene after she was abducted by the Balloon Bandits--just one of those things that would happen in Astro City!--and she convinces him to come back and talk to her after taking the crooks to jail.

Although he was able "to talk, to think," Atomicus did not seem to understand much of the world: he took his inspiration from a sign, "Better living through Atomic Power," and devoted himself to improving life, helping humanity and America. Irene and Atomicus become a formidable team, with her doing most of the detective work, and then him doing the wrap-up. But their relationship seemed to be stalling: when Atomicus tells her, the woman that shared his dangerous life would have to be up for it, she sees it as a challenge. Shortly thereafter, a new aide comes to the mayor's office: Adam Peterson, a cheerful bumbler, who seems to disappear every time Atomicus shows up...Irene makes her suspicions known, but the information gets back to the mob, who have Adam's house blown up, just in case! Adam survived, barely; but a glint in his eyes seems to tell Irene, keep going. 

 This begins the shenanigans portion of our story, as Irene runs through scheme after scheme to unmask Adam, some of which verge on the dangerous. Eventually, on a case against Gnomicron, Irene and Adam end up trapped in a mine, and Irene wonders if this time she's got him, when Atomicus rescues them both! Ooh, that's a puzzler, until a couple weeks later, when Atomicus fights Dr. Cyclotron on TV, displaying the power to make "atomic duplicates." Furious, Irene marches right up to Adam, giving him the riot act, and popping open his shirt, to reveal the Atomicus costume. How would he get out of this one, costume party again? Lost a bet? Um, no.

Atomicus snaps: he hadn't been playing a game with her, he had been trying to understand, to learn, but she kept at him, and he'd had enough. Atomicus takes off, leaving earth, and humanity, forever. Emotionally shattered, Irene's career was also over: "I'd cost the world a superhero. They couldn't fire me fast enough." Still, from that bottom, she managed to bounce back, working with an alderman and later marrying him, as together he worked his way up to senator. Falling asleep, Irene tells Sammie, not to wait too long. Still, Sammie wonders if she hadn't been the stronger one; and maybe never needed anyone. Sammie leaves, masking up as new hero Flying Fox, a vigilante with a sky-cycle. 

Poor Atomicus didn't have the advantage of a childhood, a life as a human, like Superman did: much too late, Irene realizes he was only really a few years old at that point. I wonder, though: even if she was tarred and feathered, I don't know that Lois would feel the same remorse if she drove Superman off of earth. She'd still be a reporter; there's no stopping her. Really feels like it's been way too long between Astro City installments now; but I'll follow wherever it ends up.

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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.

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"The End" Week: Astro City #52!

I thought this issue was older, but it was only a year and a half ago: from 2018, Astro City #52, "And, In the End" Written by Kurt Busiek, art by Brent Anderson, cover by Alex Ross.

The last three issues of this volume of Astro City tied back to one of its best, and best-known, stories, "The Nearness of You," from Astro City #1/2. (Free to read on Comixology if you haven't already.) Michael Tenicek is being driven mad by recurring dreams of a woman he seemingly knows but can't remember. Nearing his limits, he receives help from an unexpected source: mystic hero-slash-mysterious force of nature, the Hanged Man. (Think a gloomier, more cryptic Spectre.) The Hanged Man tells Michael he's dreaming of his wife, Miranda; who was lost in a Crisis-like event. The timeline was altered just enough that her parents never met, and she was never born. But Michael still remembers. The Hanged Man offers to take his memory of her, but Michael declines.

Twenty years later, Michael still lived in Astro City, maintaining a survivors' group for superhuman incidents, and serving as a volunteer emergency responder. When the nature of his loss comes forward, some feel like it doesn't count: they lost spouses, friends, children; while Michael lost someone who was never there. But she was real to him. Michael also notices he hasn't had any bills for a few years--they've been getting paid somehow--and realizes he may not have moved on as much as he might have. Should he move on?

It might not look it, but this falls strongly in the hero-considers-quitting vein: must there be a Batman, or a Spider-Man, or a Michael Tenicek? Well, yes. It's a bit sad to realize full-on happiness is far out of Michael's reach, but there's still something, and sometimes that's the best you can hope for. The issue ends with a bit of a teaser for an upcoming graphic novel featuring the N-Forcer, an armored hero that I don't recall getting a lot of focus in the series before. It looks like a bit of a spin on an Iron Man-type, something Busiek had experience with; but it hasn't shown up on the schedule yet. Hopefully soon!
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Even I could parkour, if I had footapults!

Well, maybe not. I started reading Astro City with the first issue, but there was a stretch in there where it was mini-series, The Dark Age, four series in total. Crud, I thought I had all those, but now I think I'm missing at least four. Still, the other day I did get an issue out of the quarter bin that I know I somehow missed! From 1997, Kurt Busiek's Astro City #11, "Serpent's Teeth" Written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Brent Anderson, inks by Will Blyberg, cover by Alex Ross.

Street level hero Jack-in-the-Box (no, not that one) is in a pretty good place the start of this one: newscaster girlfriend, good job designing toys, and a rambunctious fan club in the Trouble Boys. But said girlfriend is interrupted before a big announcement, as Jack has to take off to fight--the Box! (No, not that one either.) He's a twisted, cyborg mockery of Jack, but claims to be his son; as does another arrival, Jackson, who has gone in a more Wolverine direction with his cyborgery. Box had a jack-in-the-box themed puppet/robot arm, that was kind of cool. Both had come from the future, and been fighting a war on crime, but since daddy wasn't there for them, they had both long since gone off the rails into insanity. Jackson strikes me as more crazy, since he had based his entire philosophy on his dad quoting Bugs Bunny.

Box and Jackson team-up for a patricide attempt, but with the help of some Trouble Boys Jack-in-the-Box is able to defeat them. Still, their angry glaring convinces Jack they aren't lying about being his son, and he races home to his girlfriend...who had been waiting to tell him she was pregnant. I've had the next issue since it came out, and I know it was a riff on legacy heroes, but I almost think the current Jack--Zachary Johnson--was himself a legacy. Yep!
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OK, this week's comics:

I need to sit down and read the whole set, but while the last issue or two picked up, I kind of wonder if maybe this shouldn't have been a four-issue series instead of six. Still, the conclusion of Mad Rupert's Regular Show: Skips is a lot of fun: Skips gets out of his Groundhog Day predicament, but now has to face the menace of the monstrous Destruction Lord. Which is slightly less destructive than Mordecai and Rigby, even on it's best day.

In most crime comics or even movies, the mob planning to hit ten vaults in one night would be a dramatic conclusion; in Lobster Johnson: Get the Lobster #3 it's the midway point, and not the main focus! The cops are intensifying their manhunt for the vigilante Lobster Johnson, his friendly reporter Cindy is starting to get fed up with burying stories, other foes haven't forgotten about him; and Lobster isn't going to take a break or lay low. But he may be pressing his luck too far this time. This may be the best of the Mignola-verse books right now, and B.P.R.D. hasn't been bad lately either. (Story by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, art by Tonci Zonjic, colors by Dave Stewart.)

After the four issue Winged Victory story, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson are back to stand-alones with Astro City #11, "The Sorcerer's Assistant." The young magician Silver Adept may be "the savior of more living souls than you can possibly imagine," but it's her assistant that has to answer the emails, schedule her appointments, reschedule her appointments, and occasionally save the day herself. Fun, well worth reading.

Lastly, Chris Claremont and Todd Nauck's Nightcrawler #1 is a good start to the series: back from the dead, Kurt's adjusting to the changes he missed--Wolverine has a school, lost his healing factor, and seems to be losing his grip; amongst others. After visiting his adopted sister/occasional girlfriend Amanda, they are attacked by an armored creep calling himself Trimega. The Bamfs are still following Kurt around too, which seems like it doesn't match up with the end of Amazing X-Men, but it's still neat: not reinventing the wheel, but I quite liked it.

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Shortlist: In case I don't have enough plastic...

Over the last few years of collecting action figures, I would have to admit to being pretty fortunate in terms of characters I want, being made into figures, as if just for me. A Scud figure? Enemy Ace and Blackhawk? Heck, there's even three different versions of Jonah Hex that you could buy! Tons of characters that may not get the respect they deserve on the comic racks, but I'm thrilled to have on my shelves.

But have I got every figure I want? Obviously not! (And what would I do if I did, take up knitting?) No, there are still reams of characters, big names and niche properties alike, that I would love to see made into proper action figures. (For our purposes, assume I mean in about the same scale as Marvel Legends or DCUC, with a reasonable amount of articulation...and priced less than it's weight in gold.) So, every Friday for the next stretch, we're going to take a little look at my personal Shortlist.

Today, one of the few figures that I would buy a bronze version of: from Astro City, the Silver Agent:

Without having the back issues next to me, I almost think you see his statue before you see the Agent himself, and it's implied from the start that his ending is not a happy one. Introduced in 1995, it would be fifteen years before his full story would be told...maybe.


Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson would take inspiration from a number of sources for the Silver Agent, in particular, from Captain America. As you might suspect from his name, he's designed to be an almost archetypal silver-age character; except I'd have to say his chainmail armor would've been a bit too intricate for the printing then.

From a company called Toy Vault, Astro City's Samaritan and Confessor would get action figures back in 1999; but that's just scratching the surface. Still, an Astro City movie is currently in the works, so maybe eventually; although then it would come down to what Busiek can get crammed in there. (Hopefully, it doesn't take the path of Wanted: taking a superhero comic, and bleeding all the superhero elements out of it for the movie...y'know, I say that, but I think I honestly prefer the movie of that now.)

This Shortlist is something I've had in mind for a while, but now I'm putting a name to it. Still, over the last couple of weeks, you probably could add Elric, the Shadow, more characters from Planetary, and Claw the Unconquered. There will be more...
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