Kurt Busiek’s Astro City is a comic book series centered around a fictional American city of that name. Written by Kurt Busiek, the series is co-created and illustrated by Brent Anderson with character designs and painted covers by Alex Ross. The first series debuted in August 1995 published by Image Comics, and since then has been published by Homage Comics (now part of Wildstorm Signature Series).
The current saga in the ongoing series, The Dark Age, is a sixteen issue story arc set in the 1970s, a period when the citizens of Astro City are pondering the functions and motivations of super-powered individuals, and their overall positions within the community at large.
Astro City is set in a world where superheroes have existed since at least the 19th century: the first public hero, Air Ace, appeared soon after World War I. Busiek, Anderson and Ross have crafted a complex world with a huge cast of characters, many of whom have extensive backstories sketched out which are revealed as the series progresses.
The series is an anthology that focuses on different characters living within Astro City and the stories are usually narrated from a first person perspective from the story’s protagonist. Some issues of the series are one- or two-part stories, while others run as many as seven issues in an extended arc.
The essential hook of Astro City is that it explores the reactions that people — both ordinary people and the heroes and villains themselves — have to living in their world. For example, in the first story, the character Samaritan reflects on his life during a typical day, in which he spends almost all of his waking hours flying around the world to help people, and never has any time to enjoy the sheer physical sensation of flight. Other stories involve a date between two high-profile heroes, the initiation of a “kid sidekick” hero, the efforts of a reformed supervillain to find a life outside of prison, a superhero being driven away from Earth by his “love’s” attempts to expose him, and the life of an innocent bystander in the days after having been held hostage by a supervillain.
While the focus has been on Astro City itself, the series does mention (and at times occasionally shows) heroes from other cities such as Boston’s Silversmith, Chicago’s The Untouchable and New York City’s Skyscraper. Some members of Honor Guard hail from other cities such as MPH from Detroit and the Black Rapier from New Orleans. There have also been appearances from international heroes such as England’s the Lion and the Unicorn. Such appearances are fleeting as the focus is always on Astro City itself.
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