Astro City #10 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Alex Sinclair (colors)

The Story: Victory apparently never learned to turn off all electronic devices before trial.

The Review: Since this arc has firmly kept us on the topic, let’s talk about another problematic area in feminism and its understanding of female-male relations.  In #7, I discussed the hostility certain feminists have towards men, and how unnecessary and unfair it is.  But even without mean-spiritedness, women can hold on to an impractical resistance to men with the mistaken belief that this somehow empowers them.

Just as it doesn’t make sense to rely on men for every little task, it doesn’t make sense to eschew them entirely as a resource.  Yet that’s exactly what the Council of Nike expect of their figurehead, someone who’s supposed to symbolize women’s strength and independence.  Taking that view to the extreme, the council sees something demeaning in Victory’s relationship with Samaritan and even her membership in the “male-dominated” Honor Guard.  They may not say it, but what they’re advocating is pure segregation, and we all know how well that works out.

Astro City #9 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Alex Sinclair (colors)

The Story: Winged Victory learns what the wise already know—a good tea solves everything.

The Review: The flipside of trying to support the historically disadvantaged is that you might end up showing your own gentler brand of racism or sexism.  I think we can all agree there’s a fine line between providing opportunities to the disadvantaged and patronizing them.  This kind of dilemma is what I like to call liberal anxiety-plus.  Not only are you self-conscious about coming across as prejudiced, you’re self-conscious about your self-consciousness.

Speaking as a member of a minority group, I don’t experience this extreme level of political correctness that often, but I can recognize it, and I definitely see it in Samaritan’s uncertainty after he flies in to give her a last-minute assist in fighting off the Iron Legion.  “Should I have held back?” he asks.  “Let you handle them?”  But even the very question has a vaguely paternalistic air, as if he’s the one in control and he need only “[l]et” Victory “handle” things.

Astro City #8 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Alex Sinclair (colors)

The Story: The Trinity of Astro City come together and just barely avoid a trademark violation.

The Review: The brilliance behind Astro City is despite its cornucopia of heroes and villains, the focus is rarely on the supers or their endless battles.  There is, however, one distinct benefit to being a superhero in Astro City: civilians come and go, entering the spotlight for an issue or so before moving on, but the capes are constant.  No matter how powerful each Astro citizen’s story, it’s the ones in costume that remain recognizable over the course of the series.

This is especially true for Samaritan, Winged Victory, and Confessor, who are as much icons for the Astro City universe as their forbears, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, are for the DCU.  While mostly useful as stand-ins for more famous, but copyright-protected figures, this particular trinity of heroes does occasionally bear intriguing stories of their own, as character-driven and relatable as any tale from the Astro citizenry.

Astro City #7 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Alex Sinclair (colors)

The Story: Winged Victory realizes that boys have feelings, too.

The Review: While I’m very much all for supporting the progress of women in society, I’ve never much appreciated the ladies who labored under the impression that they could only advance themselves by treating men as the enemy.  After all, men can be victimized and unfairly stereotyped, too, though more rarely and with less serious consequences.  Statistically, women are more vulnerable, but that doesn’t make guys somehow invulnerable.

Joey Lacroix, a young man escaping abuse and seeking sanctuary with Winged Victory, is a good example (and, I might add from personal experience, entirely credible).  This is someone who’s suffered no less from callousness and domination as the people Victory usually takes in, yet the immediate response from one her workers to his plea for help is, “Whoa.  We don’t do that, kid.  We teach women self-defense here.  Just women.  No men allowed.”

Astro City #4 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Wendy Broome (colors)

The Story: Why chase supervillains when you can eat English muffins with jam?

The Review: I’ve spent a lot of time—some would say too much time—pondering on what I’d do if I had superpowers of my very own.  I’m sadly unimaginative in these daydreams; most involve me cheating my way out of school in one respect or another.*  It rarely occurred to me to use my powers for the greater good, in some kind of costumed capacity.  I don’t know; I never saw myself in spandex.  Indeed, the very idea is too disturbing to contemplate for very long.

I imagine that for a lot of us, our instinct would be to approach our superpowers as we would with any special talent: more for our self-interest than for the public interest.  I mean, as many many star athletes and brainiacs that do end up in non-profits or government work, there are leagues more who decide to apply their gifts towards making a living, the typically profit-driven way.  Martha Sullivan, this issue’s featured Astro citizen, does just that, revealing that there’s a trade-off between glory and peace of mind when you decide to use your powers for something between heroism and villainy.

Astro City #1 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Alex Sinclair (colors)

The Story: There are worse retirement gigs than being an extradimensional diplomat.

The Review: The last time I read an issue of Astro City was so long ago that I don’t even recall what it was about.  All I remember is something about the issue really resonated with me and left me contentedly thoughtful long afterward, and this was one of the few times that had ever happened to me outside of reading a proper book.  A lot of comic book writers try to be introspective and deep, but few succeed so easily and naturally as that issue did so long ago.

Since then, I’ve always held Busiek’s name in high regard, one that only grew after reading the quietly powerful Superman: Secret Identity.  So you might guess that the idea of reading Astro City on an ongoing basis again fills me with a lot of excitement.  Still, it’s been a long time since Busiek wrote the series or anything noteworthy; a part of you can’t help wondering if he can revive the magic without working through some painful rust first.