Busiek’s ‘Astro City’ is a glimpse into the lives of superheroes in the ‘real’ world

Ever since he started writing comics in the early ’80s, Kurt Busiek has been writing stories with a sense of humanity that is unique to his work.
This is no more evident than in his work on the Marvel Comic series “Marvels.” This series, with phenomenal artwork that brought attention to now-famous artist Alex Ross, told various stories about citizens who inhabit a fictional New York City where the Marvel superheroes co-exist with regular people.
In “Marvels,” Busiek examined the life of a newspaper photographer who kept busy by snapping pictures of the local superhero population. Busiek was skillful in his examinations of the heroes, and Ross’ lifelike art work helped the “Marvels” series to win numerous awards.
But, this series, originally printed in 1994, lasted just four issues, and in writing his stories from a different point of view, Busiek had unearthed an interesting idea. So, he continued this tradition in his personal series, “Astro City.”
In “Astro City,” Busiek created a new city and an entirely new roster of heroes with which Busiek could play with in any way he wanted.
It is in this series that Busiek is able to pose interesting storylines featuring characters similar to known superheroes. For example, Busiek examines what a date between DC Comics’ Superman and Wonder Woman would look like when he sends his heroes The Samaritan and Winged Glory on a date together. The Samaritan, a man from the future who gains powers similar to those of Superman after he is sent backwards through time, takes Winged Victory, who is, like Wonder Woman, a warrior female and the last of her race, out on a date at a fast-food joint. The two heroes quickly realize that, although they are interested in each other, the date will not work out. The Samaritan has the ability to hear the cries of those in danger, causing him to be distracted at times throughout the meal, and Winged Victory has fought alone for so long that she has a hard time opening up a conversation, and she sees his attempts to be a gentleman (like offering to get the door for her) as insults to her pride.
Busiek even turns his inquisitive eye on Marvel Comics’ Spider-man and the character’s motto “With great power comes great responsibility,” by creating a character named Jack-in-the-box, who, just like Spidey, taunts villains and shoots a confettilike string that ties up his enemies (like Spidey’s web). Here, Busiek decided to see what responsibility means to his hero when he gives Jack-in-the-box a young son. What is the more responsible action, protecting the city and risking your life or staying alive to ensure that your child has a father?
Since 1996, Busiek has been addressing ideas such as these in “Astro City” and, as with “Marvels,” Busiek’s work has received a number of awards.
Currently, Busiek is taking on racial tensions during the ’70s in the book “Astro City: The Dark Age Book 2.” Here, not only race relations, but civilian/superhero relations are strained after one hero, The Silver Agent (a character similar to Marvel’s Captain America), is found guilty of a crime and is put to death. All of Astro City mourns the hero especially once the citizens learn that their rush to judgment might have killed not only an innocent man, but one who had been a noble superhero.
Also, in “The Dark Age” books, Busiek pits law and crime directly against each other in the form of two brothers, one of whom is a cop and the other, a criminal.
I don’t want to give too much away. This book is currently available in comic book shops and collected stories of “Astro City” are available at all bookstores. The only problem with this series is, unfortunately, due to heath issues, Busiek’s books have has been stalled a few times. But, the latest books seem to be back on track and are as good a read as ever.