Well, it looks like the future is already here and what I needed are not more high quality art pieces but just some interesting ones. So anyway, let's use the momentum we got going to do another ASTRO CITY post.
What a way to close up a month than with more ASTRO CITY goodness.
As I mentioned in my previous Alex Ross tribute post this is one of my all time favourite series which of course means that it doesn't come out as often as I would like. Or I should say " didn't come out " since the series has officially wrapped up. At least I think it has. That's one of the things that makes it difficult to collect ASTRO CITY. Unlike other series where the money grabbing people in power just put some third rate artist and hack writers on the book whenever needs be on ASTRO CITY you have two main guys - well, three if you count the covers by Alex Ross which do a lot to give this series its distinctive feel - working on the book and if there are problems - and there have been a lot of health problems with writer Kurt Busiek like a case of mercury poisoning - it goes on hiatus.
Or it the current story wraps up the series ends and returns when there is enough new material to guarantee the next four instalments come out on schedule. Plus there are also a lot of specials that come out during these sabbaticals - praise the lord - so it is difficult to know if it's really finished or if they are just on a break. Right now I am pretty sure the series is finished although there is a special that came out recently that I still haven't been able to get ( now that my comicbook spending budget is severely limited ) which I at first thought would be a graphic novel but now I think it is just a regular special. Man, I had the complete series but naturally I had to get rid of it all before coming to Spain and right now the only ASTRO CITY book I got is the first Metrobook ( with the first 18 issues ) because amazon Spain was offering it with an insane discount.
Anyway, for those who have never heard of Astro City I won't lay out the full story - who wants to know more about that can check out my old posts on the series - but like the name says the premise of the book is that instead of a whole universe it takes place in one city. Astro City.
It's a city with a lot of super heroes but the difference in this series is that we get the side of the super heroes that you usually don't get to see. Although the most part is about the regular normal humans who live in this city of heroes and what they experience. My favourite storylines are THE TARNISHED ANGEL where a former super villain ( who is expertly drawn by Brent Anderson to look like actor Robert Mitchum ) is hired to investigate the mysterious disappearance of lame third rate villains and stumbles upon a dastardly plot and CONFESSIONS in which a young boy becomes a sidekick although not of one of the heroes that he expects.
Naturally we have art from both of those stories. Which is my segueway to the contents of this post. As mentioned I needed a few more pieces for a full post but instead of more high quality stuff I stumbled across the ASTRO CITY TOUR GUIDE special which has pin ups by a literal Who's Who of comicbook artists from the late Carlos Pacheco to Jim Lee and anything in between. So fasten your seatbelts, put your tray table in the upward position and I hope you check this out if you have not already.
There are a few hardcovers and trades still available and there are also the new metrobooks which collects the entire series in six paperbacks.
summer in the city
astro stuff
astro links
astro videos
metrobook one
since our two previous posts already had a video about kingdom come
special guest brent anderson
astro banner
astro quote of the day
