Glad to hear they are finally putting out new issues of Astro City! It is one of my favorite comics but I didn’t know the reasons for the hiatus. I had no idea the author was ill. Just glad there will be a new trade in a few months. I have started rereading the Trades in anticipation! More info here. Anyone else enjoy this series?
I just read the risk issue a few days back, and I was underwhelmed. The way the narrator kept breaking the fourth wall came off as hackneyed, and the new superhero thy introduced was repellent. I’ll keep reading, 'cause, y’know, it’s Astro City, and all, but it’s not off to a great start.
Yay! Didn’t know about Busiek’s health problems either, but I’m very happy they are back in business.
Funnily, I thought it was a very good issue… YMMV
Miller: while I agree that the dramatic vehicle was hackneyed…I think that was rather the point. Astro City delights in poking fun at clichés. The whole thing is a delectable parody of bad old Golden and Silver Age tropes.
I’m still giggling over “American Chibi.” That was a stroke of pure wicked genius!
“Almost 20 years of publication” - boy, that made me feel old.
I don’t really see AC as a parody. Busiek uses a lot of ridiculous tropes, but he almost never mocks them - rather, he’s got a real knack for taking ridiculous ideas, treating them seriously, and wringing genuine emotion out of them.
On the other hand, this is the first time I’ve read an AC story episodically, instead of waiting for the trade. I might have had a similar reaction to Confession or Tarnished Angel if I’d had to wait a month between installments.
Guh. I don’t think I’ve had as strong a visceral dislike for a character since they introduced this hideous little mutant thing in the second Avatar series.
Big fan of the series, but Dark Age left me cold. Tarnished Angel is my favorite.
I did know about his health. I met him at a small con years ago. He had to duck out out for injections (I believe he said antigens) before he felt up to signing books. He was mercury poisoned somehow in the 90s.
Isn’t the family in this issue the same one that moved to Astro City in the very first issue?
Astro City is one book you can’t fault for using comic book cliches, since it’s basically a celebration of them. That said, IMHO Kurt does hold some background characters up for mockery. Basically, characters based on pop culture (e.g. Bouncing Beatnik and American Chibi) and foreign characters (e.g Spotted Dick and the Toff) are a parody of how comics have handled such characters over the years.
Kurt has had illness issues for a long time. He used to post on the DC Forums years ago until he was chased off by whiney entitled fans accusing him of being a lazy malingerer who couldn’t meet his deadlines.
This! I consider that to be a form of parody, but the real point is that he’s making use of clichés in a joyful fashion. He knows they’re clichés, and he knows that we know. It’s fun!
I wouldn’t call that parody, exactly, but yeah, I see what you’re saying, and I agree. Like I said, I’m used to reading AC in trades, not episodically, so maybe my problem is that he hasn’t done anything interesting with this cliche yet. I’m definitely sticking around to see where it all goes.
I don’t see him selling me on American Chibi, though, unless her storyline involves someone killing her with fire.
I don’t think Busiek is trying to sell you on the character at all. In fact, given the virulent dislike that a vocal segment of Silver Age fanboy have for manga/anime, I bet he is trying to make her kind of annoying to yank some chains. What he’s doing here is reference the cliche of comic book writers and editors (often middle-aged guys well behind the coolness curve) inserting or changing characters based on youth pop culture in order to seem trendy or with-it, and often getting it completely wrong. Think Disco Dazzler or the hipster-slang speaking Teen Titans.
By “sell me on,” I don’t mean “make me like her,” I mean “make me think it was a good idea to include her in the book.”
Well…I laughed! She didn’t strike me as a “chibi” character so much as a “bobblehead.” And I hate bobblehead toys!
I thought she was the incarnation(sp?) of one of the Powerpuff Girls. Which, as always, seems very much in line with Busiek’s incorporation of Comic Book tropes into that universe.