By Busiek, Anderson, Ross & Sinclair
Publisher: Vertigo
ISBN: 9781401229917
If you’ve not come across Astro City before then you’re missing a genuine treat. When you first discover them, superhero comics offer an exciting alternative existence full of wonder, impossibilities and potential, but the more you gorge on it the more you become acclimatised to the codes and conventions of the genre. This leaves you with a pretty good idea as to where a story is going to take you, who’ll prevail, and what will happen to the latest egomaniacal villain. It’s reached a point where I read very few now as it often feels a case of been-there-done-that, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t creators out there pushing the boundaries, such as Bendis and Oeming on Powers.
With Astro City, though, you get something altogether different. Although it’s a world constructed for any reader to enjoy, it probably offers the most to anyone who has enjoyed the work of Marvel and DC for some time as it cleverly builds its stories around the familiar to take superhero comics in a completely different direction. Astro City stories are about people living in a world of powers, be they ordinary or gifted, and those stories aren’t about saving the world or battling foes – the things that separate us from those wearing capes – but are instead about their fears, their worries, their inner-conflicts, their hopes and their dreams. By sharing what we share with them the stories become more personal, deeper, and involve us at a level that most superhero comics can’t achieve.
In Shining Stars we have four tales centred around four very different heroes. Samaritan (Astro City’s version of Superman) takes on a green-bearded immortal who has harnessed the energies of life itself, and although the story charts their long history of conflict, what it revolves around is where such a lengthy battle between two immensely-powered beings arrives at – a kind-of respectful stalemate, although somewhat guarded, in which the two meet to dine together.
The second tale involves a human-sized robot, built to look like a Barbie-esque doll, who struggles to fit in and understand her origins. It’s a tragic tale about why she’ll never receive the answer she yearns for.
Astro City has a Fantastic Four analogue too in the shape of the First Family, and the third tale follows their daughter, Astra, as she graduates from college and plans her next move in life. Her story is one of coping with celebratory and finding a path to call her own. It’s a story of trying to do the right thing, not taking your gifts for granted, and not losing perspective – something that is perhaps never going to be possible for her.
Finally we have a continuation of the story of The Silver Agent (this one sharing much in common with Captain America) already told in previous volumes, charting what became of him, what he sacrificed and what was lost. It’s an epic story on a personal scale.
I would not recommend you start with Shining Stars if you’ve not read any before, not because you wouldn’t follow it but because I’m sure you’d get more benefit from exploring it from the beginning. It’s a remarkable series and demonstrates not only the skill of its creators but the wider possibilities of the genre.
And if you liked that: Vol 9 is one its way
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