Astro City - Overview

Overview

The metro area of Astro City is a mecca for super-powered beings, largely because Air Ace, the first public superhero and a decorated veteran, established residency there shortly after World War I. The series has established a large cast of characters, from small cameo roles of a few panels to full center stage attention spanning several issues.

The series is an anthology that focuses on different characters living within Astro City, using a wide range of viewpoints. Some issues are told from the viewpoint of heroes, some from the more typical vantage point of average people, others from villains and shady criminals. Stories also vary greatly in length, from one issue to sixteen in the case of the story arc, Dark Age, whose main viewpoint remains that of Charles and Royal Williams, two brothers in their early adult years living in Astro City. As another interesting twist, this story is set in the 1970s, when some superheroes were declining in popularity, due to general mistrust of authority figures, along with the more violent, gritty tactics that some superheroes were practicing. Hence the notion of a "Dark Age."

The essential hook of Astro City is that it explores how people — both ordinary people and the heroes and villains themselves — react to living in their world. For example, in the first story, Samaritan reflects on his life during a typical day in which he spends almost all of his waking hours flying around the world to help people, and never has any time to enjoy the sheer physical sensation of flight. Other stories involve a date between two high-profile heroes, the initiation of a "kid sidekick" hero, the efforts of a reformed supervillain to find a life outside of prison, a superhero being driven away from Earth by his "love's" attempts to expose him, and the life of an innocent bystander in the days after having been held hostage by a supervillain.

While the focus has been on the heroes of Astro City itself, the series does mention, and at times occasionally shows, heroes from other cities such as Boston's Silversmith, Chicago's The Untouchable and New York City's Skyscraper.