Astro City: Through Open Doors

Comic Info

Astro City (2) #1

Reprints Astro City (2) #1-6 (August 2013-January 2014).  Astro City is the town where the heroes (and villains) never sleep.  The appearance of strange giant doors and the arrival of Telseth mark a new beginning for the city and once again not only the heroes but the everyday citizens of Astro City find themselves effected.  Be it a monitor at the Honor Guard’s crisis line or a D-Level hero that used her powers for entertainment, Astro City is always an exciting place…but who is the Broken Man and what does he know?

Written by Kurt Busiek, Astro City:  Through Open Doors is the first collection of the second ongoing series of Astro City.  Following Astro City:  Shining Stars, the series features art by Brent Anderson and cover art by Alex Ross.

Astro City has been one of my favorite comic for years, but also a comic that I often neglect.  I don’t keep up with it and other than the first series of Astro City, I have never bought Astro City individual comics regularly.  After years of being behind, a chance encounter of this volume for a discount had me back in Astro City…and it is always good.

Astro City has always been a great anthology series, and I almost like the individual stories more than the story arcs, but it is hard to sell individual stories today.  This volume succeeds in creating an individual issue, but also starting out a bit of a story arc for the second volume of the series.  With both the mystery of the gate and the Broken Man, the series continues to introduce characters that may or may not find a resolution…but that’s ok in Astro City.

Astro City (2) #3

The best parts of Astro City are the standalone issues.  The series however has been going a long time and sometimes some of the back-up storylines feel a bit repetitive of earlier issues.  This isn’t too big of a problem at this point, but I hope Busiek can keep it fresh, new, and exciting with a regular comic book and a regular schedule.

The art is solid.  You are lured in by Alex Ross’s covers which always seem inventive, but Brent Eric Anderson keeps the energy going with his interior art.  I don’t think you’d ever accuse Anderson of being the best artist ever (though he’s good), but he is what works for this series…the fun of the series involves looking at all the details that Anderson slips into the story in the backgrounds, etc.

Astro City continues to be a strong comic and with a continuing series, the new comic could go new direction starting with a throwback to the very first issue of the original series.  I hope Busiek can keep up the quality and keep up the schedule…it is the challenge of writing a regular series, but since it is his creation, I hope it makes it easier.  Astro City:  Through Open Doors is followed by Astro City:  Victory.