Busiek's writing skill continues to amaze me. This trade has no grand overarching plot but instead tells small human stories which lay the groundwork for his universe. The trade also contains a great peek into the creation of the city including character sketches and the building of the city.
Astro City is really an ode to New York. It's a superhero title where the protagonist is the city itself and Astro City is just one large homage to New York City. Not suprising when you think of how much of Astro City is an homage. Every character represents another character, such as the Superman-like Samaritan. This is not to say that Busiek is copying pre-existing charcters. What he's doing is making archetypes, which he then making them human. You can really tell that this series is Kurt Busiek's brainchild. Brent Anderson puts in a lot of effort and turns out a sufficient product. The writing is typical Busiek: tight, well-written and classic. His situations are creative and his prose is insightful. In his book, Busiek shows us superheroes in their everyday routines and everyday people put to superhuman tasks.
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