Comics I Bought This Week: December 3, 2011

Dec03
on December 3, 2011 at 6:00 am
Posted In: Comics I Bought This Week

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got two new comic plus a hard cover collection:

  • Glamourpuss – 22

  • Savage Dragon – 176

  • ”Batman: The Black Mirror”

    • And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

    ”Astro City: Shining Stars” By Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson

    Astro City has won me over again. I often think I’m not going to like it before I read it because I don’t share the creators Astro City’s unabashed love for super-heroes but it’s so well done a book that it wins me over every time. Busiek and Anderson’s skills beat my jaded view of super-heroes every time.

    This volume of “Astro City” contains a few different stories. The tale of the Superman-like character the Samaritan’s greatest villain, the Infidel. The story of a super-heroine who is a living Barbie doll who has no idea of her origins. The tale of the super-heroic daughter of Astro City’s premiere super team The Furst Family after she graduated college. The wrap up of the story of the Silver Agent which has been told in pieces throughout the whole Astro City saga.

    It all works. Even if I don’t like one story as much as another they are all well done. Like I said I don’t have the same love for super-heroes as these guys obviously do but it continually amazes me how much thought, energy, and talent they put into this book. There is no haphazard, flying by the seat of your pants, the writer making it up as he goes along stuff here. These guys are always in command of the story and what they want the reader to think and feel. It really is good stuff.

    I’ve liked Brent Anderson’s artwork since his days drawing Ka-Zar for Marvel in the early 1980s and I still like it today. Here is a little weird thing though. When I look at any individual panel I find the drawing a little wonky. But it all works perfectly as a whole. When I’m actually reading it everything works beautifully and there is nothing wonky about it. It’s a strange phenomenon I’ve noticed with just a couple of other artists but I have no idea what to call it. Maybe it’s just me anyway.

    Anyway this is another great volume of “Astro City”. If you’re like me and think you’re too cool, cynical, or jaded for Astro City don’t listen to that thought. It’ll win you over because it’s just that well done.