Books : Astro City Vol. 3: Family Album

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Jack-in-the-Box, Junkman, and a Lotta Flashy Astro City Comic Jive
99% of the people who see the cover of Astro City Family Album think (like I did before I read the comics; I came to it all very late) that the clown on this cover is as evil a villain as Stephen King's It. But he's not; he's arguably Busiek's & Crew's greatest creation: Jack-in-the-Box. His story is the most memorable part of this collection. He's a man who's coming to terms with very scary elements of himself that have somehow preceded him into the future and come back now to visit, and they have a hateful vengeance in tow. At the end of this tale, he's dealing with the fact that what should be the happiest moment of his life -- celebrating his wife's pregnancy and the conception of his child -- may very well now be the scariest thing he's ever faced. And on top of that we get another great character, a villain called the Junkman, who is just as colorful and resourceful as our clownish hero; I mean, this guy pulls off the biggest heist in AC history with mechanically enhanced G. I. Joes, a cracked Etch-a-Sketch, and bouncy ball bombs! The first story in this collection, though, "Welcome to Astro City" serves as AC's main them in a nutshell; it's a story about how everyday people deal with living among superheroes and supervillains. The story asks, "Does anyone really want to?" (Of course, we do!) The next story takes that a step further and reverses the whole idea by having Astra Furst decide that she wants to live a day in the shoes of a typical non-super kid. While her Furst Family relatives are out kicking the rear end of every villain they suspect of kidnapping her, she's facing the greatest challenge of her life: beating foul-mouthed, bullying Martrice Lucey at hopscotch. You also get the story of down-and-out, all-too-world-weary and worldy-wise, Looney Leo. He was accidentally zapped off the celluloid screen and into the real world and has been everything from a movie superstar and a three-time loser bilked by a bad contract and a very unfortunate occurrence. This is one of my favorite of Astro City collections. It's fun, philosophically stimulating, and brilliant. Brent Eric Anderson truly comes into his own drawing Jack-in-the-Box, as does Alex Sinclair in coloring him. Where the collections Tarnished Angel and Confession were darkly captivating, moody, and wonderfully troubling, this collection allowed the artists to go all-out bright, brilliant, and visually-stimulating. Thankfully, this includes all the sketches that were in the back of the issues, and you also get the photos (actual photos) that Alex Ross used to use as models for his covers (which, of course, are unparalleled). This is a fascinating introduction into Astro City, and I would argue it's the very place to start. You can jump right into the middle of AC with this collection and understand everything that it's about. There's action here to keep you glued and plights both physical and metaphysical to keep you seating for a long while pondering these characters' fates. This is an absolute winner, and the pinnacle of current comics.

Rating:

- Graphic SF Reader
The third of Kurt Busiek's Astro City collections is a little quieter. This focus is basically as the title suggest, on the family moments of some of the heroes of Astro City. This includes one of the First Family, and also Jack In The Box, as he decides which way that he wants to go with his life after an incident one night that shakes him up.

Rating:

- ah, the wonder
After all the dark and depressing stories by the big two (Marvel and DC)finally comics that stir the childhood wonder again. Of course these are very well written by adults.

Rating:

- This really is the first story-arc...
This book contains the first story arch of Astro City. In the previous issues, it was literally issue to issue, no to be continued endings, but this has it. The first arch shows the life of a 10 year old girl who is a super hero and struggles to cope with how she is different from normal girls. The second is of Jack In The Box (the dude on the cover) and how his pregnant wife will have a child who might grow up hating his father for dying when he meets 3 people from potential futures. 2 of which were homocidal maniacs claiming to be his son.

Rating:

- One of the better series in the superhero-genre
Astro City is a city filled with superpowered beings. You can't walk from street to street without noticing at least one meta-human, if you're an inhabitant of the city. But not so like most 'superhero-titles' the focus here isn't only on the heroes and their deeds, but on the regular people who live (and try to cope with all the supernatural activities around them) there as well. It tells about their personal lives as well as about the events they all witness.
This Trade-Paperback is the first Astro City collection that collects issues from the ongoing series (#1-3 & #10-13, no loose ends there though).
The great thing about Astro City TPB's is that they both work for longtime readers as for people who are new to the title. For 'experienced' readers there are many recognizable (background-) characters, surroundings and situations that it feels familiair (without being repetitive), yet never the same. At the same time all those recognizable parts aren't vital points to the story-arcs so that new-comers will never feel like their missing out on something (and once they're through reading their first TPB and move on to another Astro City book THEIR party of recognition begins, without anything being spoiled in a previous book. No matter what order you read them in because they work as self-contained books as well). The issues in this book I'd like to advise to especially take a good look at are #10-12. Issue #10 is about a man called "The Junkman" who once managed to pull off the greatest bank-robbery in the history of Astro City. Only the one thing he wants most, recognition for it, he doesn't have. He decides to go back and do it again. Issues #11/12 are about one of the most famous characters of Astro City namely 'Jack-in-the-Box'. One evening he leaves home and he gets confronted with some persons from his 'possible futures'. An event which makes him rethink his activities, both private as professional.
Finally the volume is concluded with some pages filled with sketches of how the characters came to be what they are now AND the Alex Ross covers to the original issues which are collected in here.
Like I said in my review-title, I consider this one of the best titles in the genre where superheroes are involved. It's about superheroes AND about regular folks among them AND about the the lives these metahumans have apart from being heroes. Especially people who liked "Marvels" and Alan Moore's "Top Ten" will have a good time with this book, but it really should appeal to most other comicbook-readers as well, both superhero-fans as fans whose interest lies in the more 'serious' sub-genres. Really well-executed.

page 1 of 2