mjfmjfmjf's review
4.0
And the grand re-read is almost done. I rarely re-read my reviews before I re-read a book when I've already decided to re-read it. So I'm always wondering when I read it after to see if my opinion has changed. This book seemed off. I mean it was fine. And I liked a lot of the details, but I just didn't like the whole. And mostly it was the Broken Man. Which is weird cause I kind of like the Broken Man art. And on this read through, I liked the incarnations of musical rebellion. But this was definitely one of the weaker books.
I liked it, and it was still Astro City. But there was something kind of missing, something that just didn't work. Maybe it was the idea of the Broken Man talking directly to us. Or the idea of the spirit of music. Maybe it was the large number of characters, individually great but otherwise just overwhelming. It was going to see the origin of Astro City, but the Astro-naut was a little lame. Still good though, and better than many. 3.5 of 5.
I liked it, and it was still Astro City. But there was something kind of missing, something that just didn't work. Maybe it was the idea of the Broken Man talking directly to us. Or the idea of the spirit of music. Maybe it was the large number of characters, individually great but otherwise just overwhelming. It was going to see the origin of Astro City, but the Astro-naut was a little lame. Still good though, and better than many. 3.5 of 5.
trike's review
3.0
This one started off in a hole for me, because of all the Astro City characters — of which there hundreds — the Broken Man is my least favorite. Mostly that’s down to the breaking of the fourth wall, something that I absolutely loathe in comics. Hot tip, creators: it never works. Never. No one is good enough to pull it off.
(Don’t tell me about your favorite example. I’ve read it. I hated it, too. Yes, that includes Deadpool.)
So imagine my surprise to discover that I mostly liked this edition despite Brokie being the feature. We get to finally see the origins of The Astro-Naut, for whom Astro City was named, and The Gentleman, who was always a weird duck, even for this place. Plus, we get to see the over-arching threat that’s been lurking out in the cosmos all these decades. Only slightly disappointed it’s a Cthulhu-type beastie, but it does have nice echoes with the late great MMO City of Heroes.
As always, Busiek, Ross and Anderson have been playing the long game, because a lot of the stuff revealed here was already present back in the day. For instance, The Gentleman’s first appearance had a hint as to his origin, only just now revealed, more than two decades later.
So all in all it far surpassed what I was dreading. I suspect BM will be the star of the next edition, too, since s/he seems to be entangled with the ultimate big bad. But one of the few tropes Astro City hasn’t yet taken on is the world-shattering mega crossover. I hope it’s as big and twisty as the Silver Agent’s story was.
Edit: fixed typos. I had cataracts when I originally wrote this.
(Don’t tell me about your favorite example. I’ve read it. I hated it, too. Yes, that includes Deadpool.)
So imagine my surprise to discover that I mostly liked this edition despite Brokie being the feature. We get to finally see the origins of The Astro-Naut, for whom Astro City was named, and The Gentleman, who was always a weird duck, even for this place. Plus, we get to see the over-arching threat that’s been lurking out in the cosmos all these decades. Only slightly disappointed it’s a Cthulhu-type beastie, but it does have nice echoes with the late great MMO City of Heroes.
As always, Busiek, Ross and Anderson have been playing the long game, because a lot of the stuff revealed here was already present back in the day. For instance, The Gentleman’s first appearance had a hint as to his origin, only just now revealed, more than two decades later.
So all in all it far surpassed what I was dreading. I suspect BM will be the star of the next edition, too, since s/he seems to be entangled with the ultimate big bad. But one of the few tropes Astro City hasn’t yet taken on is the world-shattering mega crossover. I hope it’s as big and twisty as the Silver Agent’s story was.
Edit: fixed typos. I had cataracts when I originally wrote this.
More...