Kurt Busiek's Astro City: Family Album

Although this one has a similar style to the first book, Life in the Big City, I think Family Album is better constructed. There are four stories in this one with the uniting threads much more easily visible. The stories are much more even and interesting than those in the first volume as well. ( )

The Astro City books have been described as “Superhero slice of life” and that’s accurate, if perhaps a bit thin as an explanation. What these stories do is blend everything a nerd like myself love about flashing costumes, cool names and battles on rooftops with sound effects like FRAKK with a human aspect. So, what, like Watchmen then? Well yes, sometimes. In the stories of the heroes themselves, like Jack-in-the-Box battling with his feelings towards becoming a father or the First Family’s super child Astra dreaming of being a regular kid, it is similar. But on a somewhat smaller, less plot epic scale perhaps.

The really special thing about Busiek and his though, is the shifting of perspective, and the investigation of Astro City as a world, a place where super heroes are a reality. Many of these stories don’t really focus on the heroes at all. One is about a small time super villain, unable to quit even after pulling off a massive heist, because he’s addicted to the attention. One is about a family just moving to Astro City, trying to get to terms with everyday life in a place where it’s kind of normal to be under the siege of an ancient storm god. Really, these are graphic short stories not just for lovers of superhero comics, but for anyone. I’m reading this album for, I think, the fourth time and it holds up well. ( )

Not as strong as the first two books but still very im[pressive. Shorter stories that introduce some new heroes, and the parts they play in the Astro City world, Broadens the story. ( )

This installment of Astro City is loosely tied together under a family theme. While the vignettes featuring Astra and Jack-in-the-Box feature the larger arcs, smaller story lines also reach for the theme of family and lack of family as well.

As always, Astro City is populated by superhero and villain alike. When defining family, Busiek defines it many ways throughout the volume. There's the family of community, the family of work that is suddenly taken away, the family of marriage, the family of possibility, the family of need, and even the search for family when you don't know what you actually are. By not limiting family to a tight definition, the stories are much better than a traditional superhero-parent-sibling-child rehash that's been done to death.

A great volume in the series. ( )

The uniqueness is starting to wear off but still very cool. ( )