Powers 6

Created by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming

Rating: worth multiple reads, as a single and as part of the final story

This book continues to be the best value in comics: not only a page-turning, fast-moving story with enough stuff in the art and dialogue to warrant multiple reads, but the snarkiest letter column / self-promotion / interview prose stuff in the business. (Although I'm told that Brubaker does similarly awesome stuff in his creator-owned books, so...) This $4 actually gives an hour or so of entertainment. That's good, and better value than most movies.

The plot outline: a powers homicide that wasn't; snarky police humor; Enki investigating Walker without his knowledge (who's the mysterious voice on the phone?); Walker and Calista fighting a Lovecraftian menace; snarky police humor; and the reveal of this story arc's main homicide.

Considering that every story arc's main homicide has turned out to be something fascinating and destructive (the Superman-analogue going nuts in a not-quite-Irredeemable manner is a notable one), I'm interested to see where this is going to go. I kind of gather that the victim - unknown through this point - is a New Gods-esque figure. This would lead you to believe that the messy homicide scene is going to reveal some fascinating, dark, and powerful stuff going on. I look forward to the journey.

The main fight scene, in a temple in the Andes, was confusing, intense, and mostly dialogue-free. One of the things that I love about Bendis is how he feels comfortable letting his artist "carry the load," if you will. This fight was against a mysterious and scary set of beings in a world with slightly different physics; witty banter and jokes and bragging would not be appropriate. Plus, Walker's been through this a few times. Also interesting is how the color palette shifts around during the battle: yellows and whites for the first part; and reds and yellows for the ending. The background colors and general shading is different in the temple fight scenes than in the human, homicide world, and I appreciate that. I admit to not really understanding Walker's powers - I think they're something like Green Lantern, but not color based - but that might be my inability to pay attention more than Bendis's explanations or lack thereof.

The dialogue in the police sections was biting and sarcastic as usual. Definitely a high point. The art was gruesome on the new corpses, particularly the featured stiff, and I'm entertained by the new and gross ways that Oeming seems to find to display these corpses.

The letter column was its usual entertaining self, with a funny bit on Planet of the Apes and the new Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. The interview with David Mamet was cool, as well, talking about his drawing and writing and other interesting stuff. A good read; I admit to skimming it right now, but it'll get a good, solid study during my third or fourth read of the comic.



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Justice League of America 49

"The Bogeyman" by James Robinson, et al

Rating: read it in the store

This is an incomplete redemption of last month's issue, which is currently sitting downstairs in a Candyland game near my computer. Lack of motivation...

This is a plain, good ol' fashioned multiple super hero team slugfest. Through the augmented powers of the Bogeyman, Wonder Girl and Jade fought the Teen Titans old and new, inside their heads.

They won.

Nothing else of consequence happened that I noticed. Issue 50 will be my last issue until a significant status quo change happens. I'm tired of reading adventures of the grade C players, mired in confusing, overly-complex plots. Give me the core 7, and show me them fighting the good fight. That's worth my $4. This isn't.


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Fantastic Four #583

"Three, Part 1: In Latveria, The Flowers Bloom In Winter," by Jonathan Hickman (w) and Steve Epting (a)

Rating: worth a read, then read the whole story

I'm not entirely sure how excited I am about Valeria Richards as a character. I'm still not entirely sure where she came from; I remember the Claremont story reasonably well, but it's been retconned a few different times such that her origins aren't as clear as I'd like. I was profoundly affected by John Byrne's story back in the 80's, when Sue lost the baby despite the best efforts of Reed, Bruce Banner, Hank Pym, and Otto Octavius. That heartfelt plea, of Reed pleading with Octavius to help his wife, was utterly amazing. As a character, she's always compared to that amazing storyline and usually comes up wantig. I kind of have her, as a character, along the same path as Amadeus Cho: the deus ex machina sort of young person. Fine in small doses, but not exactly someone I want to be a star. I'm more interested in Ben Grimm or Reed Richards or Sue Richards: a hero with flaws and warts and Imperfections.

However, in this storyline, I'm interested in her. Making a bargain with Doctor Doom is an interesting, ballsy strategy. Doom is, quite likely, my favorite supervillain because he isn't a villain per se. He's actually quite a good dictator, taking care of his people in Latveria over the years, substituting freedom for peace, prosperity, and happiness. His motives are pure: take care of his people, acquire personal power along that line, and take over the world. Crazy thing is, if Doom ever did win... we'd probably be pretty well off, long term. His flaw, besides his overwhelming ego, is his hatred of Reed Richards. His honor is always strong: if he promises Valeria that he's going to help her, then he will do exactly that. So: how will he turn it, and find his way to killing Reed?

I assume it's Reed that is going to die. I mean, all those other Reeds were just killed. That was revisited during this issue, when Valeria checked up on her father's activities and discovered a rearguard of Reeds continuing to fight the Celestials.

I'm intrigued by Valeria's conclusion that her father made the wrong choice by choosing her family instead of hopping universes and "solving everything" with the other Reeds. It's a logical decision, yet one that is uniquely childlike. Everything is black and white to young people, even those who have IQs north of a jillion, even those who's should and do know better. I'm intrigued by her choice of Doom to help her father, even though we know that her future self chose her. I'm also interested to see how the events of the last couple of issues will play out in this story.

The displaced order of storytelling was wonderful, in its Pulp Fiction-style stories. Interspacing Valeria's journey with her conversation with Doom and the FF's fight against Evolutionaries was interesting storytelling, and it helped keep me thoroughly engaged in the issue. I do hope that the new-look Thing, caused by the High Evolutionary's gas, reverts back to normal soon; not a fan of the Ape-Thing look. Any of the three stories could have been a feature story and perfectly appropriate for this cosmic-style book; told in this manner, it's a lot of fun.

I'm interested to see where this is going to go. Bravo, Mr. Hickman!


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Nemesis #3

"That All You Got?" by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven

Rating: multiple reads, as a single and a series

Millar and McNiven have created a masterpiece of grade B ultraviolence. In Nemesis, Millar and McNiven raise the stakes to beyond Jack Bauer territory, beyond Sarah Palin ridiculousness, beyond common sense and reality and possibility. It's wonderful and joyful and scary and gross and disturbing and utterly thrilling and compelling.

The only drawback? It's a quick read, and it's a long time (a month or so) before issue four and tge temporary conclusion happens. That makes me sad.

The titular character is a nasty little supervillain with a Joker-level love of killing and a Christopher Priest-style T'Challa level of planning. What's not to love? His choice of colleagues and methods are ingenious, although the scenes of him dismantling and killing a battalion of prison guards. I know that prison guards might not necessarily be the highest trained people in hand to hand combat, but... it did take me out of the moment for a brief second. Brief. Because, the scenes of the fight were some of the most shocking things I've seen in a comic book since Kick-Ass. I think I've read that part about ten times since then. The convicts escaping in a fleet of white Lambourginis was a Badass touch, even though that was also a little bit too much over the top.

Nemesis the man did an amazing job of raising the stakes with his final attack on Blake's family, in a set of confessions and responses that might stand alone in comics history. As a father, I felt myself getting agitated and indignant and horrified; very few things could possibly put Nemesis in the evil camp so thoroughly. Bravo, gentlemen. I only cringe at the thought of what happens in your sick little psyche.

Kudos for the extra feature pencils page at the end, too. It was cool.


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Thunderbolts #148

"Lightning in Shadows" by Jeff Parker (w) & Declan Shalvey (a)

Thunderbolts is another of those titles that is perennially on my "will cut when the bad issues start" lists. (Aside: I know I say that about a few books, but that's because I'm poor. It's tough justifying 10 books at $4 each, when any of them aren't scintillating reads!) I picked it up from issue 1, then dropped it after a couple of years, and started to pick it up again when Warren Ellis took over. Jeff Parker has since taken over, and Mr. Parker is one of my favorite new writers. I loved "Agents of Atlas," and he gets the benefit of the doubt. Plus, I enjoyed his WordBalloon interview, which gives him some slack as well. Funny dude.

Lightning in Shadows does a surprising thing: takes a big event, which I know nothing about and care even less, and manages to develop the ongoing plot of the series while telling a story inside the event. I still can't tell you what this whole "Shadowland" thing is about - something about Daredevil and ninjas in New York City, but I don't care enough to research it - but I enjoyed a glimpse into Luke Cage's past (the appearance of thought-dead Lacy Kimbro), and I enjoyed the very relevant comparison of Cage and Norman Osborne, the Thunderbolts' former caretaker.

It's true, more than Cage wants to admit: he's using the federally-employed convicts on a personal mission. This isn't Avengers business; this is Cage trying to help a friend. While I personally can approve of that, I also can understand how starting down this very slippery slope can lead to some unintended, negative consequences. The interesting bit, though, is that the Thunderbolts are not fooled or deceived; they know that they are being used for non-federal business and that they will likely get in trouble for it. It doesn't matter to them because they get to beat the crap out of someone.

The prison scenes, where the T-bolts are eating dinner in the general population, were interesting as well. I'm not sure who this "Gunna" woman is, that is the creepy focus of the women's cafeteria; this is likely act one with the loaded gun. They'll use her in a similarly disturbing manner later on. The men's cafeteria is much less sinister and much more overtly violent, as one would expect, and watching the male Thunderbolts sit there and take it was entertainingly uncomfortable. I don't think that I'm used to rooting for a bad guy to do something violent and nasty to somebody, and I don't like the feeling much, which is why this scene absolutely worked and was wonderful to read. Making the reader uncomfortable with their feelings like that is a masterstroke. Taking the guy with the spork, using Cain Marko's body as a visual obstruction? Even better. That's a great visual moment.

The end of the comic was a big fight scene, with NINJAS! We love ninjas. Ninjas are fun. Ninjas are cool. There's no bad ninja fight scenes. They're like zombies: use them lots, because they're awesome. These ninjas seemed to be much better than the average cannon fodder ninjas, as they take down Songbird and the Fixer kind of quickly. This action sequence felt a little bit like the first contact with the bad guys in "Aliens," the one where the team got their butts kicked for the first time. That kind of chaos, confusion, bullets and flame flying everywhere... that's awesome.

Not awesome enough for me to buy extra comics because of Shadowland, but still pretty awesome. Very well done, particularly considering this is an event tie-in book.

Fanboy Radio #563

"The Chess Show," with Jeremy Silman and Daniel Rensch

Rating: a 2x speed listen

I've been a fan of chess for my entire life. I've never been very good; I think I've been able to beat my father since I was pretty young, and definitely able to beat my mother since I was a small boy. For a while, in preadolescence, I would follow the chess column in the local newspaper and read a book about it every once in a while. My school library and my local public library had one or two books that were occasionally in stock. I kind of lost interest after a while, because no one in my family would play me, none of my friends played, and my computer chess program (on an Atari 800XL) sucked.

Fast forward ten years. In the basement at music school, several of the piano players took up speed chess: two minutes on a timer in each side, and a best two out of three made for a very good practice break. I played once or twice and got soundly beaten each time. So, I've had a mild hobby interest for most of my life.

These guys, however, take it to the next level. Their primary source of income is chess. Jeremy writes chess teaching books; Daniel is a director at chess.com. They're both recognized as International Masters; apparently, the ranking system in chess is really, really important and something that they hang much ego upon. I didn't know that there was such a thorough international rating system, and the ego thing is understandable - I see it in the barbershop quartet world.

I thought that the interviews were interesting. This was another episode where I said, "They have ten minutes to catch me before I turn it off." I listened to the whole episode while on a walk with my younger son. It was interesting hearing about the whole teaching chess thing from Jeremy; I didn't know that such a thing existed. The information about the chess software, and discovering the chess software tournament that is such a big deal every year, was really neat. Daniel's interview was a little bit more of selling chess.com, but it was interesting to hear about the events that were coming up: besides chess instructional videos, there's a neat "Grandmaster vs. the World" gimmick game coming up. That's cool.

I listened to this podcast on 2x speed using the iPhone app "Podcaster."

WordBalloon: Dean Haspiel and Tim Hall

Dean Haspiel and Tim Hall Talk HBO Bored to Death, Undie Press, and Pekar RIP

I've been a WordBalloon listener for at least five years. I discovered Mr. Siuntres because I had an hour's commute to work every morning, and I could only learn music so quickly by ear. One of my refrains, when listening to John talk, is: he takes artists and writers that I don't care about, and he makes me go out and buy their stuff. I started following John Hickman because of WordBalloon, for one, and I've picked up a few books over the years because of it.

The most striking thing about this episode is how Dean Haspiel seems to get it - his views about the new electronic media align closely with mine. Why would people pay for stuff that they've been getting for free? And, people will continue to pay for stuff for creators that they enjoy. For instance, the people buying music nowadays are the ones that are pirating the most. And, many times, a free preview issue will lead to someone picking up more stuff.

This is an important point. I know that I've picked up books because of interviews that John has done. I've picked up books because of free comics I've gotten on Comixology - Andi Ewington's "45 [Forty-Five]" and Atomic Robo spring to mind. But, am I the exception, or am I the rule? What is the return rate on that kind of investment of time, energy, and internet space? They discuss that subject and a few more about the new media.

Their Undie Press is an attempt to follow through on that. Undie Press is a new literary website, presenting a variety of material and media (many different sorts) that people can consume, with the hopeful end game of making money at the tail end. I think this is an awesome idea, because I'm very fond of people trying new ways to make this information system work for real. There has to be a way to monetize what professional writers are trying to do online; the unprecedented fan contact, immediate feedback, and 140 character reviews. Good luck to these guys.

This is definitely worth a listen. I listened to this on 2x speed using the iPhone app "Podcaster," and it was fine. The show is 61 minutes long, including the WordBalloon promos at the front and back end - no commercials in the middle.

Invincible Iron Man #30

"Stark Resilient, Part 6: Tony, We Don't Want To Destroy You" by Matt Fraction (w), Salvador Larroca (art), Frank D'Armata (colors)

Rating: Worth a read, then wait until the story is done & re-read it.

One of my favorite bad guys, back in the day, was Justin Hammer. He was just cool. I enjoyed how he was a brilliant businessman who made his own superheroes. I thought he was always the perfect foil for the guys like Iron Man, Spider Man, Power Man... the guys that were cool and powerful but not cosmic like the Fantastic Four or Avengers. It also gave great writers many opportunities to rewrite villains and recreate their powers as they felt necessary. It was a sad day for me when he was removed from this plane of existence.

(Yes, I know it's comics, and he could be reincarnated in the body of a 22-year old Olympic gymnast or Marvel's equivalent of The Shaggy Man. Work with me, here.)

Justine Hammer... doesn't quite have her father's weight. I wonder if that's a bit of unconcious, comics-fueled misogyny that's in me? It's so rare that female villains are done well. Justine, here, is portrayed as being a step behind Tony and just a little bit late to the ballgame. Tony handles her politically and physically, knocking her around fairly well despite holding back some of the cool tricks of his armor.

Don't get me wrong. She's cool, and I think Mr. Fraction does a nice job in making her dangerous, powerful, and flawed - like every good villain. I'm thrilled with this whole Detroit Steel storyline, and the armada masquerading as an iPhone app is... um... scary and brilliant and lots of fun. Kind of makes me glad that I don't do much real time war simulation, although Grand Theft Auto doesn't make it any better.

Tony whips out some of the cool Iron Man stuff, though: hollow bones and big guns. The best bit, I thought, was Pepper leaving the business meeting and flying off to go help Tony. I think there's some interesting dynamics, there, as I wonder how Pepper's use of the armor is going to change her and cause difficulties in the future. Will she get power hungry and turn heel? Will she get power addicted and follow Tony into addiction? I'm looking forward to this journey.

Irredeemable #17

Irredeemable #17, written by Mark Waid, art by Peter Krause. Colors by Andrew Dalhouse.

Rating: Worth multiple reads.

The issue that I have with Irredeemable (one of my favorite books of the last ten years) concerns the last ten or so issues. The beginning of the series was so compelling, so engaging, so fast-moving, and so frickin' scary that it is almost impossible to follow that up. There's really only two directions possible: either going over-the-top with the action, like "The Authority" under Warren Ellis, or going the opposite way, and doing a somewhat more introspective series of stories. It took me until the second or third reads, sometimes, to understand exactly what Mr. Waid was doing with those.

In this issue, there are no real major events, that we're aware of. There are two big reveals in this issue: one that we knew, and one that came out of thin air. The Plutonian tries to use Sam's stone to reanimate the dead from Sky City and fails. Qubit makes friends with farmers by creating a solar-powered tractor, then gets beaten by those farmers when Charybdis (a douchebag of immense and catastrophic proportions) tells them that Qubit saved Plutonian's life in their recent conflict. D'oh!

Instead, I really enjoyed the look at one corner of the United States; their reaction to the cataclysm. One can't help but wonder about the social, environmental, electronic, internet effects of the destroyed cities, razed land, and sunken island(s). How quickly would it take before the world devolved into thousands and thousands of city-states? How quickly would it take before our technology failed, and people in non-destroyed cities began to starve because food can't be grown or brought into the city? What does it do to the electrical grid, the telephones and internet, the roads and railways? While Waid doesn't delve into that so much, in this issue, he shines a brief light on the difficulty of modern farming without modern implements and on the rage that powerless individuals must feel.

The interactions between the Plutonian and Samsara were also fascinating, as Modeus continues to pass himself off as a revitalized Samsara. I enjoyed the history that Tony told, leading into the big reveal at the end of the issue. It was interesting; if I had to drag it into a mainstream, I'd say that Modeus is a combination of Lex Luthor (because of the brains) and the Joker (because of the complete psychopathy). As Tony examines Modeus's motives, Samsara / Modeus attempts to direct the conversation.

Now, why did Samsara / Modeus have Tony direct all that energy into the stone? It's obvious that he's playing Tony; what's his game? What effects will that energy have? What's Modeus's game? It's a long month away.

Buffy, Season 8 #36

"Last Gleaming, part 1," by Joss Whedon (script), Georges Jeaney (pencils), and Andy Owens (inks)

Okay, some caveats about this review:
1) I'm a huge Buffy and Joss fan, so I'm prejudiced from the get-go.
2) I've watched the whole show at least twice and read most of the affiliated comics, although I gave up on Angel a few months back.

Rating: read twice already, will read again when the story is complete.

The fact that I've already read it multiple times is not meant as a compliment. This is a dense, complicated comic book with thick plotting and 35 prior issues of continuity NOT counting the television show to account for. This is not an easy read and not meant for the faint of heart.

What happens? Let's see... the Pre-Twilight Angel, discovering his powers and meeting his spirit guide (a dog and a randy stewardess); Spike's bug ship "arriving" in London; Buffy expressing her complete trust in Angel (never good in the Whedonverse) while superhero fighting monsters; Buffy exchanging info with Spike; and the revelation of the Big Bad of the season.

Is that enough for you?

It's hard to follow. Upon further reads, the story starts to straighten itself out, even if I'm still unsure about where Spike's ship came from. This requires several thoughts: a read for general impressions, a read for plot, a read for foreshadowing and references of prior acts, a reader the art and its effect on the proceedings, and a read in the context offbeat entire end-of-chapter storyarc. This isn't a comic that is friendly to a casual read.

Upon further consideration, that's pretty cool. There aren't many non-Xmen books that have such a dense back- and side-story, and it's a nice feeling to be able to keep up with this one. Many comics made today - and the first ones on my personal chopping block - tend to be quick and easy reads, not requiring much thought and imagination. Good or ill, this is not that.

And, I mean, it's JOSS. We love Joss. And we love Buffy. Man, I wish Buffy had been on while I was in high school, because I was pre-Buffy Xander Harris. Joss is one of the few creators that has earned the "benefit of the doubt buy" by me.

So, buy this, but be prepared to have to work a bit to really "get" this.


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Torchwood #2

"Broken," by Paul Grist (story & art); "Fated to Pretend," by Brian Minchin (s) and Steve Yeowell (a); "The Man Who Dreamed of Stars," by Brian Minchin (s) and Ben Wilsher (a)

Rating: worth multiple reads, but not necessarily for the normal reason.

Here's why I like this and will get at least two or three more: this is not your normal comic. This is more your old-school "comics magazine," with a short, self-contained story, a longer, serialized feature, and some prose writing at the end. Isn't that cool?

"Fated to Pretend," although I was effusive with praise, just doesn't hold up well as a story. The characterizations of the Torchwood folks is inconsistent and indistinct: the dialogue doesn't have any personality difference. The "zombies" have abilities or weaknesses that are inconsistent with what the story shows: Jack states that their skin is like rice paper, yet they can roughhouse around and are designed as soldiers. Their joints will only hold up for "five minutes' walking per day" yet have no issues with the events of the story, which seem to last longer than five minutes. "One good rain, and you'll be little puddles of bones" yet they live "hiding in a big, damp pit."

Moral of the story: nice concept, flawed execution.

The art in "Broken," part 2 of 5, is a cartoony and almost caricature-esque style. It is consistent and easy to follow, although it does dull some of the intense and scary moments that follow. Then again, much of the fear is of the "grab you suddenly" type, which is hard to do in a comic. The story is interesting and obviously a middle part: Jack dies again, but gets better. Ianto and Gwen face some demonic bad guy types, and Bilis, the protagonist's spirit guide, is arcane and scary and confusing. I'm excited to get the whole story and to read it all in a row.

Full disclosure: I haven't read the prose story yet, although the incidental art is really quite cool. I love short stories, and will eventually come back and read it, probably in the same sitting that I read "Scarlet"'s letters page.

All in all, this is a magazine that actually gives you enough material for several sittings. I like this variety, even with a flawed first story. This comic is hanging close to earning a permanent part of my pull box, although the jury is still out.

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The Authority #26

Tom Taylor (w), Al Barrionueve (art)

Rating: Worth a read; maybe a second when the arc is complete

The Authority is one of two books that has been on the chopping block for almost a year now. I keep saying, as soon as a bad issue or a boring story comes, I'm going to drop it. I'm not a big fan of the World's End story that Wildstorm is doing, which should make it easier.

Unfortunately - or fortunately - the book doesn't cooperate. The story remains interesting, and while it's not compelling enough to pull off of the chopping block, it is buying itself another month in my collection.

This issue has a cover that does not accurately reflect the plot or the mood. It's a heavy piece, the story: the team is fighting a rearguard action, and losing, while trying to figure out some means of forming some kind of effective resistance to the invaders. The team is taken down, one by one, until all are captured and neutralized, save for Swift and maybe the Engineer. Hawksmoor is confronted angrily by those he swore to protect, and he tried to use the alien city's energy against them, only to be sickened and driven into despair by their genocidal impulses. Next issue: the fight back.

Here's what I liked: I liked the consistent feeling of hopelessness by the heroes. I liked that they didn't know what to do, that everything they tried just didn't work well enough. In some cases, it just made things worse. I liked the somber, tense mood that the story evoked; the red filter that Barrionueve overlaid kept the stakes high and the tension higher. Each time you thought that they would escape or get a breather, bam! That thought was snatched away from you. Excellently done by the creative team.

Also, the visual nods to the "Aliens" universe were appreciated. The bad guys and their city evoked that mood quite well. That also brings a certain sense of foreboding and doom, which I enjoyed. Well, not enjoyed. You know what I mean. We've all seen the movies and read the comics, so a little bit in our unconscious helps to frame the urgency of the situation.

It's only a matter of time, after all, before the guys figure out a way to "punch someone in the brains!" (That's an early Midnighter quote, not from this issue.)


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The Green Hornet #7

Kevin Smith (script), Phil Hester (breakdowns), Jonathan Lau (pencils), Ivan Nunes (colors), Alex Ross (cover)

Rating: will read again, after the whole story is out

Kevin Smith's The Green Hornet has done for the Green Hornet what Ron Moore did for Battlestar Galactica: made it relevant and compelling. I've been a fan of the Green Hornet since I heard the radio show on cassette tapes that my dad bought for me back in the day, and I love that one of my favorite creators is breathing new life into it.

I like Kato's daughter being "his" Kato. I like the ne'er-do-wellson trying to avenge his father. I like the original Kato serving as Yoda. It's interesting. I like the tongue in cheek examination of how the Hornet did his business.

This issue was a quick read. Lots of action, not a lot of exposition. This issue was setting up Britt's assumption of his father's life and the first major encounter with the Black Hornet, whose identity was revealed. There's also a mysterious bit about a cool anti-gravity fighter plane, which will hopefully be used in battle soon.

(What's the old axiom? Show a gun on the wall in act one, and it must be fired by act three.)

I guess that's a lot of exposition, after all.

Still, this feels like a chapter one. I want to reread this, but I'll wait a few months until this little arc is complete, then reread it. It's worth picking up, even if you want to wait until the trade comes out.


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Astro City: The Silver Agent #2

Kurt Busiek (w), Brent Anderson (a), Alex Ross (cover)

Rating: Worth multiple reads

I've been a huge fan of Astro City since the beginning, and nothing has been done to change that. Busiek and Anderson's superhero universe combines the best of Marvel and DC into a new, grander, and brighter world. The Silver Agent was long teased as someone influential, even though he was absent from the first several volumes of stories. He was regarded as a tragic figure, but we knew not why until fairly recently.

Basically, this told the story of the Silver Agent's wrongful execution by our legal system; convicted of a crime he did not commit, he allowed himself to be executed out of respect for the rule of law. People realized - too late, of course - what they did, and the Silver Agent became an inspiration for millennia.

This tale, with all of the details filled in, is heartbreaking. It becomes easy to put ourselves in his shoes, yet hard to imagine laying down out lives as he did. Can you imagine leaving your family behind like that?

The story hinges around his travels through time, fighting alongside various Silver Agent-inspired heroes on various worlds, righting wrongs and saving lives. On each world, he becomes inspired by those he has inspired - a remarkable leadership feat, if you've studied that art. The great leaders get their motivation from their followers. His adventures through time draw him closer and closer to his execution date, even as he acquires more of the mysterious power from which he derives his name.

The heartbreaking bit comes from his conversations with his nephew, set 30 years apart for the nephew but moments for the Agent. Having to say goodbye to family like that... is unimaginable. Well and sensitively played by the creative team.

As per usual, this ends this chapter of Astro City. I enjoy this style of storytelling; instead of an ongoing series, the book is published as an individual storyline. Now that this is done, another will come soon. I can't wait to sit down and read the whole arc.