I ran out of ways to buy cheap used copies of Astro City - Ordinary Heroes, so I was stuck paying full tilt in digital form, which is outrageous but the books have been so good that I can't really complain. The series opens up with a view of Jack-in-the-box, a gadget-based hero that was established early on in the series. We see the 3rd generation of the family, a kid who secretly wants to be a doctor, who was discouraged from joining his parent in the super-hero business. They investigate the death of their grandfather, and the story pivots quickly to the other side of the story, the nemesis who might have murdered the original Jack-in-the-box. This one is well told and well thought up. I was impressed.
The second arc concerns the lawyer also introduced early in the series --- 20 years later she has a successful practice but still can't satisfy the ghost of her mother, and faces pressure from her boyfriend to move out of shadow hill. Again, I enjoyed the story and the resolution which involved suddenly being drafted to being a lawyer to one of the mystic heroes in the universe.
The last two stories are also great --- one concerns a super-villain who's been stuck on a deserted island for years, and discovers that a come back wasn't exactly what he wanted, and another is a super-hero feline who aids the universe's version of cloak and dagger. The story is whimsical and great. All in all, this volume was definitely a lot of fun. I'm kinda miffed that the series is out of print, but my suspicion is that they're re-releasing the series slowly. Recommended!
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