By Zack Quaintance — I’m going to go ahead and date myself by revealing that I’ve been reading Astro City comics for more than 20 years, going all the way back to when I was a young-ish kid, certainly before I could drive. Astro City was one of the first comics that expanded my understanding of the medium past the X-Men and Spider-Man, Batman and Superman, etc. The stories felt fully-realized in ways I’d never seen and couldn’t articulate back then. They moved through perspectives and neighborhoods and eras of time. Astro City was in some ways also a perfect comic for a young reader, one who didn’t have steady income or money to buy comics every month. And while the ideas and feelings were mature, the book ignored the edgy mature aesthetics that dominated the time. I think I ended up with like Astro City #1, 3, and 4 out of the first six issues, and I read them over and over and over, taking in the mostly stand-alone stories until I had them almost memorized.

One of the things I loved about Astro City back then and continue to love today is how easy it is to go in and out of the world (there’s even a sign at the end of every arc, letting you know you are now leaving Astro City, a touch I’ve long appreciated). The book feels like you’re visiting an actual living place, with its own history and people and events that happen in between the stories you get to see. It’s a great effect, and I’m not sure any other comic does it so well. This is all to say that it was no surprise to me how easy it was to pick up and fall into the new Astro City one-shot, Astro City: That Was Then, the first new Astro City comic since 2018, a year in which we got three new issues and a promise that the series would return in graphic novel format.

As writer Kurt Busiek notes in this special’s backmatter, that graphic novel return was started but never finished, and we won’t be getting complete Astro City OGNs. Instead, we will soon be getting the series as we’ve always known it, in issue-sized installments, now from the publisher with which it began, Image Comics. And if this return special is any indication, we are very lucky that the series is coming back.

I’m going to avoid spoilers here since the special isn’t actually out until March 30, but I will note that everything I have long loved about Astro City is back. This is very much a standalone comic that at the same time also makes great use of the vast network of people, places, and relationships the title has built over its long life. In these pages you will find a rewarding emotional core on its own merits, as well as the seeding of new mysteries sure to play out long-term, often in the background of the new stories to come. You will also find Alex Ross’ instantly-recognizable character-design, which somehow feels at once recognizable and wholly new. It’s all the greatness that you have long loved about Astro City, and it’s back.

With it, Busiek and main series artist Brent Anderson have also brought a sort of 2022 weariness with them. This is a somber story, the sort Astro City has traditionally embraced and done well, without ever feeling maudlin or cheap. In it, five teen sidekicks hit the road during the summer between high school and college, anxious about finding their roles in what seems like an increasingly severe world. I think that’s all I can say without hitting spoiler territory or revealing something that’s not in the previews, but the book also does a thing where it reminds us of the power of history within world-building, of using past tumult as a lens to reflect the chaos of the day, and it all adds up to a really smart and engaging take on superhero fiction. It’s also accessible in a way that should appeal to new Astro City readers.

In the end, for a long-time reader like me, Astro City — That Was Then felt like visiting a place I used to live, at once familiar but changed in my absence. And I had a great time picking up where I’d left off, taking in what’s new and what I remembered in a way that created a new experience.

Overall: The first new Astro City comic in nearly four years is a fantastic reminder of why this book is one of the great superhero stories of our time. I highly recommend this one to new readers and old fans alike. 9.5/10

REVIEW: Astro City - That Was Then Special

Astro City - That Was Then Special
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Brent Anderson
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Cover and Character Designs: Alex Ross
Lettering and Design: ComiCraft’s Tyler Smith and Jimmy Betancourt
Publisher: Image Comics
ASTRO CITY returns with an all-new special! Who were the Jayhawks? How did they inspire five teen sidekicks looking for answers to hit the road in a rickety crime mobile in 1969? And how will this affect Astro City in the present? This one-shot special features new and existing heroes and launches a mystery that will drive the forthcoming ASTRO CITY series. And don’t miss the ASTRO CITY METROBOOK, collecting the first three years of the acclaimed series!
Price: $3.99
Buy It Here: Digital

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He has written about comics for The Beat and NPR Books, among others. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.