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       #Post#: 2642--------------------------------------------------
       Astro City: Life In The Big City - Kurt Busiek & Brent Ander
       son
       By: Chiprocks1 Date: October 11, 2011, 1:37 am
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       [CENTER]Astro City: Life In The Big City
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       Written by Kurt Busiek
       Drawn by Brent Anderson
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       I've been hearing nothing but rave reviews for Astro City for
       quite some time now. But I always had another book to read first
       and I just kept putting this one off. So, I finally got around
       to reading Astro City: Life In The Big City. So, did it live up
       to the hype? Unfortunately no. It's not a bad read, but I do
       think it's a bit overrated.
       Look, I like Kurt Busiek's writing, but I think I'd be doing a
       disservice by just caving into peer pressure and agreeing with
       everyone about the awesomeness of this book. Sorry, but it's
       not. The entire Volume consist of individual chapters that look
       at the Super Hero world, or Astro City in which Caped Crusaders
       and whatnot is a common thing. The story centers around the
       citizens of Astro City and what their take is on these people
       running around in tights and what it means to them. For that
       angle, I actually like it. What I don't like or even get is that
       these people can take these Super Heroes serious.
       How can we the reader expect to take these citizens serious when
       the people they worship look stupid? Their names are stupid.
       Their costumes are atrocious. It's every bad cliche you can
       think of when showing us their powers and how they talk to each
       other when fighting. Maybe that was the point? I don't know. But
       for me, it comes off like they just half-assed their way when
       designing the characters and drew names out of a hat when it
       came time to name these Heroes.
       And it was because of these Heroes that I had a hard time buying
       into the world of Astro City and it's occupants. Of all the
       chapters, there really were only 2 that I enjoyed. The one about
       the random crook that discovered the identity of a Super Hero
       and then plots to use the information to sell to the highest
       bidder for financial gain. The other chapter about the two
       hero's going on their first date with each other only to find
       that they can't agree on how to properly save people was a bit
       amusing, in a non intentional way. The rest of the book was just
       okay at best and sleep inducing the rest of the time. I also
       come from a certain era of pencilers and like clean lines. Not
       to take anything away from Brent Anderson as an artist. It just
       that his style is not my cup of tea.
       So, that's my take. I give this 3 Stars out of 5. This is
       nothing more than a Rent for me.
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