Kurt Busiek’s Astro City (1996) 9

Kurt Busiek’s Astro City (1996) 9
May 1997

My Father’s Son
By Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson

The story did what I thought it might but it also did something else. It did something that it has been doing all along. It took a step back. I was very happy to see that. They wrapped up the alien invasion story at the same time as they put an ending on the story of the Confessor and Altar Boy.

There are lots of battles around the world. The aliens are defeated and driven away from Earth, for good. Measures are established to prevent them from coming as close as they did to conquering the Earth, ever again. There are lots of battle scenes but as with the rest of the story it is all told from the perspective of Altar Boy.

The last few pages are an epilogue and a new beginning. Altar Boy goes home to visit his parents graves but he doesn’t stay away from Astro City. It was very moving. Losing a surrogate father has taught him a new appreciation for his biological father whom he lost years before he came to Astro City.

There are lots of details in the story. The part that resonates most is the personal stuff that Alter Boy experiences. There are lots of other little details that help to round out the tale and add layers to it: the return of the Crossbreed and the role they play in helping Altar Boy, the resolution of the serial killer in Shadow Hill, the return of the mayor of Astro City and others who had been kidnapped and impersonated by the aliens. It was also nice to see the story with Crackerjack and the alien from Kurt Busiek's Astro City (1995) 5 turn out to be more than just a silly story that annoyed me.

I really was prepared for a less than perfect ending but I am very happy with the way it turned out. It brought a tear to my eye. I think Astro City is worth reading from the beginning but if you only read one Astro City story this should be it.