Following the triumph of Marvels and from the ashes of a proposed sequel that fell apart, Kurt Busiek launched Astro City with Brent Anderson on interior art and Marvels collaborator Alex Ross on covers and character designs. On the series’ 30th anniversary, we look at the complicated development of the series and its first six stories. We also ask some conceptual questions. Should Astro City be considered part of the larger superhero deconstructionist movement of the Iron Age, or something else entirely? Are the series’ familiar-but-different superheroes “analogues” or “archetypes”? Is there such a thing as including too many Easter eggs? And what’s the difference between “superheroes in the real world” and Astro City?

Discussed in this episode: the first volume of Kurt Busiek’s Astro City #1-6, published by Image Comics (as originally reprinted in the Life in the Big City trade paperback and other subsequent collected editions)

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SUMMER CROSSOVER SPECTACULAR CONCLUDES! Where were you when the lights went out? Your hosts were reading DC’s 1996 crossover, The Final Night, in which the Earth’s sun is blotted out, robbing Superman of his powers. A somewhat somber alternative to the traditionally bombastic action-packed crossover, writer Karl Kesel with artists Stuart Immomen with Jose Marzan, Jr. craft a crossover without a main villain (except for the ones trying to help out), focusing instead on how superheroes cope with what looks like the end of the world. This issue also features the final fate of Hal Jordan/Parallax, giving Ron Marz the opportunity to send off the character he so radically upended (and putting a nice neat bow on all our recent Green Lantern coverage).

Discussed in this episode: The Final Night #1-4, plus Parallax: Emerald Night.

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SUMMER CROSSOVER SPECTACULAR CONTINUES! We’ve discussed tie-ins to DC’s 1994 continuity-altering crossover Zero Hour on a couple occasions so far, but now we finally tackle the main series itself. Billed as “The Beginning of Tomorrow!” and a fresh entry point for new and lapsed readers alike, writer-artist Dan Jurgens pits DC’s heroes against Extant and Parallax for the fate of the universe…and the good guys don’t quite stop them in time! The result is a new timeline (reflected in a literal printed timeline of events included in the last issue), a hard reboot for the Legion of Super-Heroes (the first of many, unfortunately), and some questionable changes to Batman’s history (which have since been overturned). We also do a real nerdy deep-dive on DC continuity and the lingering effects of 1986’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Justin finally lets Jim explain what the deal with Monarch was.

Discussed in this episode: Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #0-4 (well, actually #4-0…)

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