Kurt Busiek's Astro City: The Tarnished Angel

Different but not that cool. One long story got kind of boring. Not bad just doesn't compare to others.

This edition ostensibly focuses entirely on Steeljack - a recently paroled weary villain returning to Astro City's seedier side of town. He's covered in steel and possesses super-human strength, but as we cross the present day and his past, we learn more about the line that separates heroes and

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villains, the struggles in trying to break free of the past, and the few universal truths one can count on with the wrong side of justice - rules against hanging out with felons does not prevent you from hanging out with the real criminals, there is always one last heist, your major payout never happens and no one ever really gets out with their heist money...

But wrapped in all of this, there are more back stories for Astro City and further back stories in different cities. We see how the culture of London impacts the identities of the underworld and their crimes. Again, it's just a great series that one can't recommend enough. In this world, these are not cookie-cutter superheroes designed to appear in action-figure format or on world-wide cartoons. There is thought in how environment would impact and weigh down both hero and villain.

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Steeljack is a former super villain just out on parole after twenty years in jail. He’s not too bright, he’s getting old and he’s tired of being on the run from heroes and the demons of his own past. He wants nothing else than to settle for a normal life. But being an ex-con is hard, and

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being an ex-con made out of steel is even harder. Noone will hire him, and soon Steeljack finds himself back in the old neighbourhood, Kiefer Square, where many of the small time super villains live. Not an easy place to try and walk the straight and narrow. But in Kiefer Square something is not right. Someone is killing black masks, and nobody knows why. The community is scared. Talking to the police is not an option and the heroes won’t bother with a place like this. Steeljack gets the job to try and find out what is going on, detective like. Not because he’s smart, because he isn’t. But because he’s tough, and probably has a better chance of surviving if he finds something out. With very low expectations of achieving anything, Steeljack accepts.

This is a fine noirish crime story set on the gutter level of Astro City, where the heroes are mostly just shapes flying by high up in the air. Steeljack is a great character in his world-weary sadness, and I love how Busiek focuses on the small-time crooks, the black masks who dream of that last score that’ll bring the big bucks in, and their families who have long since stopped believing them. It even has time for some memorable side stories, like the rise and fall of the hero El Hombre, or the tragic naivety of the Mock Turtle. Most of all, it’s a story of second chances. It’s really very good.

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Read this for the comic book intensive inquiry initially. On a reread on my way through the series, I am still impressed by this one. It is definitely the best of the Astro City graphic novels that I have read so far. I like that it follows an antihero rather than the garden variety superhero. The

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slight side step in the plot taken in the story of the Mock Turtle is excellently embedded and poignant. The graphic novel achieves a fine balance between hope and cynicism. Excellently done.

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Another great book in the Astro City series. Tarnished Angel is the story of Carl, a recent paroley that wants to go straight. He gets hired by the residents of Keifer Square to try and stop the murder of black masks, what you or I would know as super vilains. The title refers to Carl himself who

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is also known as Steel Jacket and sees being a hero as being an Angel. The illustrations are spot on and just gorgeous, and the mystery is well written. I just love this series and can't wait to read the next one.

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Another great book in the Astro City series. Tarnished Angel is the story of Carl, a recent paroley that wants to go straight. He gets hired by the residents of Keifer Square to try and stop the murder of black masks, what you or I would know as super vilains. The title refers to Carl himself who

Show More

is also known as Steel Jacket and sees being a hero as being an Angel. The illustrations are spot on and just gorgeous, and the mystery is well written. I just love this series and can't wait to read the next one.

Show Less

Another great book in the Astro City series. Tarnished Angel is the story of Carl, a recent paroley that wants to go straight. He gets hired by the residents of Keifer Square to try and stop the murder of black masks, what you or I would know as super vilains. The title refers to Carl himself who

Show More

is also known as Steel Jacket and sees being a hero as being an Angel. The illustrations are spot on and just gorgeous, and the mystery is well written. I just love this series and can't wait to read the next one.

Show Less

Another great book in the Astro City series. Tarnished Angel is the story of Carl, a recent paroley that wants to go straight. He gets hired by the residents of Keifer Square to try and stop the murder of black masks, what you or I would know as super vilains. The title refers to Carl himself who

Show More

is also known as Steel Jacket and sees being a hero as being an Angel. The illustrations are spot on and just gorgeous, and the mystery is well written. I just love this series and can't wait to read the next one.

Show Less

A successful mixture of hard-boiled detective and superhero genres. Steeljack is a low-grade super-criminal who has just sprung jail. A number of 'black masks' from his area have been killed recently and he reluctantly agrees to try to find the murderer.