Reviews - Astro City Samaritan Special

Ever since Astro City: The Dark Ages was put on hold, I've been missing my fix of Astro City. The world that Kurt Busiek created is interesting. Busiek really focuses on human behaviour in his stories. There are no long, drawn-out battles in Busiek's books. Instead, the violence takes a back seat to great characterization and storytelling.

In this special, Samaritan, a Superman-like superhero, visits his arch-nemesis, Infidel. Once a year they visit each other and have a nice civil dinner. This type of story has been done many times before. Mortal enemies cast aside their differences to share in their commonalities. It's a very simple ideal but also a very powerful plotline. If done right, it's a great story, when done wrong, it becomes a feeble attempt at being 'deep'.

Busiek definitely wrote this story right. The characterization of both Samaritan and Infidel were great. I really enjoyed the dinner conversation mixed in with a brief history of the conflict between the two. I liked how both of them were looking for weaknesses and both of them knew thought they found something at the end of the book. Another great Astro City story by Busiek.

The artwork by Brent Anderson is typical of the Astro City stories. It wasn't the greatest art I've seen and does not compare to Alex Ross' gorgeous covers, but it gets the job done. It's good enough to enjoy and is an effective complement to a great story.

Overall a good Astro City book and a welcomed diversion from the Civil War, 52 and One Year Later stories.

DRAGONCRYPT