Astro City

Kurt Busiek's Astro City is a comic book series centered around a fictional American city of that name. Written by Kurt Busiek, the series is co-created and illustrated by Brent Anderson with character designs and painted covers by Alex Ross. The first series debuted in August 1995 published by Image Comics, and since then has been published sporadically (due to Busiek's health problems) by Homage Comics (now part of Wildstorm Signature Series).

The City

[[Image:Map of Astro City.jpg|left|200px|thumb|A map of Astro City, detailing its major districts:

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1. City Center, centered around Binderbeck Plaza

Related Topics:
Binder - Beck

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2. Old Town

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3. Chesler (also known as "The Sweatshop")

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4. Shadow Hill

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5. Bakerville

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6. Derbyfield

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7. Museum Row/Centennial Park

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8. Kiefer Square

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9. Kanewood

Related Topics:
Kane - Wood

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10. Patterson Heights.]]

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Astro City is the seat of Hood County in an unspecified state. Though there is an actual Hood County in Texas, the name was chosen by Busiek because it "is another play on secret IDs; Mask County or Cowl County wouldn't have sounded right." http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/kbac/kbac0204.html

Related Topics:
Hood County - Texas

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The city was originally called Romeyn Falls (until its rebuilding, post-World War II). At that time it was renamed in honor of the superhero Astro-Naut, who had apparently, at the cost of his own life, saved the city from an as yet unrevealed disaster that devastated much of it.

Related Topics:
Romeyn - World War II

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Description

The bulk of the city is contained between the Wildenberg and Gaines rivers, which define its western and eastern edges, respectively. Mount Kirby hems in the built-up area to the north. The Wildenberg merges into the Gaines to the south; in the juncture lies the prison facility of Biro Island. The remains of Torres Island, destroyed by an explosion in 1983, lie between it and the city proper. The Gaines is navigable below Astro City (there are "seaport shops" near Astro City's southern end), but the "Falls" in its original name suggests that it is at the river's head of navigation (though the falls could be on the Wildenberg rather than the Gaines, or on both rivers).

Related Topics:
Gaines - Kirby - Biro

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Astro City is made up of numerous neighborhoods, which include the rebuilt City Center, centered around Binderbeck Plaza; Old Town; Chesler (also known as "The Sweatshop"); Shadow Hill; Bakerville; Derbyfield; Museum Row/Centennial Park; Iger Square; Kiefer Square; Kanewood; South Kanewood; Fass Gardens; Gibson Hills; and Patterson Heights.

Related Topics:
Binder - Beck - Chesler - Shadow - Baker - Iger - Kane - Wood - Fass

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Notable locations in Astro City are the Astrobank Tower, home of the Astro City Beacon, the city's warning beacon; the tower also has a statue of Air Ace in front. Other locations include Grandenetti Cathedral; the Outcault Bridge; Bruiser's, a bar catering to heroes; Butler's, a private club for the superhero set; and Beefy Bob's, a fast-food chain.

Related Topics:
Grandenetti - Outcault

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Outside the angle between the rivers comprising the city proper are outlying suburbs such as Goldwater Heights, west of the Wildenberg. The area's primary college, Fox-Broome University, known for its advanced biolabs, would appear to be in a similar suburb to the southwest. Wildenberg Center, a failed riverfront development, is also southwest of the city.

Related Topics:
Goldwater - Fox - Broome

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Astro City?s world is also populated by additional fictional towns, as well as real ones. One other fictional town that has been shown is Buchanan Corners, a long overnight bus-ride somewhere to the east of the city.

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Most of the city's physical features, neighborhoods, streets and businesses, as well as the other fictional locales in its world, are named for past individuals or characters associated with the comic book industry and comics history, and hence constitute to some degree an elaborate in-joke.

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Location

Astro City has been stated to be a city in the western United States, presumably west of the Mississippi River due to the "K-designations" of two stations (KBAC, KACT). Since it is portrayed as an inland city at the juncture of two major rivers, a location in the Mississippi/Missouri watershed, or possibly either the Columbia or Sacramento river basins might be implied, depending on how far west Astro City is. Busiek, however, notes that the local geography, including the rivers and Mount Kirby to the north of the city, are entirely fictional.

Related Topics:
United States - Mississippi River - Missouri - Watershed - Columbia - Sacramento - River basin

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References within the series to real cities demonstrate that Astro City is not intended to occupy the place of Anchorage, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Denver, Salina, Junction City, Topeka, Leavenworth, St. Louis, the Quad Cities, Chicago, or Detroit; most of these also lack anything approaching the requisite geography. All of Iowa and Wyoming are effectively ruled out as locations by references to them by characters in Astro City as if they are different states from the one in which the city is situated. An argument for the Midwest in general is a story in which the floating Honor Guard headquarters is said to be temporarily positioned over that region, and the members of that hero group travel directly from their base to Astro City in response to a bank robbery.

Related Topics:
Anchorage - San Francisco - Palo Alto - Denver - Salina - Junction City - Topeka - Leavenworth - St. Louis - Quad Cities - Chicago - Detroit - Iowa - Wyoming - Midwest

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The best clues as to Astro City?s whereabouts come from the experiences of the character Steeljack as he flees the city and then returns to it. After heading south out of town along the river he is next found in a truck heading east on Interstate 70 in Kansas, twenty miles west of Salina. He proceeds thence by various means east to Pittsburgh, the then-current location of Honor Guard headquarters, from which he is flown back towards Astro City in a jet that crashes ?hundreds of miles? from its target. He completes the journey in a biplane commandeered in Wyoming.

Related Topics:
Interstate 70 - Kansas - Pittsburgh

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A direct line north from the point we encounter Steeljack in Kansas delivers no promising geography for Astro City short of South Dakota, which seems too far north, and we do not know how far south or east he had traveled at this point, or if these were the sole directions he took. His return journey from Pittsburgh points further west, since the stop in Wyoming was short of his goal. On present evidence Northern California or the Pacific Northwest would seem the most likely possible locales.

Related Topics:
South Dakota - Northern California - Pacific Northwest

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Real World Analogs

Busiek has not given any information as to what analog Astro City has in the real world or if it actually has one. As a western city, it shares some similarities to actual western cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, yet also has echoes of cities in Texas such as San Antonio and Houston. It also has features recalling American riverfront cities such as St. Louis, Missouri.

Related Topics:
Los Angeles, California - San Antonio - Houston - St. Louis, Missouri

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Series artist Anderson has used photo references from as far afield as New York City in creating the physical look of Astro City, and Busiek also implies such a connection, by noting that the City Center started out as the "Dutch" section of town (this reference could also be an allusion to Romeyn de Hooghe, the early Dutch caricaturist who provides the city's original name.) A published draft version of the Astro City map shows that certain aspects of its layout were in fact consciously modeled on New York. Similarities to Boston are also prevalent (an early story references a real article from a Boston newspaper, rewritten with an Astro City byline), which is not surprising given that Kurt Busiek lived there for some years.

Related Topics:
New York City - Dutch - Romeyn de Hooghe - Caricaturist - Boston newspaper

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