I've gotta make a confession...

A while back, I read the first volume of Astro City by Kurt Busiek. This week, I finished the second volume Confessions. Where the first volume had a series of unconnected stories, this volume has a single story followed through all but the last issue in the volume. In the major storyline, we see a young man become an apprentice hero to The Confessor - a catholic-themed hero who protects Astro City. Through the eyes of the newly-apprenticed Altar Boy (seriously, his name in the book) we see the quandry as a local politician becomes frustrated with the heroes and eventually outlaws them all together. But, of course, things aren't quite as they seem.

The writing is again outstanding in this volume, if a little heavy handed with a moral by the end of the tale. Astro City continues to take archetypes of superheros and to turn them on their head to make commentary on what we always have known as heroes.

And, admittedly, the introduction by Neil Gaiman is worth the price of admission here.

The lone issue not a part of the major story arc is also a nice one as a man finds himself dreaming of a woman who he has never met, knowing more about her than he could possibly know. It is a beautiful homage to the changes wrought constantly by comic writers in major event maxi-series such as Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Astro City is one of the best comics in production today, and you'll certainly be seeing reviews of the rest of the graphic novels as time and library schedules allow. Next up, Family Album.