I liked this one much more than volume 2. I really enjoyed these character studies of some of Astro City's citizens. There's something so engaging about these stories, I don't know what it is but I really like it.

This volume starts off shockingly slow. "Welcome to Astro City" really doesn't say anything interesting, but was presumably an attempt to get new readers into the series [5/10]. The Astra two-parter similarly starts off really slow, though it's got a great last couple of pages, highlighting Astra's first adventure. Still, it's about one issue's worth of story spread out over two issues [6/10]. The Junkman story is fun, but the whole psychology-of-a-villain thing has been done so many times since...

As always, Astro City shows some sides to being a superhero/living in a world of superheroes that you might not think about. My favorite story in this book was about Loony Leo, a cartoon lion accidentally brought to life.

Astro City is one of those series that comes up fairly often in discussions I have with other comic book ner... ahem... friends, and is usually touted as one of the best superhero series around. But so far, I'm pretty unimpressed. I've now read three volumes, and only one of them really blew me away. Volume 2 is incredible for sure, but it's a standalone story arc that perfectly fits in the new world Busiek has created. My problem with volumes 1 and 3 (the latter of which tells several short sto...

The Junkman wants to prove he's still a good criminal even though he's old. Astra Furst wants a chance to be an ordinary kid. Jack in the Box meets versions of his future son. And Loony Leo, the cartoon come to life, is down on his luck. All of this and more in Family Album, the third Astro City collection!Here we are, the third Astro City volume. It's real and it's spectacular. Busiek continues to focus on the human aspects of life in Astro City. The first tale is about a family that moves to A...

This 3rd volume looks at 2 families and Leo, who has no family at all! First we get a newcomers view of Astro City and why people stay in such, what would appear to be a dangerous city... and this is pure Astro City stylee :) Astro City's 'Fantastic Four' the First Family is seen through the eyes of 10 year old super powered Astra and how she's losing touch with her childhood by being in the team... a gimmicky, but neat way of showcasing the Family.Netx we have Black, gifted toy engineer adn sup...

Family Album continues Busiek and Ross' exploration of their marvelous creation, Astro City. a dream city set in a dream America set in a dream world, and a loving ode to the classic Golden and Silver Ages of comics. this graphic novel continues the everyman's ground-eye view of a city full of heroes while also spending even more time delving into the inner lives of a couple of those heroes.for the ground eye view, we see a family's arrival and a father's concern that it all just may be a bit to...

This volume switches back to an anthology title with some one and two issue stories. I like how Busiek focuses on the humanity in his stories whether it be a cartoon lion come to life or a new family moving to Astro City. I really enjoyed the Jack in the Box story where he's presented with future corrupted versions of his adult son who hasn't even been born yet. The story focusing on the little girl Astra of the Fantastic Four analogue, the First Family, was sweet. The creative team shows no sig...

Whether this is the second or third volume of Astro City depends on your perspective and, in the end, doesn't really matter. About half of the issues collected here were published before the ones in Astro City Vol. 2: Confession, and half after. But since they're all short, stand alone stories, it doesn't matter when you read it.On to the actual book itself. The seven issues represent five different stories, most of them related to family in some way (hence the title). The first story, about a f...

The last story about the cartoon come to life is what raised it to a 4 star rating for me, as well as some terrific artwork (though the pointillism causes a terrible visual glitch when reading on a screen that makes it hard to look at, unfortunately). It was like an existentialist reimagining of 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?', exploring the idea of artificial intelligence in the vein of 'Blade Runner', 'Solaris', 'A.I.', but with a cartoon character come to life. The hopscotch story was quite engagi...

Astro city is a very human look at superheroes and villains. Here we see they have much of the same problems we have. Highly recommended

Astro City is very well done and always entertaining. In this one we got a look at a few different heroes at different points in their life.First off we have a little girl who's a member of a superhero team (think Fantastic Four) who really wants nothing more than to be a regular little kid for a while. Then we have an aging criminal who finally "wins", but decides he wanted recognition more than anything else.Jack in the Box meets his possible children from alternate futures (it's not as compli...

Really dug some of this, some not so much. This is a bunch of one shots mixed in with a two part about a little girl going on an adventure to fit in with other kids and then Jack in the box guy's story and what he's dealing with. The main themes here is finding your place, and instead of being a regular outside look into superheroes these focus on the superheroes themselves and their internal mindset. Good: The jack in the box stuff was great, interesting, and felt very mature for a superhero st...

I continue reading this series. Very good superhero stories!

Well, I must admit I thought this was the second volume in the Astro City series, but that is okay. It so happens I have the second and fourth volumes anyway. And the great thing about Astro City volumes? They stand alone excellently, each attempting to address a different idea.In this volume the idea of family and superheroics is addressed. You have the lone man Jack-In-The-Box who finds out that his wife is pregnant and worries about the possibilities of what could happen to his son. It doesn'...

A re-read. I definitely preferred the longer story of volume 2. But this definitely still works. The little kid art was perhaps a bit off.Wow. This series just keeps on getting better and better as I read more of it. This book is all disconnected short stories but all set in the superhero community in some way of Astro City. And the pacing and the range is just really good. The characters are all different but believable, even the cartoon lion brought to life (as a cartoon). Sure others have pla...

Astro City isn't really super hero comics - it's human comics that feature costumed characters. This volume highlights what that difference means ably; with one and two-issue stories that are thought-provoking and touching even as they have action and adventure too. All of them are strong in their own way - from the view of civilians in the midst of possible destruction, to the sad biography of a cartoon come to life, to the criminal who has everything but recognition, to the very touching story...

I’m loving this series more with each book and appreciate how willingly it seems to change its status quo and grapple with believable consequences for the stories it chooses to tell instead of inventing an excuse to escape them. Vol3 goes back to the short story format but gives a couple of stories two issues to develop. The Junkman and JackInTheBox stories were my favorites here, but all of them offered distinct and emotionally engaging views into this world.Junkman’s story is a sort of proto-B...

One of the distinct pleasures of ASTRO CITY is never knowing where the story will take you. This collection is loosely grouped around the theme of family (except for the strange Junkman issue), and Busiek delivers again, using superheroes to get at universal themes. The fatherhood stuff here is the best, with the time-travelling murderous sons of Jack-in-the-Box standing out for me. What a great use of genre to get at the uncertainty any parent feels about how their children will turn out! In an...

Solid storytelling, just like the first Astro City collection I read.