I absolutely love Astro City.  Seriously, in the pantheon of books I read on a regular basis, there is a select few that I would say I loved, but Astro City would always be on that list.  I know it gets a bad wrap because of the schedule of releases, but everytime it comes out, I forget about that because it always pays off.

The great thing about Astro City is the tapestry of characters that we’ve seen glimpses of but haven’t actually seen them in depth.  This issue, which is huge – a ton of pages, focuses on Beautie, who is a hero and looks like a real life Barbie doll.  The manner in which Busiek explores her character is fascinating.  By taking the super hero template and inserting an almost Sci-Fi-esque angle to her, reminding me of Data from Star Trek TNG is both intriguing and tragic. 

The great thing about these Astro City Specials is that you don’t need to have read the book to enjoy them.  Just pick it and “Welcome to Astro City!”