Astro City #44 - "The Cat Who Walked Through Walls"

[laughing_tree]

Comics don’t rip off pop culture anywhere near enough any more. Krypto and Ace the Bat-Hound happened because of Lassie and Rin Tin Tin. Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD happened because of James Bond and the Man from UNCLE. Comics used to omnivorously devour whatever was popular and make it part of the mix. Usually two years too late, but they were in there trying. Kung fu popular? Have some kung fu heroes! Blaxploitation? Gotcha covered. But at some point, greedily chasing trends started to be frowned on. And the Big Two comics got to be a lot more about maintaining the old stuff than chasing the new. I think that was a point when comics lost a lot of vitality. If Pokemon had happened in 1965, there’d be a Spider-Man villain today named Monsteroso, who hunted & trapped monsters he used to do crimes. -- Kurt Busiek

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

This was adorable. I love Rocket Dog and Kittyhawk.
And that final scene is, of course, true to cats everywhere.

[scorntx]

-If Pokémon had happened in 1965, there'd be a Spider-Man villain today named Monsteroso, who hunted and trapped monsters he used to commit crimes-

I dunno, doesn't sound like a Spider-Man villain. More like a team villain.
(Especially if he had six monsters of varying power and abilities...)

... actually kind of want to see that now.

[zachbeacon]

Now I'm just thinking about the Red Ghost from the F4 as one of those idiot NPCS that only use one type and only have three Pokemon.

[scorntx]

At least he's not one of them idiot Fishermen with a team that consists only of Magikarp.

[zachbeacon]

Hey, one day that team of goldfish will be a team of sea serpents.

The bug catchers with a team of Metapods OTOH....

[matrix_dragon]

Level THIRTY Magikarps. That still somehow only know splash.

[leoboiko]

but they're so lovely!

[remial]

don't diss Magikarp, Mr. Fish is awesome!

[scorntx]

I is dissing Magikarp. What's he gonna do, turn into a giant rage-serpent? And start using Dragon Rage? I'd like to see that!

[remial]

Nah, Jared will just use Mr. Fish to beat your pokemon to death, http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/04262010

[q99]

I headcanon that training a full team of 6 actually requires a talented trainer or such, and most civilians really can only handle a few.

[zachbeacon]

It can't be that hard, all the "masters" are ten year olds.

[q99]

Aside from your trainers and your rivals, the gym leaders, elite fours, and evil team leaders tend to be adults or at least older than you, and your trainers and rivals get singled out by the various Professors so I think it's not the average!

[locuatico]

Many Spider-villains are animal/insect themed or, in some cases, monsters, so i can see why he would think of it as a Spider-villain.

[miramira]

I could see a Kraven nephew who's more interested in catching than hunting them all.

[thanekos]

Somebody's gotta maintain the menagerie on the family estate.

[q99]

Teams weren't as big then, and Peter does fight animal villains so I see the connection

[locuatico]

That quote reminds me one of the big themes in the manga "Billy Bat".

During the early chapters, Kevin Yamagata, author of the very popular american comic "Billy Bat" is HORRIFIED to discover he MAY have accidentally ripped-off a mangaka back when he served the US Army in Japan (this is during the Cold War, btw), so he goes to Japan explicitly to find this author, apologize to them and ask permission to continue working on Billy Bat.
WHen he finds this guy (A clear homage to Osamu Tezuka), he apologizes, but they guy says there was no wrong-doing and explains that part of art comes from someone copying someone else.

[cygnia]

I love that cat...

[cloudtrader]

This is adorable. And also, now I want a Pokemon-like villan in the MCU.

[starwolf_oakley]

I get what Busiek is saying in the quote, but sometimes that imitation of "whatever is popular now" can be VERY awkward. AVENGERS ARENA is a good example: Arcade admitted he got the idea from a bunch of popular books and most fans (on this board, at least) were annoyed.

[leoboiko]

I think the underlying idea is that mainstream comics could do with more stylistic experimentation. Nick Fury changed from war stories into tech spy-type stories; Krypto tried to put dog-movie plots into Superman books, while kung-fu superheroes tried to bring Hong Kong theatrics to the funnies.

By this measure, Avengers Arena didn't go far enough in imitating Battle Royale or that other one; it had none of the chillingly dystopian political satire which is the genre's lifeblood. So it just boiled down to another lazy tournament-type micro-event and grimmification for the sake of it.

Contrast that with Marvel Zombies, which did feel like a grotesque zombie flick in a Marvel context. I know Zombies isn't quite loved around here, on account of its appeal to shock value and it being dragged on longer than it should; but I'd still rate it above average, and certainly much better than Arena.

(You know what I'd like to see? Marvel Lovecraft. Shuma-Gorath is already there; just run with it and elevate him into something worthy of the adjective 'Lovecraftian'. Dr. Strange is the natural fit for that; and his natural isolation from the rest of the MU means that the inevitable existential despair would be self-contained, avoiding contaminating the heroism of the normal titles. I have to stop now before I go ahead and start a fanfic series.)

[xakko]

isn't that what the Cancerverse was?

I mean, the bleakness of Lovecraft is antithetical to the normal messaging of superhero comics, that good can overcome evil no matter how powerful.

didn't Hawkgirl smack down a Cthulhu analog (albeit with help) in JLU?

[ovaltinepatrol]

Astro City really is just the best superhero book.

[leoboiko]

So it is. It's so good that it defies understanding. I don't understand how does it manage to keep consistently being this good, and I don't know why it isn't considered to be The Big One. In any decent timeline, Astro City would be the standard for superhero comics, and Marvel and DC both would be minor publishers considered to be on par with Avatar Press or Basement Comics—a sort of cheap venture trying to sell on gimmicks like hero-on-hero wars, boob windows and repeated reboots (with some admittedly great stuff mixed in, again like Avatar Press).

[icon_uk]

It has the advantage of a genuinely superb, and very consistent) creative team, including a writer who has a vast and diverse knowledge, and love of, comic book tropes and what makes them FUN, and doesn't see some "Looking behind the curtain" storytelling as being necessarily a bad thing if not touched by too much cynicism.

It's a rare balance.

[lonewolf23k]

There's also the fact the creative team can focus exclusively on telling good stories based in the universe they've created, without having to bend over backwards to accommodate executive decisions, editorial edicts and marketing requests. While simultaneously writing stories that poke fun at retcons, character changes and massive world-changing events that are often the result of those above decisions, edicts and requests.

For example, from "the Nearness of You", we know the Astro City universe had at least one big "Crisis" style event that changed some minor historical events. But rather then focus on that, the story focuses on the story of one civilian who's life was radically changed by that event, without anyone noticing.

[q99]

The mere fact it's gone on this long is a minor miracle by comic standards. 9k at a decade in? That's really impressive.

That said, part of what makes it good is the ability to focus on one book at their pace. Astro City the setting couldn't be blown up to DC/Marvel size without getting into a lot of similar issues.

(And I'd personally put the batting average of the big two well above Avatar- Avatar has some good books but a lot don't seem to try for more than shock)

[amaniwolf]

Kittyhawk and Rocket Dog are now my Team Supreme! I love Astro City so much!

[bradygirl_12]

"If it wasn't for those meddling kids!"

Like the vibe here, only kittified. :)

[mastiff]

Poppinjay is the best character design I've seen in ever. They need to make a movie just about him.

[thezmage]

Mordecai has fallen on hard times.

[cygnia]

I've now given my own cat the nickname "Kittyhawk" since she's a ninja into getting into places she's not supposed to (see also "Shadowcat")... :)