Kurt Busiek's Astro City #4

So a kid goes into a bar.

This is a comic version of the kid getting off the bus in the big city. In this case, we have a young man, who moves to Astro City to become a part of the super hero culture. So he gets a job at a popular super hero bar. One day he finds himself being a hostage.

While the heroes and other waiters stand talking to the hostage taker, he uses his own skill to take the criminal down.This gains him the attention of the other waiters, who have been there longer, and are jealous of his instant entry into the superhero world. Before he gets a serious beat down, The Confessor comes to his aid.

So this is the beginning of a six issue storyline. We are introduced to a decent character, who is given enough of an interesting personality, that we can follow him through this story. I made mention of the young kid off the bus in the big city, and it is an excellent arc in the story. However, we seem to be introduced to the plot, long before it seems is time.

While we are getting an outline of an interesting character, Busiek spends most of the book introducing us to the teams and characters the young waiter will be meeting, he forgets that he can fully flush out his character. This puts us in the position of being a voyeur and seeing oly what the young kids sees and figures out. A good story, but not quite as strong as others.