The Graduate

Astro City Special: Astra #1

About a decade ago, we were introduced to Astra Furst, youngest member of Astro City’s celebrated First Family, experienced superhero but a complete novice when it came to being a normal elementary-school student. Well, the “Astro City” comic advances in real-time, so Astra is now graduating from college, dealing with life as a super-celebrity, trying to decide what to do with her future. If anything, the ensuing hijinx are a greater trial for Astra’s boyfriend, Matt, who is a perfectly nice, down-to-earth guy, but is completely unable to deal with superteams on recruitment drives, diplomatic delegations from Monstro City, most of the members of Astra’s family, or interstellar nightclubs.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The First Family is always good for some good Fantastic-Four-style fun, and it’s great to catch up with them after all these years.

Marvel Divas #3

Angelica “Firestar” Jones’ cancer treatments are going about as well as you’d expect them to — chemotherapy is no picnic, superpowers or not. Patsy “Hellcat” Walker, Monica “Photon” Rambeau, and Felicia “Black Cat” Hardy rally around her and do what they can to take her mind off her troubles — Patsy sets her up with the best hairdresser in New York, and Angelica opts for a good ol’ fashioned buzzcut. Meanwhile, Monica has been roped into standing in for Doctor Voodoo in an auction for the Monkey’s Paw, and Felicia gets in a fight with her boyfriend, the Puma, because she wants to go back to stealing jewels from museums to pay her bills. And Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, makes Patsy another deal to cure Angelica’s cancer.

Verdict: Thumbs up. One of the things I ended up enjoying the most was the descriptions of some of the side effects of chemo — we’ll still need to wait on official word from Polite Dissent to see if they pass the sniff test from an Actual Doctor, but they do seem to give you some idea of just how unpleasant chemotherapy can be. Other than that, great art, great dialogue, good action — this one is worth getting, whether you’re a female or male comic fan.