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Astro City #10
Astro City, Vol. 10: Victory
A major new epic begins featuring Winged Victory, Samaritan, and the Confessor, three of Astro City's most popular heroes. When criminal charges are brought against Winged Victory, the Confessor must investigate and it leads to open combat with Samaritan! Can Astro City's three greatest heroes find a way to work together against this mystery threat? Plus, Winged Victory's origin is revealed at last!
Collects ASTRO CITY #7-10 and ASTRO CITY VISITOR'S GUIDE #1.
Collects ASTRO CITY #7-10 and ASTRO CITY VISITOR'S GUIDE #1.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 2014
About the author
Kurt Busiek
1,865 books636 followersKurt Busiek is an American comic book writer notable for his work on the Marvels limited series, his own title Astro City, and his four-year run on Avengers.
Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.
During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).
Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.
In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.
In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.
Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.
Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,
Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.
During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).
Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.
In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.
In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.
Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.
Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
August 12, 2015
I finished this book last night and was so irritated by how good it was that I immidiately went online and harrassed Kurt Busiek on Twitter.
Here's what I wrote:
*****
Dear Kurt,
Just got caught up on Astro City, and I have to ask.
How the hell do you comic so good? Seriously. FFS.
Sincerely,
pat
*****
This morning, I realize that this pretty much sums up my opinion of the book.
This book is brilliant, but don't start reading here. Start at the beginning, you'll get more out of it.
Besides, the entire run is absolutely wonderful. So it's worth your time to check all of it out.
August 3, 2023
Winged Victory one of the most powerful people in the Astro City universe; she runs female-only enclaves where woman can take a break and also learn how to fight and defend themselves. The more famous and pro-woman super being Victory realises that her critics are beginning to make gender-centric attacks upon her, alongside the conservative media.
One day a beaten and fragile boy is taken in by Victory , but it feels like an obvious conspiracy to try besmirch her name, how will she deal with this threat? A smart and intelligent look at female empowerment albeit not that great a story? 7 out of 12, flailing Three Stars
2019 and 2016 read
You are now leaving Astro City, please drive carefully.
One day a beaten and fragile boy is taken in by Victory , but it feels like an obvious conspiracy to try besmirch her name, how will she deal with this threat? A smart and intelligent look at female empowerment albeit not that great a story? 7 out of 12, flailing Three Stars
2019 and 2016 read
You are now leaving Astro City, please drive carefully.
March 11, 2020
A story focusing on Winged Victory where her enemies try and discredit her mission. It’s a nice change of pace from the one and don stories. Plus some filler material featuring a bunch of pinups.
December 30, 2014
Maybe Busiek should be writing Wonder Woman now. After reading Victory, I have no doubt that he'd do a much better job than either Finch currently is. This particular story is focused on Winged Victory, Astro City's transparently Wonder Woman-based hero. And guess what? It's the best Wonder Woman story that I've read from the last five years or so. Winged Victory has the deep social consciousness that I would expect a Wonder Woman type character to have, with the corresponding villains. Sure, the actual storyline is, at heart, nothing that hasn't been done one million and one times before. Oh no, another hero's been framed! What makes this one stand out, for me, is that Winged Victory's concern isn't really for herself. She runs a series of schools and refuges for women, and her real concern is that the women she's provided safe sanctuary for will have nowhere to go now. That's a hero.
However, this is a very short story, and it only takes up about 2/3 of the length of the book. The rest is a "visitor's guide" to Astro City. There's nothing really special here, unless this is your first go at Astro City. If you've read the other volumes recently, it's just review. But hey, read Astro City. From the first volume to this, it's been an affectionate tribute to comics and superheroes, and I've greatly enjoyed reading it.
However, this is a very short story, and it only takes up about 2/3 of the length of the book. The rest is a "visitor's guide" to Astro City. There's nothing really special here, unless this is your first go at Astro City. If you've read the other volumes recently, it's just review. But hey, read Astro City. From the first volume to this, it's been an affectionate tribute to comics and superheroes, and I've greatly enjoyed reading it.
June 30, 2016
This is another excellent volume of Astro City featuring the series' Wonder Woman analogue Winged Victory. While previous volumes of Astro City have featured Winged Victory storylines, this one shows us how she gained her power in the first place and offers an alternate telling of the Wonder Woman mythos while addressing issues on gender equality in the superhero and non-superhero world. The plot, while not too complex, is still gripping enough and it even had me wondering for a minute if the protagonist would make it through. The other feature in the book is a "visitor's guide" to Astro City which offers very quick recaps of the city's (and comic's) history & a recount of the different superheroes who fought in the city's long history.
February 10, 2017
4 1/4 stars
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February 5, 2017
I was on board with Busiek's message: women don't need isolation from men, they need to work WITH them; true strength means accepting help without mistaking it for weakness; etc.
But he threw out all that nuanced gender-political philosophy via a pointless (and misinformed) panel attempting to insult Fox News. *sigh* It's like reading a brilliant book on human rights only to have it end "But not for dirty Catholics!"
But he threw out all that nuanced gender-political philosophy via a pointless (and misinformed) panel attempting to insult Fox News. *sigh* It's like reading a brilliant book on human rights only to have it end "But not for dirty Catholics!"
September 10, 2025
The power of a woman in a man-centered world, specifically the superhero world. Their version of Wonder Woman must face her own doubts and the doubts of others, but she does so in a human way. She is not instantly ready to battle, she has doubts, she has fears about what to do but she doesn’t stop TRYING.
December 17, 2018
top notch like the previous book in this serie.
January 7, 2020
I hope to see more of the Broken Man again soon, but I love that this volume returns to the long familiar trio of Winged Victory, Samaritan, and The Confessor. Winged Victory is the primary focus of a 4-part story about equality and empowerment, and I appreciate the thoughtfully told feminist message that fits naturally inside its mystery story of a framed hero trying to solve who set them up.
It was also nice to see Winged Victory‘s internal monologue get so many pages, as she’s previously seemed a bit distant or separate. That impression ends up a plot point here, and I loved its eventual resolution. Also, the Confessor is great and I didn’t realize how much I’d missed seeing him in the spotlight since vol2.
The covers with the iconic trio are especially incredible this time, and the internal art continues vol9’s overall uptick for me too. The last 1/3 of the book is an oversized one-shot visitor’s guide to Astro City, and is the sort of in-universe material that I’ve loved to pore over since I was a kid. There’s also an extended section of guest artist depictions of existing characters, and it’s a lot of fun seeing so many versions of favorite characters in distinct 2004-era comic artist styles.
It was also nice to see Winged Victory‘s internal monologue get so many pages, as she’s previously seemed a bit distant or separate. That impression ends up a plot point here, and I loved its eventual resolution. Also, the Confessor is great and I didn’t realize how much I’d missed seeing him in the spotlight since vol2.
The covers with the iconic trio are especially incredible this time, and the internal art continues vol9’s overall uptick for me too. The last 1/3 of the book is an oversized one-shot visitor’s guide to Astro City, and is the sort of in-universe material that I’ve loved to pore over since I was a kid. There’s also an extended section of guest artist depictions of existing characters, and it’s a lot of fun seeing so many versions of favorite characters in distinct 2004-era comic artist styles.
June 1, 2026
Another solid offering in Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson's alternate superhero universe.
This volume finds Winged Victory (a Wonder Woman analogue with, you guessed it, wings) under threat from a "Wag the Dog" campaign suggesting she's secretly in cahoots with the villains she fights.
There are some "manosphere" elements in play here, as talking heads claim that Winged Victory's series of women's shelters are actually extremist training grounds. This is especially problematic because the hero gets her powers from the focused energies of women worldwide...so what happens when they begin to doubt their figurehead?
The concept is relevant, and Busiek does a good job keeping the parts moving, from the abused teenage boy who's seeking shelter with "the Amazons" to the toxic villain who's lost track of what he's trying to accomplish beyond being oppositional. As she unravels the mystery, Victory also has to grapple with how much help she can be seen taking from her male peers and partners.
It's a good framework, even if it seems resolved a bit easily by the finale. Still, Busiek and Anderson continue to produce excellent superhero work in a classic, but complicated, vein.
This volume finds Winged Victory (a Wonder Woman analogue with, you guessed it, wings) under threat from a "Wag the Dog" campaign suggesting she's secretly in cahoots with the villains she fights.
There are some "manosphere" elements in play here, as talking heads claim that Winged Victory's series of women's shelters are actually extremist training grounds. This is especially problematic because the hero gets her powers from the focused energies of women worldwide...so what happens when they begin to doubt their figurehead?
The concept is relevant, and Busiek does a good job keeping the parts moving, from the abused teenage boy who's seeking shelter with "the Amazons" to the toxic villain who's lost track of what he's trying to accomplish beyond being oppositional. As she unravels the mystery, Victory also has to grapple with how much help she can be seen taking from her male peers and partners.
It's a good framework, even if it seems resolved a bit easily by the finale. Still, Busiek and Anderson continue to produce excellent superhero work in a classic, but complicated, vein.
May 28, 2018
Decent story about Winged Victory, but my favorite part of this book was the Astro City travel guide at the end, a creative way to provide a review of the world and its heroes. The artwork for the hero pages was great.
August 20, 2026
About half of this volume is the title story, featuring Winged Victory as she faces a major challenge to her feminist mission. The resulting story is compelling and well-written... but feels like it resolves too simply, considering the issues it raises. The rest of the volume is the Astro City Visitor's Guide, a combination of in-universe tourist guidebook and art of the characters, which is neat. (A-)
November 28, 2019
Well, apparently "Confessions" wasn't lightning in a bottle and Busiek managed to do another great epic in the pages of Astro City. This time giving his try at doing the "Trinity" in the best Astro City fashion, while giving a better look to the only member of said trinity who we barely knew stuff about.
This TPB also includes a side story about a woman doing tourism which leads into a Visitor's Guide for the city and all it's places of interest, plus some pin-ups from all the famous heroes of this book by a few guest artists.
P.S.: Astro City's Trinity > DC's Trinity
This TPB also includes a side story about a woman doing tourism which leads into a Visitor's Guide for the city and all it's places of interest, plus some pin-ups from all the famous heroes of this book by a few guest artists.
P.S.: Astro City's Trinity > DC's Trinity
March 7, 2016
Astro City is Kurt Busiek's love letter to comics from the Golden and Silver Ages, and this one features the Wonder Woman of this universe, Winged Victory. The supporting cast is the Superman simulacrum, Samaritan, and the Batman body-double, The Confessor. Neither Samaritan nor Confessor map exactly on to their iconic inspirations, but Winged Victory is very close to Wonder Woman.
What we have here, though, is Busiek using WV to tell a story about female empowerment, while undercutting the radical notion summed up by the phrase, "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." The extremist man-hating side of feminism has always been troubling to me, because it's hard to be a feminist and an ally when you are demonized as the personification of everything that's wrong with the world.
In this tale WV is being set up by persons unknown to undercut her image and erode her support. In the fictional universe of Astro City, Winged Victory's power is derived from the belief women have in her as their champion. Staged fights and a whisper campaign damage public opinion of her, thus decreasing her power.
For me, this is how these iconic superheroes work best: as metaphor.
Samaritan and Confessor try to help, but that merely erodes her support further because some perceive this as her needing to "turn to a man." So they step back and let her handle it, assisting from the shadows. (In the Confessor's case, literally. Like I said, metaphor.)
Meanwhile, there's a teenage boy in need of treatment for injuries he's sustained at the hands of bullies, and he turns up at Winged Victory's compound begging for sanctuary. The women there grudgingly aid him only because WV specifically ordered it. No spoilers, but the kid is the key to their realization that their position has been too extreme.
This is a message everyone needs to hear, I think, and to the credit of Busiek et al it isn't a cudgel they bludgeon you with. The issue is stated and you're left to connect the dots yourself.
The second part of this collection is the Astro City Visitor's Guide.
I don't really like playing PnP RPGs, but I thoroughly enjoy reading through the guides that give the world's backstories. Mutants & Masterminds, Savage Worlds, Shadowrun, I dig that stuff. I'm also a big fan of the Marvel Universe collections, so this guide with character bios, map, neighborhood guide, etc., is right up my alley. I actually wish it were more comprehensive.
What we have here, though, is Busiek using WV to tell a story about female empowerment, while undercutting the radical notion summed up by the phrase, "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." The extremist man-hating side of feminism has always been troubling to me, because it's hard to be a feminist and an ally when you are demonized as the personification of everything that's wrong with the world.
In this tale WV is being set up by persons unknown to undercut her image and erode her support. In the fictional universe of Astro City, Winged Victory's power is derived from the belief women have in her as their champion. Staged fights and a whisper campaign damage public opinion of her, thus decreasing her power.
For me, this is how these iconic superheroes work best: as metaphor.
Samaritan and Confessor try to help, but that merely erodes her support further because some perceive this as her needing to "turn to a man." So they step back and let her handle it, assisting from the shadows. (In the Confessor's case, literally. Like I said, metaphor.)
Meanwhile, there's a teenage boy in need of treatment for injuries he's sustained at the hands of bullies, and he turns up at Winged Victory's compound begging for sanctuary. The women there grudgingly aid him only because WV specifically ordered it. No spoilers, but the kid is the key to their realization that their position has been too extreme.
This is a message everyone needs to hear, I think, and to the credit of Busiek et al it isn't a cudgel they bludgeon you with. The issue is stated and you're left to connect the dots yourself.
The second part of this collection is the Astro City Visitor's Guide.
I don't really like playing PnP RPGs, but I thoroughly enjoy reading through the guides that give the world's backstories. Mutants & Masterminds, Savage Worlds, Shadowrun, I dig that stuff. I'm also a big fan of the Marvel Universe collections, so this guide with character bios, map, neighborhood guide, etc., is right up my alley. I actually wish it were more comprehensive.
December 17, 2020
A reread.
The first time I read this, this really resonated with me. This time it resonated for a completely different reason.
Winged Victory runs facilities which assist women in bad situations, teach them self-defense and help them get on their feet. A teenage boy comes for help. They help with his physical injuries, but they don't intend to let him stay.
I was a male-presenting child who identified more with girls, but I didn't know how to express that. My female friends made it clear that they'd only let me in so far into their social circles, but I never completely belonged. So the first time I read this, this boy wanting to be a part of a strong female group made me feel seen.
In the story, a group is out to discredit Winged Victory and her support centers. They spread rumors and create news events claiming that she has been training supervillains and staging her fights. Samaritan and The Confessor try to help expose the conspiracy, but to Winged Victory, getting assistance from men is almost as bad as if the rumors were true.
When this came out, I don't think I bought into quite how controversial Winged Victory's support centers were. But politics in between then and now has made me more aware of the fact that there would indeed be a concerted effort to undermine facilities based on female empowerment. So this time around I found this almost as depressing as Winged Victory did in the story.
This is the first Astro City collection which is only four issues. So, to pad it out, they finally collected the Astro City Visitors' Guide. I don't normally like long text pieces in my comics, but I'll make an exception for Astro City.
The first time I read this, this really resonated with me. This time it resonated for a completely different reason.
Winged Victory runs facilities which assist women in bad situations, teach them self-defense and help them get on their feet. A teenage boy comes for help. They help with his physical injuries, but they don't intend to let him stay.
I was a male-presenting child who identified more with girls, but I didn't know how to express that. My female friends made it clear that they'd only let me in so far into their social circles, but I never completely belonged. So the first time I read this, this boy wanting to be a part of a strong female group made me feel seen.
In the story, a group is out to discredit Winged Victory and her support centers. They spread rumors and create news events claiming that she has been training supervillains and staging her fights. Samaritan and The Confessor try to help expose the conspiracy, but to Winged Victory, getting assistance from men is almost as bad as if the rumors were true.
When this came out, I don't think I bought into quite how controversial Winged Victory's support centers were. But politics in between then and now has made me more aware of the fact that there would indeed be a concerted effort to undermine facilities based on female empowerment. So this time around I found this almost as depressing as Winged Victory did in the story.
This is the first Astro City collection which is only four issues. So, to pad it out, they finally collected the Astro City Visitors' Guide. I don't normally like long text pieces in my comics, but I'll make an exception for Astro City.
December 17, 2020
Continuing the re-read of Astro City. This is a longer story on Winged Victory with a shorter backstory of an Intro to Astro City. Winged Victory is basically a Wonder Woman knock-off. But as always in Astro City it's not really a knock-off. This story basically is the story of fake news and a frame up. And had yells of "Lock her up". Some of it felt scarily current. 4.5 of 5. I've been a little harsher on this re-read. Mostly because it's hard for Astro City to feel like something I've never read before on a re-read. It was really nice to have Confessor back in the mix - and yes that makes this a Superman, Batman, Wonder-Woman teamup.
A shorter volume, but still very good. This one tell us the story around Winged Victory with a couple of other heroes and villains thrown in for good measure. And it rings true like it could be happening in the real world. And then there is an Intro to Astro City done as a travel magazine which isn't bad. The writing and story-telling on Astro City is consistently fantastic, it makes everything else kind of look bad.
A shorter volume, but still very good. This one tell us the story around Winged Victory with a couple of other heroes and villains thrown in for good measure. And it rings true like it could be happening in the real world. And then there is an Intro to Astro City done as a travel magazine which isn't bad. The writing and story-telling on Astro City is consistently fantastic, it makes everything else kind of look bad.
December 6, 2016
Busiek's Astro City is one of the few capes-and-spandex comics that I read. The mainstream DC/Marvel offerings generally don't interest me, at least in comic book form, but Busiek addresses real issues in Astro City. In Victory, he takes on a smear campaign against the lead female character in Astro City, Winged Victory.
It's hard to separate this from the time that I read it--just after the 2016 presidential election--even though it was written several years earlier. Having been unable to defeat her in battle, the villain looks to defeat her in the court of public opinion with a smear campaign. It resonates strongly with what has just happened in the election, with fake news and innuendo being used to smear Hillary Clinton. Even the final theme, that we are stronger together, echoes the election. A solid, worthwhile read and a great addition to the Astro City storyline.
It's hard to separate this from the time that I read it--just after the 2016 presidential election--even though it was written several years earlier. Having been unable to defeat her in battle, the villain looks to defeat her in the court of public opinion with a smear campaign. It resonates strongly with what has just happened in the election, with fake news and innuendo being used to smear Hillary Clinton. Even the final theme, that we are stronger together, echoes the election. A solid, worthwhile read and a great addition to the Astro City storyline.
February 1, 2016
Ever since I stopped regularly buying comics, the one I've missed most is Kurt Busiek's Astro City. It's so consistently great, and Busiek is masterful at working in archetypes. The heroes he's created for Astro City are organically interesting and have a history to themselves that's rich and vibrant. This trade paperback collects issues 7-10 of the latest series and serves as Busiek's look at this world's version of the DC Trinity in Samaritan, Confessor, and Winged Victory, with a focus on a conspiracy against the latter. The conspiracy and plot of it is secondary to Winged Victory's reaction to it and how she has to come to terms with her own methods in trying bring about a world of equality for women.
Here's the deal: read Astro City because it is good.
Here's the deal: read Astro City because it is good.
May 26, 2026
I was never a big fan of Winged Victory, but after reading this book, I have a newfound appreciation for her. She’s incredibly inspiring. The four-issue story here is a familiar one: Winged Victory is framed by an arch nemesis, corrupting everything she’s worked for. It’s how she handles the situation - with composure and grace - that makes the story special. I was especially taken by the ending.
This book also collects the Astro City Visitor’s Guide. It’s a neat memo, but doesn’t present much new information if you’ve read the series up to this point. And why deny yourself that experience?
2020 reread: I just finished Alan Moore’s Promethea and was reminded of this story. I teared up reading it a second time.
This book also collects the Astro City Visitor’s Guide. It’s a neat memo, but doesn’t present much new information if you’ve read the series up to this point. And why deny yourself that experience?
2020 reread: I just finished Alan Moore’s Promethea and was reminded of this story. I teared up reading it a second time.
March 21, 2015
Busiek's superhero focused arcs don't always have the depth of his other stories, and that's certainly the case here. This is a pretty simple story of Winged Victory facing false accusations and eventually overcoming the foes that's assaulting here.
It's nice for its focus on Winged Victory and her origin. It's also great to see the Confessor again, after all these years. Overall, an enjoyable story, just not a great one.
It's nice for its focus on Winged Victory and her origin. It's also great to see the Confessor again, after all these years. Overall, an enjoyable story, just not a great one.
January 9, 2019
Story, dilemma, resolution-- all were satisfyingly good. Given that I'm female and this story is all about girl power, I feel a little bad that my favorite parts are the ones with the Confessor instead of Winged Victory...but he's just so darn cool!
February 16, 2019
Sometimes, timing is everything.
Last week, I just finished Wonder Woman: Forgotten Legends which contained the limited series The Legend of Wonder Woman, a tribute to the Golden Age Wonder Woman stories in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths published while the Wonder Woman book had been cancelled and was planning to be restarted with George Perez, much like John Byrne had done with Superman. That series was written by a then new-to-the-industry writer named Kurt Busiek and drawn by underground feminist comics legend Trina Robbins. I surmised that as Busiek was new to the scene, he probably deferred to Robbins quite a bit when they were working on the series.
I have just finished Astro City: Victory which serves as a sort of philosophical successor to The Legend of Wonder Woman. This time around, Busiek is old hat in the comics industry. Astro City is Busiek's labor of love--a way of looking at superheroes and new and interesting ways, mostly at ground level by those who are affected by the heroes who reside in Astro City. The "Victory" story arc is rare in that it actually focuses on three characters who make up a sort of supreme troika of Astro City heroes with obvious analogs: Winged Victory (Wonder Woman), The Samaritan (Superman) and the Confessor (Batman). The main focus in "Victory" is Winged Victory. When it comes to this character, Busiek has dealt with her more realistically than in the naive way that the DC Universe deals with Wonder Woman--they both have missions to empower women in a male dominated society, but whereas Wonder Woman's mission is accepted without much commentary, Winged Victory is constantly under attack for both her message and her methods. Busiek (who I suspect has a more liberal bent to his politics) realizes that the patriarchy would feel threatened by someone like Winged Victory (and by extension, Wonder Woman.) As we learned with the Kavanaugh hearings, when privileged white males are challenged--especially by women--those men will lash out.
Essentially this is the central premise of "Victory"--Winged Victory is framed in much the way that the conservative playbook says you should do such things--accuse Dr. Blasy Ford of being a plant for liberal causes...insist that she is making it up because she wants the attention...anything but acknowledging that any of it is real, because that would undermine conservative assertions that women aren't treated as second class citizens, even though they are. Interestingly enough, Busiek looks at the other side of this as well. We learn where Winged Victory's powers come from, and those who grant her that power feel she is a failure because she has not been able to prevent what is happening here. In effect Winged Victory becomes a victim twice over--first by her enemies an secondly by her allies.
The problem with being a figurehead is that it makes you a target and it is how you deal with someone taking aim that matters. In Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Jose Antonio Vargas writes about this--he is attacked for being "undocumented" but also by the "undocumented" for either seeking too much attention or not doing enough. No matter what Vargas does, it is never good enough. As "Victory" spools out through this volume, we see Winged Victory dealing with a similar conundrum. And as Vargas often gets by with the support of those friends and family that have supported him during the majority of his life in America, Winged Victory also comes to rely on her friends to solve her problems. When she is challenged by those who gave her her powers however...well you'll need to read it to find that out.
In addition to "Victory" this volume also contains "Astro City: A Visitor's Guide." The guide predates the "Victory" arc by about fifteen years, and might be better served as being part of an earlier volume, but for whatever reason, it appears here (probably to fill out what is essentially a four issue trade paperback.) It's interesting, but if you've read the previous nine volumes (I have) there's not much new here for you.
With Astro City: Victory Busiek has come full circle from his days working with Trina Robbins on The Legend of Wonder Woman. I'd like to think Robbins was an inspiration for this volume and for Busiek's characterization of Winged Victory overall.
Last week, I just finished Wonder Woman: Forgotten Legends which contained the limited series The Legend of Wonder Woman, a tribute to the Golden Age Wonder Woman stories in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths published while the Wonder Woman book had been cancelled and was planning to be restarted with George Perez, much like John Byrne had done with Superman. That series was written by a then new-to-the-industry writer named Kurt Busiek and drawn by underground feminist comics legend Trina Robbins. I surmised that as Busiek was new to the scene, he probably deferred to Robbins quite a bit when they were working on the series.
I have just finished Astro City: Victory which serves as a sort of philosophical successor to The Legend of Wonder Woman. This time around, Busiek is old hat in the comics industry. Astro City is Busiek's labor of love--a way of looking at superheroes and new and interesting ways, mostly at ground level by those who are affected by the heroes who reside in Astro City. The "Victory" story arc is rare in that it actually focuses on three characters who make up a sort of supreme troika of Astro City heroes with obvious analogs: Winged Victory (Wonder Woman), The Samaritan (Superman) and the Confessor (Batman). The main focus in "Victory" is Winged Victory. When it comes to this character, Busiek has dealt with her more realistically than in the naive way that the DC Universe deals with Wonder Woman--they both have missions to empower women in a male dominated society, but whereas Wonder Woman's mission is accepted without much commentary, Winged Victory is constantly under attack for both her message and her methods. Busiek (who I suspect has a more liberal bent to his politics) realizes that the patriarchy would feel threatened by someone like Winged Victory (and by extension, Wonder Woman.) As we learned with the Kavanaugh hearings, when privileged white males are challenged--especially by women--those men will lash out.
Essentially this is the central premise of "Victory"--Winged Victory is framed in much the way that the conservative playbook says you should do such things--accuse Dr. Blasy Ford of being a plant for liberal causes...insist that she is making it up because she wants the attention...anything but acknowledging that any of it is real, because that would undermine conservative assertions that women aren't treated as second class citizens, even though they are. Interestingly enough, Busiek looks at the other side of this as well. We learn where Winged Victory's powers come from, and those who grant her that power feel she is a failure because she has not been able to prevent what is happening here. In effect Winged Victory becomes a victim twice over--first by her enemies an secondly by her allies.
The problem with being a figurehead is that it makes you a target and it is how you deal with someone taking aim that matters. In Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Jose Antonio Vargas writes about this--he is attacked for being "undocumented" but also by the "undocumented" for either seeking too much attention or not doing enough. No matter what Vargas does, it is never good enough. As "Victory" spools out through this volume, we see Winged Victory dealing with a similar conundrum. And as Vargas often gets by with the support of those friends and family that have supported him during the majority of his life in America, Winged Victory also comes to rely on her friends to solve her problems. When she is challenged by those who gave her her powers however...well you'll need to read it to find that out.
In addition to "Victory" this volume also contains "Astro City: A Visitor's Guide." The guide predates the "Victory" arc by about fifteen years, and might be better served as being part of an earlier volume, but for whatever reason, it appears here (probably to fill out what is essentially a four issue trade paperback.) It's interesting, but if you've read the previous nine volumes (I have) there's not much new here for you.
With Astro City: Victory Busiek has come full circle from his days working with Trina Robbins on The Legend of Wonder Woman. I'd like to think Robbins was an inspiration for this volume and for Busiek's characterization of Winged Victory overall.
June 21, 2017
While at the comic-book store for Free RPG day in order to grab Vaginas Are Magic!, I picked up the next—for me—Astro City collection as well. Purely coincidentally, that happened to be Victory, also a gender-issue book.
One of the greatest strengths of Astro City, that it replicates the feeling of the seventies and eighties comic book style, is its greatest weakness when the book contains little more than message.
It is, on the one hand, to be expected that Astro City will treat feminism with the hamhandedness and superficiality of the seventies and eighties, but on the other hand it makes the book uninteresting in a way that the series’ other forms of nostalgia doesn’t.
The one big idea, of both masculine and feminine frustration at different means of confronting problems, is handled so superficially that it doesn’t mean anything; but there is no story beneath it to support and deepen the superficiality of the message, such that there is. There is a great story to be had there: consider, for example, the great “it’s not about the nail” video that so deftly shows the frustration that many women have with men’s inability to look beyond their problems, and men’s frustration at being faced with an “obvious” problem that seems to cry out for solving.
That video was made in May 2013, a year before the issues in this collection were published (Astro City issue 7 came out in February 2014, and issue 10 in May 2014).
There’s also a lesser story that is handled even more superficially but is a very important one: the sort of mission creep that sets in when superheroes and supervillains confront one another. They start out with things they want to do but end forgetting about those things and replacing those real things with just antagonizing each other. While there’s obviously a potential gender-wars issue that could be made out of this, it also applies to just about every superhero with their own comic in the seventies and eighties. The villains start out wanting to rob banks or take over the world; they end just wanting to destroy their heroic nemesis. While their heroic nemesis, who started wanting to change the world, ends up in a constant rivalry with their rogues’ gallery, and every setback involves searching through the rogues’ gallery to decide who must have dunnit.
This is important because it isn’t just an issue among professional superheroes in comic books. It’s a real issue among professional heroes in the real world, too. So many charitable organizations and programs turn into bureaucracies whose sole mission is maintaining their bureaucracy against other bureaucracies.
That could have been a real story, and there’s precedence for depth in stories like this in the seventies and eighties. Steve Gerber, for example, in his Sons of the Serpent storyline, handled it to great effect. That’s the kind of story that a nostalgic message comic might consider emulating.
The Winged Victory storyline collects only four issues; the rest of this collection is filled out with an Astro City Visitors Guide as if done by the Astro City local government. It starts out with a great little vignette about a tourist getting caught up in a supervillain battle that she can’t remember, and then does a bunch of advert-articles just as you would find in a Guide like this for various restaurants such as Leo Looney’s; it ends with a summary of the main superheroes currently operating in Astro City and the most famous historical superheroes. It’s a very nice and very fun extra for any Astro City fan.
One of the greatest strengths of Astro City, that it replicates the feeling of the seventies and eighties comic book style, is its greatest weakness when the book contains little more than message.
It is, on the one hand, to be expected that Astro City will treat feminism with the hamhandedness and superficiality of the seventies and eighties, but on the other hand it makes the book uninteresting in a way that the series’ other forms of nostalgia doesn’t.
The one big idea, of both masculine and feminine frustration at different means of confronting problems, is handled so superficially that it doesn’t mean anything; but there is no story beneath it to support and deepen the superficiality of the message, such that there is. There is a great story to be had there: consider, for example, the great “it’s not about the nail” video that so deftly shows the frustration that many women have with men’s inability to look beyond their problems, and men’s frustration at being faced with an “obvious” problem that seems to cry out for solving.
That video was made in May 2013, a year before the issues in this collection were published (Astro City issue 7 came out in February 2014, and issue 10 in May 2014).
There’s also a lesser story that is handled even more superficially but is a very important one: the sort of mission creep that sets in when superheroes and supervillains confront one another. They start out with things they want to do but end forgetting about those things and replacing those real things with just antagonizing each other. While there’s obviously a potential gender-wars issue that could be made out of this, it also applies to just about every superhero with their own comic in the seventies and eighties. The villains start out wanting to rob banks or take over the world; they end just wanting to destroy their heroic nemesis. While their heroic nemesis, who started wanting to change the world, ends up in a constant rivalry with their rogues’ gallery, and every setback involves searching through the rogues’ gallery to decide who must have dunnit.
This is important because it isn’t just an issue among professional superheroes in comic books. It’s a real issue among professional heroes in the real world, too. So many charitable organizations and programs turn into bureaucracies whose sole mission is maintaining their bureaucracy against other bureaucracies.
That could have been a real story, and there’s precedence for depth in stories like this in the seventies and eighties. Steve Gerber, for example, in his Sons of the Serpent storyline, handled it to great effect. That’s the kind of story that a nostalgic message comic might consider emulating.
The Winged Victory storyline collects only four issues; the rest of this collection is filled out with an Astro City Visitors Guide as if done by the Astro City local government. It starts out with a great little vignette about a tourist getting caught up in a supervillain battle that she can’t remember, and then does a bunch of advert-articles just as you would find in a Guide like this for various restaurants such as Leo Looney’s; it ends with a summary of the main superheroes currently operating in Astro City and the most famous historical superheroes. It’s a very nice and very fun extra for any Astro City fan.
August 14, 2020
One of the reasons critical darling comic series Astro City had such an intermittent publishing life was that creator/author Kurt Busiek spent large chunks of the 1990s dealing with health issues eventually discovered to be the result of mercury poisoning. The interlocking narratives and richly-built world of Astro City, he said, demanded a level of concentration and effort that the sickness had made impossible.
Before his illness, Busiek completed Confessions, held by a number of Astro City fans as one of the top story arcs in the series. It focused on one of the city's nighttime vigilantes, the Confessor, and unspooled his secrets as public opinion soured on super-heroes amid several crises and a secretly mounting alien invasion. The conflicted central character, the widely-ranged slices of life in Astro City and the realistic way that ordinary folks tried to grapple with a world of heroes and villains with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men (and women) carried all of the strengths of Busiek, cover artist Alex Ross and series artist Brent Anderson, and very few of their weaknesses.
Long illness-related delays and a rotating series of publishers made subsequent story arcs shine less brightly, or at least quite a bit more unfocused and harder to follow. When Busiek at full strength reignited the series at DC's Vertigo imprint, he once again started showing why even a mediocre Astro City stood significantly taller than some other creator's best efforts. And while the tail end of the Vertigo period had some serious clunkers, its 2014 Victory arc, focusing on the the Greco-influenced Wonder Woman analog Winged Victory and a threat to both her work and her hero status, challenges the earlier Confessions for the title of Astro City's best overall arc.
Winged Victory's foes are going on low-level crime sprees, getting caught and hinting that they actually work for the hero herself. Former residents of her shelters, run as both recovery and education schools for women and girls victimized by abuse and other crimes, are claiming that she is a fraud. Astro City's Superman-analog, Samaritan, is also Winged Victory's lover and offers to help her as she needs. She declines -- partly because she believes she teaches the women who look to her by her example and she needs to continue to demonstrate her independence, and partly because she has no idea how the attack is being mounted or who's behind it. The Confessor, Astro City's version of Batman, appears on the scene with evidence of an electronic trail that may hold the answers. But even if he tracks the culprit down, will the damage to Winged Victory's reputation and work be too great to repair? And will her willingness to let men help her fight the threat cut her off from the source of her power?
Busiek doesn't let the limitations of dialogue and exposition forced on the comic format by the need for artwork keep him from writing characters and a story that goes deeply into their motivations and thoughts. Victory's previously unknown origin sheds a lot of light on the foundation for her non-heroic work and Busiek shows how her concern for its continuation keeps her from falling back on the old super-hero standby tactic "Just Start Punching." He establishes a great relationship between the three leads and spends time making sure some potentially cardboard characters do more than just show up. By the end of the story, all of our three main characters have grown in different ways as they've seen how choices they have made in their lives until now might actually have offered their opponents avenues of attack.
Anderson is as reliable as ever in conveying emotion as well as action and feeding the comic junkie's need for cool art. Ross's covers are, as almost always, superb and are subtle twists on iconic scenes between the three mainstream comic heroes on which Samaritan, Winged Victory and the Confessor are modeled.
One appealing part of the Astro City project was how it was not only told great super-hero stories with great characters but how it also commented on the comic medium and its history. If Busiek ever manages to do that as well as he did in the Victory arc alongside Anderson, Ross and colorist Alex Sinclair, he'll have another fine feather in his cap.
Also available here.
Before his illness, Busiek completed Confessions, held by a number of Astro City fans as one of the top story arcs in the series. It focused on one of the city's nighttime vigilantes, the Confessor, and unspooled his secrets as public opinion soured on super-heroes amid several crises and a secretly mounting alien invasion. The conflicted central character, the widely-ranged slices of life in Astro City and the realistic way that ordinary folks tried to grapple with a world of heroes and villains with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men (and women) carried all of the strengths of Busiek, cover artist Alex Ross and series artist Brent Anderson, and very few of their weaknesses.
Long illness-related delays and a rotating series of publishers made subsequent story arcs shine less brightly, or at least quite a bit more unfocused and harder to follow. When Busiek at full strength reignited the series at DC's Vertigo imprint, he once again started showing why even a mediocre Astro City stood significantly taller than some other creator's best efforts. And while the tail end of the Vertigo period had some serious clunkers, its 2014 Victory arc, focusing on the the Greco-influenced Wonder Woman analog Winged Victory and a threat to both her work and her hero status, challenges the earlier Confessions for the title of Astro City's best overall arc.
Winged Victory's foes are going on low-level crime sprees, getting caught and hinting that they actually work for the hero herself. Former residents of her shelters, run as both recovery and education schools for women and girls victimized by abuse and other crimes, are claiming that she is a fraud. Astro City's Superman-analog, Samaritan, is also Winged Victory's lover and offers to help her as she needs. She declines -- partly because she believes she teaches the women who look to her by her example and she needs to continue to demonstrate her independence, and partly because she has no idea how the attack is being mounted or who's behind it. The Confessor, Astro City's version of Batman, appears on the scene with evidence of an electronic trail that may hold the answers. But even if he tracks the culprit down, will the damage to Winged Victory's reputation and work be too great to repair? And will her willingness to let men help her fight the threat cut her off from the source of her power?
Busiek doesn't let the limitations of dialogue and exposition forced on the comic format by the need for artwork keep him from writing characters and a story that goes deeply into their motivations and thoughts. Victory's previously unknown origin sheds a lot of light on the foundation for her non-heroic work and Busiek shows how her concern for its continuation keeps her from falling back on the old super-hero standby tactic "Just Start Punching." He establishes a great relationship between the three leads and spends time making sure some potentially cardboard characters do more than just show up. By the end of the story, all of our three main characters have grown in different ways as they've seen how choices they have made in their lives until now might actually have offered their opponents avenues of attack.
Anderson is as reliable as ever in conveying emotion as well as action and feeding the comic junkie's need for cool art. Ross's covers are, as almost always, superb and are subtle twists on iconic scenes between the three mainstream comic heroes on which Samaritan, Winged Victory and the Confessor are modeled.
One appealing part of the Astro City project was how it was not only told great super-hero stories with great characters but how it also commented on the comic medium and its history. If Busiek ever manages to do that as well as he did in the Victory arc alongside Anderson, Ross and colorist Alex Sinclair, he'll have another fine feather in his cap.
Also available here.
October 24, 2019
A good volume focusing on Winged Victory. One thing that bothers me about Astro City is how easily they seem to turn on their heroes. Anytime there's a frame up it seems to work. That aside, it is a very well done storyline.
The Astro City travel guide is nice as well. It's sort of like a Marvel Handbook or a DC Who's Who, but while those books bore me to tears this was more interesting, not nearly as dry or wordy.
The art in Astro City is always consistently good, so if you like it once you should like it everytime.
Great series, I'll be starting the next volume soon.
The Astro City travel guide is nice as well. It's sort of like a Marvel Handbook or a DC Who's Who, but while those books bore me to tears this was more interesting, not nearly as dry or wordy.
The art in Astro City is always consistently good, so if you like it once you should like it everytime.
Great series, I'll be starting the next volume soon.
Read
February 23, 2020This has several different parts. The longest is a four part story arc surrounding Winged Victory. We learn of her origins and her struggles with the "women are powerful" message. She is nearly depowered by the council who gave her her abilities and has to convince them to allow her to remain. Another is a very short piece about a bored tourist who accidently becomes possessed by a villain. The last is a brochure for the city and gives some backstory to the various heroes who have appeared in the comic. Excellent as usual.
December 21, 2018
One of the blurbs on the back talks about how this is a typical or exemplary Astro City story. What's weird is that it's kind of not. It's much more of a traditional superhero story except with almost no focus on the villain at all.
But most Astro City stories do the Marvels / Kingdom Come thing where they examine the crazy event through the eyes of a normal person. Here the viewer's perspective is settled with the Wonder Woman / Hawkgirl character.
But most Astro City stories do the Marvels / Kingdom Come thing where they examine the crazy event through the eyes of a normal person. Here the viewer's perspective is settled with the Wonder Woman / Hawkgirl character.
August 8, 2019
Not as familiar with the Astro City universe (is it Astroverse?) as I'd like, but this is a nice touch.
Winked Victory, the Wonder Woman analogue, stands as a pillar in Astro City. But when she is framed and accused of criminal activity, it takes all her will and courage, as well as a bit of help from friends, to clear her name and take down the true culprit.
Very nice art, story, and characters.
Winked Victory, the Wonder Woman analogue, stands as a pillar in Astro City. But when she is framed and accused of criminal activity, it takes all her will and courage, as well as a bit of help from friends, to clear her name and take down the true culprit.
Very nice art, story, and characters.
June 7, 2020
Probably a lower 4/high 3. It was a good story but some of the pieces could've been more tightly related and connected to the main plot. I really like the background we got of Winged Victory and especially that we saw how the new Confessor has turned out. I love that he has a little team of sidekicks he's training too. I appreciated the Visitors Guide issue but couldn't help but feel like it was out of place here, it would've fit perfectly at the end of the Shining Stars volume.
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