Astro City #11 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Alex Sinclair & Wendy Broome (colors)

The Story: Unfortunately, there’s no spell for good organization.

The Review: There’s a kind of segregation that happens in the superhero world, namely between the heroes and the civilians. In one sphere, the heroes fling punches and energy blasts, crashing off and through buildings, flying overhead and grappling with their foes. In another sphere, the civilians dutifully run about, panicking or trying to stave the damage, according to their natures. The two groups interact infrequently and usually in the most cursory manner.

Astro City isn’t so different in this regard, but it does the rare exceptions. Raitha McCann, personal assistant to the Silver Adept, functions much like a Pepper Potts or Alfred Pennyworth, and if she existed in any other comic book universe, we’d most likely only see her a couple times an issue max, delivering exposition, wit, or emotional support as needed. But since this is Astro City, it’s Raitha who takes central focus. We’re only invested in Adept’s life insofar as it impacts Raitha’s.

Still, it’s the relentless fantasy of Adept’s life that makes Raitha’s work so interesting. Scheduling takes on much greater drama and import when a single oversight of timing can unleash chaos across the world. Raitha realizes Adept can’t reinforce world-protecting wards because she’s “got the Himalayan Convocation in an hour!”

“No, that’s not ’til tonight,” Adept corrects her. “It needs starlight to—”

“It’s in the Himalayas—it’s already tonight there!”

What makes Raitha so good at her job is not only a highly organized mind, but one that’s equally at home with practical logistics and the supernatural. Unable to rearrange the time necessary to make the ritual work, Raitha takes advantage of a colleague’s distress to literally make more time for her boss: “[Lord Colquhoun’s] got a null dimension. Time moves at a crawl in the orb.”

“Brilliant. You’re brilliant,” Adept marvels. “I beat back whatever eldritch horror he was trying to chat up, pop into the orb, spend all the time I need, and I’m back in a matter of hours.”

As with any good assistant, there are some fires which Raitha has no choice but to put out herself. At one point, three representatives of a mystic realm show up unexpectedly (and in the middle of the kitchen, too), demanding Adept’s promised help and threatening civil war and unending retribution if unprovided. Raitha proves that in such a case, logic, organization, and quick thinking are the equal of magical miracles. “Wonder! Prize beyond wonder!” cries the creatures in joy.
“Tell us name! We sing it in praises! Shower line with blessings!”

So you see, without Raina, Earth and other worlds would already be experiencing several disasters in just one day. Knowing that must be part of what makes the job worth it, despite the hectic pace and additional stresses of working out of Astro City instead of Vancouver. It also helps that Raitha works for a pretty good boss. Forgetful Adept may be, but she’s also unselfish, always fighting the good fight, and staying positive, even when she has to fast for three days to create world-protecting wards at the last minute. But perhaps the most important motivating factor for Raitha is she still has a life of her own, separate from Adept’s, that can be appreciated and admired, and is perhaps a little beyond even the Adept’s magical reach.

Anderson has a naturally good-humored style that fits very comfortably within Raitha and Adept’s grounded approach to their incredible world. You wouldn’t necessarily think of him as a comedic artist, but sometimes, when you don’t expect it, his humor pops up like water from a rock. The moment when a green blob monster changes his tune from enraged to open-mouthed happiness, clutching onto Raitha’s shoulders with gratitude and relief, is one of those charming moments that good superhero comics are made for.

Conclusion: Silly but entertaining, and as always, a wonderful tribute to the extraordinariness of ordinary people.

Grade: A-

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – I love how Mr. Malefic’s threats decline from grandiose (“Curse you and all you know, from this generation down to the…”) to petty (“And may your feet be covered in blisters, and your toenails cut too short, and your lips be eternally chapped…”).