Kurt Busiek's Astro City: The Annotations

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               KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY VOL. 1, #5
                         Reconnaissance
  collected as part of the LIFE IN THE BIG CITY trade paperback
                    Narrator: "Mr. Bridwell"
                   Date: Dec. 12th-13th, 1995
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Cover:    Crackerjack saving "Mr. Bridwell" from the apartment
          building fire.

1/1:      This is "Mr. Bridwell", named after E. (Edward) Nelson
          Bridwell (?-1987), a writer for Mad and DC Comics, where
          he created the Secret Six and penned tales of the
          Superman characters, the Inferior Five and Captain Marvel
          amongst others. Bridwell was also one of DC's top
          continuity experts prior to his death.

2-3/1:    The heroes are the Astro City Irregulars, previously
          mentioned in Vol.1 #1, 9/1. They are (clockwise from
          upper left) Ruby, Juice, El Robo, Palmetto, Jailbait and
          Stray. "Irregular" is military jargon for a person not
          belonging to the regularly established army. The
          Irregulars' name is probably also a reference to the
          Baker Street Irregulars, street youths who aided Sherlock
          Holmes in the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. First
          reference to the Scavenger Peoples (this may or may not
          be a proper name).

4/1:      First appearance of Crackerjack.

5/1:      The headline reads "Cleopatra vs Gnomicron"; this is the
          first mention of Gnomicron. The paper also dates the
          story to Dec. 12th, 1995. Note that Starwoman is on the
          cover of "Current", which is the magazine Samaritan works
          for.

6-7/4:    Note that Gnomicron is associated with the Gnomes of
          Glittertinden, first mention in Vol.1 #1, 10/1.

   /5:    First mention of Street Angel.

   /6:    Like Grandenetti Ave. (see Vol.1 #4, 2/1), "Grandenetti
          Cathedral" is a reference to artist Jerry Grandenetti.
          The reason why no photos of the Confessor are available
          is revealed in Vol.2 #6.

8/5:      Note the "UAC" logo on Eugene's jacket; this presumably
          stands for University of Astro City. "Inherit the Wind"
          (1960) starred Spencer Tracy and Gene Kelly, and was
          based on the 1927 Scopes monkey trial, concerning the
          teaching of evolution in public schools.

9/6:      "Mr Bridwell" is actually an alien Enelsian.

10/2:     Amongst the headlines on the wall: "Hero Honored";
          "Flamethrower Captured" (presumably after his escape
          after the battle between the First Family and the Unholy
          Alliance, as mentioned on Vol.1 #4, 21/1); "Special First
          Family Album Issue"; "Stolen Art Recovered By Quarrel";
          "N-Forcer Saves Senate"; "Thousands Saved From 'H[ ]'";
          "Tidal Waves Quashed By Samaritan" (probably a reference
          to Vol.1 #1, 6/4); "Guilty!"; "Monsters!; Airborne Virus
          Turns Humans Into Rampaging [ ]" (dated 1995). And on the
          floor can be seen "Irregulars Wanted For Questioning";
          "Destructoid Rampage" (first reference to Destructoid);
          "Hero Quiz"; "Crackerjack Interviewed"; "Street Angel
          Presumed Dead"; "Quarrel Defeats [Water?] Creatures";
          "Binderbeck Repairs Commence Today" (presumably after the
          attack by the Unholy Alliance in Vol.1 #4).

11/3:     The visible headlines on the wall are "First Family
          Leaves City" (which recalls a similar headline in Vol.1
          #2, 2/1), "Cleopatra To Give Talk" and "Experimentals
          Save [ ]".

16/2:     First appearance of Steel Devil.

18/1:     Crackerjack, then, debuted in 1991.

  /2:     The full version of the joke Crackerjack is telling goes
          something like the following: A woman walks into a bar
          with a duck under her arm. The bartender asks, "Hey,
          where did you get the pig?" Crackerjack tells the rest.
          Busiek has also used this joke in UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-
          MAN #12.

  /4:     "Klein Ave." refers to DC inker George Klein.

19/3:     First appearance of Nightingale and Sunbird, who may be
          an homage to Nightwing and Flamebird (who patrolled the
          bottled city of Kandor in pre-Crisis DC continuity).

20/3:     First appearance of the Techsperts.



Release History:
Version 1.2 released 11th July 1998
Version 1.1 released 26th April 1998
Version 1.0 released 29th March 1998

Notes:
Citation format is page/panel. For instance, 18/1 refers to page
18, panel 1. Two-page spreads are treated as a single "page" for
the purpose of panel enumeration; for example, 6-7/3 refers to the
third panel on a spread covering pages 6 and 7. Issue number is
included if different from the issue being annotated, with issues
from Volume 1 specified as such.

KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY, its prominent characters and their
likenesses are trademarks of Juke Box Productions. All quoted text
is copyright Juke Box Productions.

Additions, corrections and comments should be sent to the editor.
Reproduction of these annotations, in whole or in part, without the
permission of the editor is forbidden.

Sources:
"Comic Art & Graffix Gallery Virtual Museum & Encyclopedia"
(http://www.comic-art.com/enter.htm)

"Who's Who In Astro City" (http://www.bonner.rice.edu/morrow/kbac/
kbacww.html)

Contributors:
Shannon Patrick Sullivan, shannon@morgan.ucs.mun.ca (editor)
Robert Carnegie, robertc@redjac.demon.co.uk
David Hawkins, dhawk@best.com
Tom Kenning, tjkenning@juno.com
Dylan Northrup, northrup@nwe.ufl.edu
David Serchay, a013213t@bc.seflin.org
Stirge, stirge@netzone.com