Kurt Busiek's Astro City: The Annotations

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               KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY VOL. 2, #1
                      Welcome To Astro City
      collected as part of the FAMILY ALBUM trade paperback
                      Narrator: Ben Pullam
                         Date: May? 1996
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Note:     Two versions of this issue exist: the original edition,
          and a 3-D edition (cover date December 1997). The story
          itself was unchanged.

Cover:    The heroes are (top) Winged Victory, (second row, left-
          to-right) N-Forcer, Cleopatra II, the Furst Family (Astra
          is slightly below the main group), Samaritan, (third row,
          left-to-right) Juice of the Astro City Irregulars, the
          Gentleman, Jack-In-The-Box II, Beautie.

2/4:      First appearance of the Iron Legion.

3/1:      First mention of the Silversmith and the Brahmin. The
          Silversmith derives his name from the fact that several
          American revolutionaries were silversmiths, particularly
          Paul Revere. A Brahmin is a member of the old New England
          families, the term being a humorous application of the
          name of the highest caste in Hindu society.

4/1:	  Jenny Sheldon is the daughter of Phil Sheldon, the main
	  character in Kurt Busiek's and Alex Ross' mini-series
	  MARVELS.

5/3:      First mention of Loony Leo; note that Ben actually refers
          to Leo as if he were alive.

6/1:      The Silver Agent's secret identity of Alan Craig is a
          tribute to Silver Age historian Craig Alan Shutt. The
          date of his death, 1973, coincides with the death of Gwen
          Stacy in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #122, which Kurt Busiek holds
          to mark the end of the Silver Age.

 /3:      Another indication of something terrible befalling the
          Silver Agent; compare with Vol.1 #2, 5/1.

8-9/1:    First appearance of Thunderhead, who appears to be a
          Zeus/Jupiter-type storm god.

10/3:     First appearance of the Gentleman. Note that he bears a
          stylistic resemblance to Fawcett/DC's Captain Marvel (and
          also seems to share Marvel's polite and respectful
          demeanor).

11/4:     Draketown is named for Doom Patrol writer Arnold Drake.

15/1:     First appearance of the Otter.

16/4:     Since school is in session, and judging from the full-
          bloom trees, the spring-like weather, and the fact that
          both long- and short-sleeved shirts are worn in roughly
          equal proportions, this story is likely set around May
          1996 (but could also be set in the autumn of that year).

20/3:     First appearance of Helia. Helia is probably meant to
          parallel the Greek god Hera; certainly, her manner toward
          Thunderhead parallels the traditional Zeus/Hera
          relationship.




Release History:
Version 1.1 released 11th July 1998
Version 1.0 released  5th May 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:
"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)
Jess Nevins, jjnevins@ix.netcom.com