Astro City: Confession, by Kurt Busiek

 Astro City: Confession, by Kurt Busiek, 298 pages

Astro City is sometimes seen as the thinking man’s superhero comics.  Busiek’s Astro City is full of caped and costumed crusaders, but there’s usually more to it than that.  This particular volume, like most of his others, approaches such ideas as duality of man and hero, the reasons why heroes persist when the public is so ungrateful, and outright morality.  Brian comes to Astro City after his father, a doctor, dies bankrupt and unappreciated by the town that he helped.  He becomes Altar Boy, sidekick to The Confessor, who hides a big secret.  Altar Boy comes to realize that like his father, The Confessor defends the public even when they treat him like an outcast- what he can’t understand is, why? What makes it worth it? This is a good series, without a lot of prior superhero knowledge required.