Comics this week

Astro City #18- What do you do when you’re an aging superhero? Well in the world of Astro City, that’s a real problem as Black Rapier, Crackerjack and Quarrel are now faced with the problem of aging. There’s no forever youthful character in the world of Astro City and I love the way writer Kurt Busiek handled it. You have Black Rapier retiring (the issue starts at his retirement party no less), while Crackerjack and Quarrel deciding to truck on. Even then, Busiek shows that age affects everyone as both Crackerjack and Quarrel now require daily drugs to keep going. It’s not just the physical problems but the mental ones as well. Crackerjack now sound like a grumpy old man who refused to admit his age while Quarrel quietly wonder if it’s time to hang it up. Ageing is a problem most comics don’t even approach but this is Astro City and this is another great issue.

Amazing Spiderman #11- Part 3 of Spiderverse has the long awaited showdown between Peter Parker and Superior Spider-Man. Writer Dan Slott played the scene well with both characters finally coming to an understanding that they need each other to survive the threat of the Inheritors. This is especially true as Solus finally comes to the table. Karn and Morlun may have the lion share of the action thus far but Slott shows that there are more to the Inheritors than these 2 and they are not just about pure power. The problem for the issue comes when Slott had to move the action away to focus on setting up other books. There are just too many of them and that affect the flow of the issue. Outside that, the action, story and art of Spiderverse are still there. If they could move away from setting up the tie-ins and just focus on the main event, it would be great. As it is, Spiderverse is now just very good.