On the surface, Busiek offers up a story about aging, glory days and the fact that one can never relive those treasured days of youth again. There's a level on which we can all relate to this tale; one needn't be an old codger to connect with the super-hero senior citizen at the center of the action. But what this seems to be about really is the difference between super-hero comics of today and those from the Silver Age. Astro City stories have always boasted strong characterization, and this one is no exception. But I think the property may be most unique when Busiek uses it to comment on the craft and history of super-hero comics.
Dale Enright is a widower who lives alone and passes the time tending to his begonias. His career as an engineer is behind him, and he's enjoying his retirement. He retired from another business a long time ago as well, but a face from his past returns, calling for him to spring into action once again as the inventive, high-flying hero known as Supersonic. There are no other heroes to answer the call, so he reluctantly suits up for the first time in years. Years ago, a giant robot would have posed no problem, but today, it's a far greater challenge.
Brent Anderson's art captures the color and goofiness of super-hero stories of yesteryear quite well. The Supersonic prismatic duplicates are particularly fun. The scenes of the young Supersonic delighting in his flights over American landscapes remind of Gil Kane's take on the Silver Age Green Lantern. The Alex Ross character design is sharp, and the brutal action scenes Anderson brings to life demonstrate a strong Neal Adams influence in his work. My only real qualm with the art is that we don't get a clear sense of the rampaging robot's design.
The descriptions of the convoluted and playful plans the hero would come up with in his heyday to defeat the villains clearly pays tribute to the simpler plotting of the Silver Age of comics. Busiek comes the grittier, more mature and more brutal super-hero violence of today with the goofier counterpart of days gone by. The ultimate message of this story is that it's nice to look back at those old stories, but there's no point in trying to replicate them today. The industry is a different entity, and the audience is different as well. Still, I think the thrashing the hero takes as a result of the more brutal approach to crimefighting here suggests Busiek is saying something needs to be done to find a balance between the fun of super-heroes and the nastiness in which the characters find themselves today.
One of the more interesting aspects of this story is that it's not Supersonic's story at all, but that of an old cop who's been forced to retire. He wasn't ready to accept that there's life beyond work, even when that work is as important as what the cop and Supersonic did for years.
