Kurt Busiek's Astro City: The Annotations

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               KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY VOL. 1, #4
                           Safeguards
  collected as part of the LIFE IN THE BIG CITY trade paperback
                         Narrator: Marta
                Date: Early-to-mid? November 1995
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Cover:    The woman in the bus is Marta; the flying woman is Winged
          Victory. The three crooks (also seen on 4/4 and 5/2) are
          drawn to look like Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex
          Ross.

1/1:      Shadow Hill was previously mentioned in Vol.1 #3, 6-7/1.
          Mount Kirby, of course, is named after Jack Kirby (1917-
          1994), probably the most important writer/artist of the
          Silver Age and one of the key figures in comics history.
          Kirby assisted in the creation of many of DC and Marvel's
          central characters, including Captain America, the Hulk,
          the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Silver Surfer, the New
          Gods, Kamandi, and many others. Having a mountain named
          after him is an obvious homage to Kirby's paramount
          position in the annals of comics creators.

 /2:      Wolfsbane is an herb renowned for warding off werewolves
          and other lycanthropes; putting it in the window catches
          assures lycanthropes won't enter the house through the
          windows.

 /3:      Vampires and other demonic creatures traditionally cannot
          stand the sight of a crucifix (ie the image of Jesus
          crucified upon a cross) and other religious symbols.

 /4:      The placement of arcane sigils and runes on doors and
          other portals is supposed to ensure that supernatural
          creatures cannot pass through that way.

2/1:      First appearance of the Hanged Man. "Grandenetti Ave."
          refers to Spirit artist Jerry Grandenetti, "Kiefer St."
          to Henry C Kiefer, artist on CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED and
          (more appropriately) CRIME MYSTERIES, CRIME SMASHERS and
          CRIME PATROL.

4/1:      "Fass Gardens" refers to artist Myron Fass, "Rensie
          Avenue" to a pseudonym of Spirit creator Will Eisner's
          (1917- ). Charlton Comics was located in Derby, CT; hence
          "Derbyfield" (see also "Derbyville" in Vol.1 #3, 6-7/1).

 /4:      First appearance of Winged Victory, previously referred
          to on Vol.1 #1, 13/4. Winged Victory is another name for
          the Greek goddess Nike.

5/4:      Binderbeck Plaza was previously mentioned in Vol.1 #1, 6-
          7/1.

6/1:      Paul Grant, Harris Miller, Mic McConnell and Bob
          Ingersoll are all lawyers and comics fans.

7/5:      The calendar on the wall dates this story to November
          1995.

8/6:      Garlic is commonly used to repel vampires, who can't
          abide its scent.

9/1:      The hero mentioned in the newscast is presumably the
          Astro-Naut, after whom it appears Astro City was named.

 /5:      Mistletoe was sacred to the Druids of Europe.

12/3:     The bus poster indicates that it's probably early-to-mid
          November, although it could just be in need of replacing.

  /5:     "... I owe, I owe, so off to work..." is a parody of the
          "Hi Ho" song from the Disney version of "Snow White and
          the Seven Dwarfs".

14/2:     First appearance of The Unholy Alliance: speaking is
          Demolitia, foremost is Glowworm, and in the center (left
          to right) are Flamethrower, Slamburger, and Spice.

16-17/1:  First mention of Sugar.

     /7:  First appearance of the First Family, originally referred
          to on Vol.1 #1, 8/1: in back are Rex and Astra, while in
          front (left to right) are Julius (balding), Natalie, Nick
          and Augustus. Note that Julius Furst is named for, and
          visually inspired by, Julius Schwrtz (1915- ), one of DC
          Comics' most celebrated editors.

23/3:     Note there are also runes outside Marta's window.



Release History:
Version 1.1 released 11th July 1998
Version 1.0 released 24th 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)

"The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told", Biographies: Creating
The Greatest by Mark Waid, DC Comics (1990)

"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)
Kurt Busiek, kurtbusiek@aol.com