Kurt Busiek's Astro City: The Annotations

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               KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY VOL. 1, #6
                         Dinner At Eight
  collected as part of the LIFE IN THE BIG CITY trade paperback
                       Narrator: Samaritan
                    Date: Early January, 1996
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Cover:    Samaritan, left; Winged Victory, right.

4/2:      "Estrada Pavilion": a reference to Hot Wheels and DC
          artist Ric Estrada (hence the "Exotic Auto Show").

5/1:      First mention of the Iron Horde.

7/2:      "Judge Marston" refers to William Moulton Marston (1893-
          1947), a psychologist who created DC's Wonder Woman, with
          whom Winged Victory bears some similarities (such as the
          W-motif of her outfit). "Senator Haney" refers to DC
          artist Bob Haney, who created the Teen Titans and
          contributed stories for Batman, Metamorpho, and the Sea
          Devils amongst others.

 /4:      "Goscinny's Fine Dining": Ren‚ Goscinny (?-1977) co-
          created the French comic book hero Ast‚rix.

8/2:      "Stallman Street": an homage to Raven artist Manny
          Stallman. This is the first appearance of Beefy Bob's, a
          fast food diner which has previously appeared in issues
          of VAMPIRELLA, SILVER STAR and SHADOWHAWK. Its mascot is
          Melvin the Interrupting Cow, who has also been seen in
          other comics, specifically the MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL.

9/2-12/5: Samaritan's origin bears some resemblances to Superman's
          -- like the Man of Steel, Samaritan was sent from his
          home as a way of "preserving" his dying race, became a
          visible hero after saving a spacecraft, obtained his
          heroic identity in an ad hoc manner, and is now the sole
          survivor of his birthplace.

10/5:     These events did actually happen, of course, with the
          obvious exception of Samaritan's appearance.

12/4:     First mention of Eterneon.

  /5:     "Arriola's": refers to Gordo creator Gus Arriola (1917-).

13/3:     First appearance of Goldenboy.

14/3:     First mention of Fever

17/2:     Winged Victory's schools are similar to the Amazon school
          on Paradise Island, birthplace of Wonder Woman.

18/6:     The "Mr. Swordo" to whom Julius refers is actually the
          Black Rapier.

21/5:     Note the "Happy New Year" sign atop the building on the
          lower right; this indicates the story is probably set in
          early January, 1996.

24/2:     "Sekowsky Street": refers to Mike Sekowsky, artist on
          DC's Justice League of America and the Metal Men.



Release History:
Version 1.1 released 11th May 1998
Version 1.0 released 25th April 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)

"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