Kurt Busiek's Astro City: The Annotations

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              KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY VOL. 2, #11
                         Serpent's Teeth
      collected as part of the FAMILY ALBUM trade paperback
                  Narrator: Jack-In-The-Box II
                        Date: Fall 1997?
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Date:     There is little to date this issue, apart from the fact
          that it is likely set after #10 (Kurt Busiek has
          confirmed that this issue takes place after #9, and #10's
          Jack-In-The-Box refers specifically to the events of #8).
          The weather and clothing suggest an autumn setting.

Cover:    Clockwise from left are the Jackson, Jerome Johnson, the
          Box and Jack-In-The-Box II.

2/2:      Note that diamond pattern in the background of the
          caption boxes, similar to the same design on Jack-In-The-
          Box's costume.

 /4:      Amongst the toys itemized on Zachary's file cabinet are
          RoboDogs, Bouncaline, Tech Attack, Wiggle Wand,
          Splitoids, and Oswaldo.

4/1:      First appearance of the Trouble Boys.

 /4:      Note that one of the Trouble Boys has nearly fallen from
          the rooftop.

5/1:      Like the Gaines River (see Vol.1 #3, 6-7/1), Gainesville
          is named after Max Gaines (?-1947) and Bill Gaines (1922-
          1992), two of comics' preeminent publishers.

7/3:      First appearance of the Box.

11/1:     First appearance of the Jackson. David Lynch is an
          American movie and television producer/director known for
          his complex and surreal productions, such as "Twin Peaks"
          and "Eraserhead".

12/5:     First mention of the Wasting. The "Brothers of Trouble"
          are, of course, adult versions of the Trouble Boys.

  /6:     The newspaper headline reads "'Bizarre Clown' Saves
          Hostages", while the one underneath reads "Jack's Back;
          MIA Hero Returns [ ] Veidt St. Shootout". These are the
          same papers as were seen in Vol.1 #3, 6-7/1.

13/3:     First references to Smoke & Mirrors and Prospero. The
          wizard Prospero is the main character in the
          Shakespearean play "The Tempest" (1610/11).

14/5:     Bugs Bunny is the foremost of Warner Bros.' "Looney
          Tunes" stable of cartoon characters, having debuted in
          1940's "A Wild Hare".

18/3:     Roth-Toth Automotive and Salvage Company refers to
          automotive cartoonist "Big Daddy" Roth and (like Toth's
          Fineries in Vol.1 #2, 3/1) artist Alex Toth (1928- ), who
          amongst many other projects was the illustrator for HOT
          WHEELS.

23/1:     First appearance of the Special Incarceration Squad.




Release History:
Version 1.1 released 22nd June 1998
Version 1.0 released 14th June 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.

Annotations for other issues of KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY may be
found at http://strindberg.ling.uu.se/~anders/KBAC/main.html
(HTMLized versions) and http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/kbac/ (text
versions).

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