Astro City: The Dark Age: Book Three #4 (of 4)

You can count me as a huge fan of the Astro City series - I think they're some of the best comics of the last 20 years and I look forward to each issue.

Having said that, even the best creators can stumble, and it seems like each of the creators has stumbled on this latest series.

It carries the title The Dark Age: Book Three, and the storyline certainly matches the title. It follows two brothers - Charles and Royal Williams - who are trying to track down the man who murdered their parents. They were children when the murder happened, and their lives have taken different paths - but they're united in their thirst for revenge.

Their path has brought them into the middle of several different super-human conflicts, each one darker than the one before it. Unfortunately, each storyline has also become more convoluted and difficult to follow.

Even though Book Three has come out on a monthly basis (which is wonderful to see), it's set in the middle of a cosmic conflict between every team of heroes in Astro City and a Galactus-level opponent called The Incarnate.

The story jumps back and forth between the Williams brothers and the cosmic battle, leaving the reader somewhat shell-shocked.

Even the art by the always-outstanding Brent Anderson seems crunched in places, as he squeezes in armies of heroes and villains into chaotic battles.

And Alex Ross, whose covers are usually a great selling point, has devised an unusual design for this series that makes it almost impossible to tell what you're looking at. The title is completely obscured, and the figures all run together. I actually was a week late picking up the third issue because I looked right at it on the stands and didn't see it.

Now, having griped about this comic, let me say that Kurt Busiek's poor issues are better than most comics out there. The problem is, I'm so spoiled by the high levels of this series, that any issues that descend into the "normal" level get hammered for not being extraordinary.

All comics should have this problem.

Despite this issue's stumbles, I'm still a huge fan of this series and I anxiously await the next issue. I just hope I'll see it when it goes by.

Grade: B-