Thursday, September 24, 2015

Astro City #27

   I'm a big fan of Kurt Busiek's Astro City, as it explores the mythology of super-heroes - but I have to admit, it occasionally hits on an area I'm not familiar with.

   This issue is a perfect example, as it centers around the character known as American Chibi (she's a childlike, Anime-style girl with great power) and a series of mysterious and destructive attacks by strange creatures.

   Even as the story explained the origin of that character, I thought to myself, "What the heck is a chibi?" 

   So I looked it up. 

   It turns out that I've seen them before, I just didn't know the term.

   Apparently "chibi" is a Japanese slang word meaning "short person" or "small child." In anime and manga fandom the term chibi refers to the "super deformed" style of drawing characters with oversized heads - or it can be used to describe child versions of characters. 

   That's the cover all over, as provided by the talented Alex Ross. 

   The interior art is by Joe Infurnari, filling in for Brent Anderson. The story and the art are just serviceable this time around - not bad, but not quite up to the usual standards - but as I've said before, an "average" Astro City story is better than some of the best you'll find in any other title.

Grade: B+

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2 comments:

Kevin Findley said...

Older siblings also use it with younger ones.

Chuck said...

Really? See, I'm learning more all the time! (I'm so out of the loop!)