Kurt Busiek's Astro City

In the mid-1990s, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson launched Astro City at Image Comics, a six-issue series that redefined the superhero genre by focusing on the human lives behind the masks. Rather than a conventional origin story, it introduced a world where icons like the Superman-analogue Samaritan and the Amazonian Winged Victory grapple with private doubts and everyday struggles alongside costumed heroes like Quarrel and the young Asa Martin. This intimate, character-driven approach—pioneered by Busiek's nuanced writing and Anderson's grounded art—established Astro City as a landmark in superhero storytelling, proving that the genre's emotional core matters as much as its spectacle.