Ali’s theme this week has to do with challenging stereotypes. In examining a given book, the questions involved are: (1) Are the nonwhite characters too good to be true? (2) How and why does the author define race? (3) Is the cover art true to the story? (4) Who solves the problems in the story? (5) How is beauty defined?

This was a tough one. I originally thought about using a much older book – one from the 70s or 80s, when white superhero comics writers were just beginning to address race and other social issues – but I couldn’t decide on one. I decided to go with something more recent.

The two-part Jack-in-the-Box story from Astro City V2 #11-12 can be found in the Astro City trade paperback Family Album. Astro City, by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson & Alex Ross, is about a city of superheroes and other fantastic characters, told from multiple perspectives. Stories have focused around heroes, sidekicks, villains, and civilians, among others, and range from done-in-one tales to multiple-issue arcs. Though the book is a superhero comic, with all the common surface qualities of your average Marvel or DC title, the emphasis is always on the subjective thoughts, emotions and experiences of the central characters, in a much more immersive manner than in a typical superhero comic.

Jack-in-the-Box is a “street level” hero in the tradition of Spider-Man, Daredevil or Batman, and fights crime with a variety of gadgets befitting his children’s toy motif (his outfit resembles a circus clown in a Harlequin bodysuit). Underneath the mask, he’s the president of a toy manufacturer, and his wife Tamra is a local news anchor. Jack inherited the superhero mantle from his late father.

In part one, “Serpent’s Teeth,” Jack is attacked by twisted versions of himself from the future who claim to be his sons, bitter and resentful of him for not being tough enough in fighting criminals, and ultimately, for not being part of their lives. The situation is exacerbated when Jack learns his wife is pregnant. In part two, “Father’s Day,” an encounter with a troubled street teen who idolizes Jack leads to an unlikely solution.

I wouldn’t say the black characters here are too good to be true. Tamra, Jack-in-the-Box’s wife, puts up with a lot being the spouse of a superhero, and she recognizes the stress it can and has put on their marriage. They argue about it at one point, in fact. She’s clearly written as someone with her own needs and desires that sometimes conflict with her husband’s. As for Jack, he’s unequivocally the Good Guy, and one never really doubts that he’ll find a solution to this problem, but he still comes across as relatable and sympathetic. As for Roscoe and his gang, they’re more analogous to the Baker Street Irregulars of the Sherlock Holmes books than to any gang you’re likely to see in real life, so they’re not as dangerous as we’re led to believe they are. Still, they do have their share of problems, as evidenced in part two.

For the most part, race isn’t directly key to this story, but it does infect the characters’ worldview to a certain degree. In the most overt example, Jack, in talking about his father, mentions how unusual a black toy designer was back in his day, and that he was paid less than less talented white toy designers. On a subtextual level, however, the whole theme of fathers and sons has great resonance for black readers, since so many young black men grow up these days without a father figure. Jack’s future sons did not have him or his guidance in their lives, and as a result they became horrific mockeries of Jack, taking his legacy as Jack-in-the-Box and turning it into something awful. Thus it becomes vitally important to Jack that he be there for his unborn child. Some black kids without fathers are fortunate in that they turn out okay. (A few even become president.) Many more, however, do not. So while Busiek doesn’t specifically address this issue from a racial standpoint, one cannot help but read it into a story like this. And in the end, it is Jack, the central character, who comes up with a solution.

Beauty isn’t much of an issue in this story. Jack and Tamra are depicted as still being heavily attracted to each other after however many years of marriage; the fire in their romance has not gone out. Tamra has a very stylish Afrocentric hairdo, with short braids coming halfway down her head to the base of her neck. Being a television personality, it’s only natural that she has a certain glamor to her looks. As for the covers, as you can see, they’re pretty direct; the second one having a much more subdued and poignant tone. Even though Tamra is not as far along as she’s depicted here, it’s necessary to show her like that in order to convey without any doubt that she is pregnant.

Astro City is a wonderful series that comes highly recommended. The first issue of the newest series, Astro City: The Dark Age, comes out this week at comics shops everywhere.