Kurt Busiek's Astro City is a comic book series centered around a fictional American city of that name. Written by Kurt Busiek, the series is co-created and illustrated by Brent Anderson with character designs and painted covers by Alex Ross. The first series debuted in August 1995, published by Image Comics, and since then has been published by Homage Comics (now part of Wildstorm Signature Series).
The current saga in the ongoing series, The Dark Age, is a sixteen-issue story arc set in the 1970s and 1980s, a period when the citizens of Astro City are pondering the functions and motivations of super-powered individuals, and their overall positions within the community at large. The ongoing series will continue at issue 23 after the The Dark Age saga is over. The metro area of Astro City is a mecca for super-powered beings, largely because Air Ace, the first public super-hero and a decorated veteran, established residency there shortly after World War I.
The series has established a large cast of characters, from small cameo roles of a few panels to full center stage attention spanning several issues. The series is an anthology that focuses on different characters living within Astro City, using a wide range of viewpoints. Some issues are told from the viewpoint of heroes, some from the more typical vantage point of average people, others from villains and shady criminals.
Stories also vary greatly in length, from one issue to sixteen in the case of the current story arc, Dark Age, whose main viewpoint remains that of Charles and Royal Williams, two brothers in their early adult years living in Astro City. As another interesting twist, this story is set in the 1970s, when some super-heroes were declining in popularity, due to general mistrust of authority figures, along with the more violent, gritty tactics that some super-heroes were practicing. Hence the notion of a "Dark Age."