Saturday 25 October 2003

Pic of the day: "Per aspera ad Astra", as the old Romans used to say. Through hope to the stars. Except Astra is here the name of the star.

Astra and Flashfire

Before the weekend I bought my second Astro City trade paperback. I am not sure in what sequence these were actually published, but the first I bought was life in the big city and this one is family album. This is the first time I meet Astra, and I really like her. She is smart, curious, and beautiful. She can transform into a golden glowing energy form. And she plays a mean hopscotch. In short, she is the ideal 10 year old girl.

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for super-children. I guess I identified with them, since I also grew up different from most other children. Of course, in my case it was not a matter of superiority but simply of difference: I was more intelligent than most other children, but less physically strong. I came to realize later that many of us feel different; we just feel different in different ways. In light of this I am kinda surprised that there are not more comics about super children. Even Superboy and Supergirl were teenagers rather than children.

Astra is definitely a child, even though her energy form looks slightly more mature than her physical body. There is no mistaking her for a teenager, yet. Being potentially the most powerful of the First Family, she will sometimes accompany the adults on their adventures and lend a hand. But as soon as she is out of sight, they worry about her at least as much as ordinary parents worry about their ordinary children. I will not give away the whole plot, which takes up much of the book. But I really enjoyed it, and the art too. Highly recommended.

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Since I assume only "super friends" have read this far, I will move on to the upcoming massive multiplayer superhero game City of Heroes. It has certainly taken its time, and there is still no hint of a beta. But in the latest news there is now a walk-through for creating a mutant with fire-based powers. This may seem kinda pointless when the game is not available and won't be for a while. But the idea is of course to show off their wonderful character creation system. And I think it works. It beats DAoC, in my humble opinion, and even Rubies of Eventide. True, Rubies in particular has a lot more classes, and City of Heroes doesn't really have races (like elf, dwarf and so on) - there are only three body types, one for females and two for males. But you can change the body with sliders, and the uniform options are out of this world. You can only choose from a limited number of powers, but the choice is important. You should have a good idea about what kind of hero you are making, because the first powers will remain the most important throughout your character's life.

Anyway, if you are interested in either superheroes or massive online gaming, this seems like a good time to visit City of Heroes.