Carlotta Valdez

A relative newcomer to the rich tapestry of Kurt Busiek and Brent E. Anderson's beloved Astro City, Carlotta Valdez made her debut in 2017 — deep in the Modern Age of a series long celebrated for its humanizing, literary take on superhero mythology. With only a handful of catalog appearances so far, she's a figure of intrigue rather than ubiquity, the kind of character Astro City does so well: someone who feels like they've always belonged in that world. She keeps genuinely colorful company — Hummingbird, Jack-in-the-Box, the wonderfully named Bouncing Beatnik and Mister Cakewalk among them — which tells you something about the vibrant, layered corner of Astro City she inhabits. For collectors who love discovering a character early in their story, Carlotta Valdez is exactly the kind of find worth marking in your longbox.