Astro City #5

This fifth issue of the relaunched Astro City series brings a wonderfully pulpy energy to its cover, painted by Alex Ross, where a dapper, yellow-suited figure in a top hat dodges midair amid a sprawling tangle of brass pipes, gears, and steam-powered machinery — while a goggle-wearing operator peers out from within the mechanical contraption above a smoky industrial skyline. The contrast between the villain's almost theatrical elegance and the hulking, riveted machinery around him is exactly the kind of visual storytelling that makes Astro City so distinctive. Kurt Busiek, Brent Eric Anderson, and Alex Sinclair round out the creative team for "Thumbtacks & Yarn," promising another deeply human story set against the city's rich tapestry of heroes and rogues.