The thing that's always been problematic for me with Astro City is the vastly divergent styles and tones between Alex Ross' generally vibrant hyperreality cover paintings and Brent Anderson's dark and scratchy interiors. I like Anderson's work enough and l think he's a capable storyteller but I find the sleek promise of four-color adventure, excitement and intrigue that the cover implies to always be a let down once inside. Anderson's never been great at conveying superheroes in a golden light like Ross excels at, they always look dingy and haggard... but when the books mainly focus on the world around the super-people, that is where Anderson brings it. The solution (for me, anyway) isn't to replace Anderson, but rather Ross, as Anderson is the presenter of the story so the cover should follow his lead, not the other way around. But the cover is what we see first and sets expectations for what's to come and it's rarely what it promises. If l were to suggest a replacement... Jae Lee maybe or Francesco Francavilla (when he's not doing every Marvel cover ever... oh I'm sure he could squeeze another one in).
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