Spiders typically don't kill their victims. So most, if not all, of these people are still alive. Among them are a mother and son, who, only a few hours ago, were on their way home after the boy's day in school.
Hanging upside down, unable to do anything, the Mom has no worries for herself, all her concern is for her little boy whom she keeps reassuring even in such dire - nay - hopeless, circumstances.
Amd suddenly hope. Wolfrider is here.
And Wolfrider attacks the spider monster - Lord Arachnos.
Hope turns to assured victory as the Honor Guard burst into the scene.
Lord Arachnos unleashes a volley of energy attacks that pushes back the assault and most terribly of all, hits the prisoners. While they were webbed up the Mom had her child's hands in hers all the time. Now.
Heartbreaking. My God, how could this happen. Samaritan was there.
The Mom is a part of a group of victims of clashes involving superheroes. It reminds me of the old Marvel series Damage Control. But that series was about the financial cost of the fighting; this is about the even bigger human cost.
The next story is about this man.
He is a victim of the temporal battles that have taken place in the city
He had a wife - this girl here.
Because of the time-based battles his wife was erased from the timestream - erased from all existence.
The magnitude of the tragedy is such that in a rare turn of events it is the Hanged Man who explains it to him.
Imagine that, his wife, everything about her, everything about them, stopped existing. Imagine that kind of pain. By the way, he chose not to forget.
And that was another worthwhile look into Astro City.
