The Tarnished Angel (Story)
For the collected edition of the Steeljack storyline see The Tarnished Angel (Collected Edition).
"The Tarnished Angel" was originally published in Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol.2 No.16.
Synopsis[edit]
Carl is completely lost and drinking whilst bemoaning to Ferguson about how terrible his life is going: His parole offier is threatening to toss him back in the slammer for "Associating with known felons" which is pretty much everyone he knows and in a major fit of depression asks Don one question, why even bother to do this? Ferguson decides to take Carl on a drive to a friend of his.
The two of them arrive at a mansion and Ferguson convinces the owner, Esteban Rodrigo Suarez Hildago to tell Carl his story. Hildago explain his family's monetary history and how his father pushed him more into intellectual pursuits whilst he was more interested by his uncle, a circus performer. After both his parents and his uncle's death in a plane crash, Hildago returned to Los Angeles to discover the problems taht were there. To start with Hildago opened foundations, started charities and tried to himself an example, but he never gained the respect for more than just his money. It was the words of a female acquaintance, Maria Alvarado that inspired him to become something greater, to become a role model and thus, El Hombre was born.
He admits that he became El Hombre to gain Maria's repsect and love more than anything else but still he did a very good job as a hero, he even ended up joining Honor Guard, but then Ramon Vega appeared, who fought more for social justice rather than legal justice, and El Hombre took up more time away from his personal life. He still persevered and gained a sidekick Bravo and for a time, things were good. Then Maria and Ramon married, which drove Hildago ovr the edge, not helped that it turned out he was the least popular member of Honor Guard and he didn't know what angered him more, the fact that he was the least popular, or the fact that the toys sales being so bad mattered to him.
Carl urges him onward, internally noting that the two of them were similar in that they both had drive and the fact that they both stalled out, and so Hildago continues to reveal his greatest shame: how he got into contact with The Assemblyman to create a threat that El Hombre could defeat, how The Assemblyman betrayed him and spilled the beans when he was caught. Thanks to El Hombre's secret identity not being known, he could easily retire, whilst Bravo, disgusted by him, left, continued on the fight, founded the Irregulars and became a police officer. Hildago moved to Astro City to watch him with pride.
Carl asks him why he doesn't pick up a new identity and he states that his spirit is completely gone at this point, but what he admits the most is that his scheme "Could have worked. That if I suceeded, that would be all that mattered, to myself and the world."
Carl and Ferguson leave and Carl asks him how he knows Hildago and he gives a little speech and ends the speech which ends with "It's not shame that makes a man a failure, Carl, it's giving in to it."
