Confessor (Brian Kinney)

*-- it was like a **dream.** I was there. I was really **there.** Seeing the buildings rising up around me, higher and higher...*
--****Confessor (Brian Kinney)****[src]

Coming to Astro City as a young man, *Brian Kinney* came to start a new life in the big, heroic city. Early in his time there he was spotted by the Confessor (Jeremiah Parrish) and asked to become his apprentice. Taking up the mantle of *Altar Boy*, he learned about the city from the inside out. Discovering Confessor's secret, Altar Boy was with Confessor when he revealed that aliens were trying take over the world. In the ensuing battle Confessor was killed and Altar Boy decided to take up his mantle and continue his crusade for justice.

## History

Brian Kinney came to Astro City from a small town, the son of a local doctor who had died penniless after his altruism was largely taken advantage of & even mocked by the people he helped. Seeking to make a name for himself among the super-heroes of Astro City, Brian devoted himself to martial arts training & secured a job as a busboy at a local heroes-exclusive club. As fate would have it, the supervillain known as Glue Gun infiltrated the club & took Brian hostage, only to be quickly dispatched by Brian's martial arts knowledge, much to the delight of the heroes in the crowd. Still on a high from his triumph, Brain was about to be accosted by the other wait staff of the club who felt cheated out of their moment, when he was saved due to the intervention of mysterious vigilante The Confessor.

Brought to his lair within the walls of the Grandenetti Cathedral in Shadow Hill, Brian became The Confessor’s protégé & sidekick, Altar Boy. The two spent most of their early days either training or fighting local criminals. Though the pair made an effective team, Altar Boy had misgivings about his mentor’s secrecy & his apparent superhuman abilities about which he would not speak.

Ultimately Brian’s concerns would take a back seat to a number of incidents, including an unsolved murder, that began to erode the Astro City citizens’ trust in superheroes, a situation only exacerbated by the Mayor’s constant public declarations decrying the masked adventurer community. Remembering the way his father was treated by his patients who took advantage of his kindness & refused to help him even as he died, Altar Boy began to resent the citizens of Astro City whose trust could be so easily undermined. Eventually Brian realized the truth about his mentor: The Confessor was Jeremiah Parrish, a vampire who had lived under the city for hundreds of years. Brian was still struggling with this knowledge when The Confessor, having realized that the mayor was actively & intentionally turning Astro City against its heroes, confronted him on live television. The Confessor was struck through the heart by a large gun launching wooden stakes, but his last action was to grab the gun & turn it on the mayor, pinning him to a wall & revealing him to be an agent of an alien invasion.

Altar Boy, having witnessed The Confessor’s death, was saved from the Mayor’s goons (really alien troops) by the Christian superhero team known as the Crossbreed, who took him back to their HQ to recover. Brian was struck by the Crossbreed’s determination to help the people of the city, despite the current anti-hero climate and their general perception as a joke. Remembering his father’s determination to help his patients even when they couldn’t pay for his services, Brian determined to honor him & The Confessor going forward.

Brian then spent four years studying & furthering his training, helped by the resources left to him by Jeremiah Parrish before donning the mantle in earnest & returning to the streets of Astro City as the new Confessor.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Martial Arts**: Brian studied martial arts from a young age back in his home town. He used these skills before he was Altar Boy to defend himself from bullies. His skills are what got him noticed by the *Confessor* and his skills are what he trained after Confessor was gone.
* **Investigation**: Brian has always had an analytic mind and he used this to find out Confessor's secret and to solve crimes even before Confessor's death.

## Appearances

* *Astro City* (Volume 2) #4
* *Astro City* (Volume 2) #5
* *Astro City* (Volume 2) #6
* *Astro City* (Volume 2) #7
* *Astro City* (Volume 2) #8
* *Astro City* (Volume 2) #9
* *Astro City* A Visitors Guide #1
* *Astro City* (Volume 3) #1
* *Astro City* (Volume 3) #7
* *Astro City* (Volume 3) #8
* *Astro City* (Volume 3) #9
* *Astro City* (Volume 3) #10
* *Astro City* (Volume 3) #12

## External links

* Altar Boy at Comic Book Database
* Confessor (Brian Kinney) at Comic Book Database