Top Ten Book 1 Book

While Kurt Busiek leads the reconstruction of the superhero myth with the brilliant Astro City, Alan Moore continues to be the master of reinvention, now demonstrated with prolific regularity with his America's Best Comics imprint. Following Tom Strong and Promethea, Top Ten proves to be a third home run in a row for the Watchmen maestro. However, it's clear that Moore is now in the mood for having fun with superheroes, rather than grimly deconstructing them. Armed with a fantastic premise--the work of a police precinct in a city populated exclusively by "science-heroes"--Top Ten is vintage Moore: captivating, slyly witty and immaculately structured. More than that, it's a damn good read. Cunningly non-epic, Moore draws us into the daily lives of the put-upon powered cops as they deal with a city where the criminal element could well be from a broken dimension rather than a broken home. Top Ten's cops are a wonderfully eclectic bunch: Sergeant Kemlo Caesar (an intelligent rottweiller in a humanoid exoskeleton), Jeff Smax, a blue-skinned giant; Irma Geddon, a walking weapon; Girl One, naked except for ever-shifting body paint; and Dust Devil, an urban cowboy. From such richly developed characters, Top Ten is infused with sparkling interplay and a strong sense of a tight community. True as it is, it would be insufficient to label this "a super-NYPD Blue", when it is yet another terrific example of Moore's uncanny ability to make myths so effortlessly malleable, moulding fresh perspectives that are respectful to and lined with the treasures of a rich past. --Danny GraydonRead More