Top 10

Alan Moore has always been one of my favorite authors, but I seem not to like some of his 1990's and on works. However,I am happy to report that top ten is a true classic, and arguably some of his best work. As the description says, top ten follows the lives of a squad of police officers in Neopolis, a city where basically everyone has superpowers. This leads to a lot of scaled up versions of normal problems, including traffic accidents with flying cars, super drugs, a serial killer, and a super-mice infestation. And while this plot is good, it is the characters and artwork that truly impress. Gene Ha's artwork is good in general, but the added bonus of this comic is a plethora of backround events and jokes, so that some pages you can stare at for ten minutes before you really take everything in. And it works. My main criticism of Moore for things like Promethea and LoEG is that he focuses too much on these goofs so that the actual plot and characters suffer, but that didn't happen here. Top Ten is an ensemble piece, with at least a dozen great characters all working together to solve the cases. Alan Moore does astoundlingly good work getting all of these people off the ground and into your hearts. And of course, his dialogue is as good as ever. Now, the ending is only about 85% as good as it could have been. All the plot is wrapped up effectively, as were most of the characters, but two in particular are set up for a new adventure not covered in this book. Hopefully when the sequel gets converted to an ebook. But this a minor issue. All in all, save Watchmen no other 12 issues of any comic can compete with this, and I recommend it to everyone.

One of Alan Moore's best works. It's a wacky read that never goes completely off the rails. For example, a dog in a metal suit could have just been a one-off gag, but Moore develops the character and his relationships (both professional and romantic) masterfully. While there is an overarching plot, Moore takes us on a number of detours that only add to the fun. The battle between the superpowered mice and cats and Ex-Verminator's consequent woes are probably my favorite scenes. I thought the story developed a little too slowly, but once we get out of the opening scenes, things start rolling along nicely. Gene Ha's artwork is incredibly detailed, and nearly every panel is filled with snarky details and references. His character drawings come across as a bit stiff, but it doesn't detract much from the visuals. All in all, this is a graphic you'll be rereading numerous times.

It's one part Law & Order and the other a nostalgia trip through comic book history. By the standard that Alan Moore is held to this is just above average. It's not great but it's better then what most writers can do. The ending is flat and you have to read the other related books to really get a better grasp on what he wanted to do. This is a fine intro into the universe of ABC (Americas Best Comics) but it wasn't the best thing that he created in this line.

Police procedural stories are a mainstay of media, but this collection is unique in that it successfully carries them out in a superhero setting. Gritty, grounded, emotional, but in a classic four color pulp sort of way.

Back when the old master was still sane, he wrote some really good stuff. At its core this book is a police procedural/drama set in a superhero-heavy setting. And we're talking real heavy. Pretty much everyone in Neopolis has some kind of superpower and they all usually use it to earn their living. Metahuman is the norm here. Out of the three "cops with supers" series I've read this one is the best. I still have a soft spot for Brubaker's Gotham Central just because of it's feeling of helplessness and Powers by Bendis is good, too, but Moore is just sublime. Not only the setting itself is original, each page is brimming with ideas and details, yet never managing to overwhelm. Threads of drama, tragedy and humor weave to produce the needed sense of mundaneness inherent to the genre. There is always a sense of heroes being ordinary humans in a large world. Each subplot features different officers from the same precinct and they all nicely blend into one another until the two final issues which resolve the two larger plots that started back in issue one. With a just a few strokes here and there Moore manages to finish almost everything he starts and neatly pack a lot of events happening in the background. Off the top of my head the only questions I have left are who are the Rumor and Ghostly Goose and what's in Smax's closet and looking at Wikipedia there are two miniseries that might answer these. It's a excellent book for any lover of both comic books and genre.

This was my first Alan Moore book as an experienced reader of the medium. I found this book to be quite enjoyable and was surprised at the amount of humor Alan Moore brought to the table. The universe was quite rich and diverse, highly detailed, and thoughtfully crafted. The main story arcs and the smaller 'side' arcs were all very interesting. The art was very well done and quite detailed; it really brought life to this unique world. Top 10 isn't seen as one of Moore's seminal works, but after reading I can see why he is considered an all time great. I have and will continue to purchase other Moore material off the strength of Top 10!!

There are only a few perfect pieces of entertainment out there: Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (the book), the DS9 episode "Far Beyond the Stars", Warren Ellis's Planetary, Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman, the Buffy episode "Hush" and Alan Moore's Top 10.

I really love Alan Moore's work, this one is a Festival of hard crime superheroes. Its the old Hill Street Blues meets the justice society with a touch of Buckaroo Bonzai added in for story. Its a great book!

If Watchmen is Alan Moore's dystopian view of a future troubled by super heroes, then Top 10 is the vision of the future where heroes are celebrated, even though they are just day to day folk living their lives. Top 10 is a cop drama where all the cops have super powers, all the villains have super powers, and all the citizens have super powers. And it's every bit as fun as that sounds. Skilfully written, beautifully illustrated, permeated with nods and cameos that salute geek culture, this is a joy to read and a thing of beauty. I found myself genuinely looking forward to picking this up to read a few more chapters, and I'm going to go back and read it again to see all the things I've missed. If you even remotely enjoy super hero stories you will thoroughly fall in love with this book.

Alan Moore, o Mestre dos Quadrinhos, e Gene Ha, tiveram uma ideia incrível e a executaram com perfeição. Parece que estou assistindo uma série de TV policial com personagens superpoderosos. É muito legal, muito divertido. Ah, vale lembrar que isto antecede, em muito, a série Powers do roteirista Brian Michael Bendis (este, sim, copiou de Alan Moore). Vale dizer que este quadrinho teve spin-offs, como SMAX (um dos personagens de Top Ten) e FORTY NINERS (um prequel que conta a história da fundação da Top Ten). Teve continuações também, mas já fora das mãos de Alan Moore. Editoras brasileiras, o que vocês estão esperando para relançar isto no Brasil e seus spin-offs???

Incredible story, though it's some 20 yr old comic, I felt be taken straight to a future sci-fi world's daily life, fascinating yet real.

In einer parallelen Welt hat der Zweite Weltkrieg allerlei zufällige und geplante Superkräfte hervorgebracht. Nachdem die Achsenmächte besiegt worden sind, hat sich die Superhelden-gemeinde als eine Gefahr für die „normalen“ Menschen herausgestellt, weswegen man auf die Idee gekommen ist, dies Personen mit besonderen Kräften – und später auch Roboter und Außerirdische – in einer von gefangenen genommenen Nazi-Stadtplanern entworfenen Stadt zu sammeln, die Neopolis heißt. Diese ist, weil Superhelden oft mit Parallelwelten zu tun ha-ben, interdimensional mit Parallelversionen ihrer selbst verbunden – und benötigt logischer-weise eine ganz eigene Art von Polizeikräften. Zu Beginn dieser Sammlung von zwölf Eisner-Award-prämierten Serie schrieben wir das Jahr 1999 und Robyn Slinger beginnt direkt nach der Polizeischule ihre Arbeit in Top Ten, wo sie allerlei überaus interessanten Kolleginnen und Kollegen begegnet, die nicht nur seltsame Kräfte haben, sondern auch Beziehungen, eine jeweils eigene persönliche Geschichte und auch unterschiedliche Ideen dazu, wie gute Polizeiarbeit aussehen sollte. Und dabei müssen sie sich mit sehr unterschiedlichen großen und kleinen Problemen herumschlagen. Eine sehr vielschichtige Geschichte – mit komplexen Charakteren und Handlungssträngen -, die durch eine Bildsprache illustriert wird, die man so aus Moore-Werken durchaus kennt und die neben dem vordergründig mit der Geschichte zu tun hat auch allerlei Anspielungen auf alle möglichen Superheldengeschichten (und auch anderes hat), die man sicherlich nicht alle bei der ersten Lektüre erfassen kann. Ein Glück also, dass diese Geschichten sich durchaus für eine zweite – oder zwanzigste – Lektüre eignen. In meinen Augen der beste Moore seit „Watchmen.“

As most in the production of Our Author this story, these stories actually, can be read on several different levels and meet every kind of reader; from hints to literature to the smallest detail, from deep humanity to the most acid humor, all easily set in a Silver Age Super Hero context in Hill Street Blues sauce - as it has been repeatedly addressed. Rereading them all together after years from the first time in ABC issues has not made them lose a gram of enjoyment, indeed. If you haven't read it, do yourself a present and grab it.