Top Ten, Book 1 [Paperback]

 

Top Ten, Book 1 [Paperback]

 

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: America's Best Comics (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563896680
• ISBN-13: 978-1563896682
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.4 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  

Customer Reviews

This is what would happen if everyone had a power. This is the sort of "Law and Order" or "NYPD Blue" you'd get. Only funnier. It reminds me of the new online game "City of Heroes" in a way, except I doubt the game has anything as useless as swelling up like a balloon as a power, or producing lots of sand all over the place.
Ok, so it's not gonna win any "Most Dramatic New Comic of the Year" awards. It's not grim, depressing, real, or awe-inspiring. It's fun and funny and tough and cool, and I loved it. It's well written, and well drawn, and a little bit raunchy (there are lots of hookers so it kind of has to be).
It's also totally accessable to almost everyone, which some of Moore's other work isn't. It uses the sort of TV style we're all familiar with to make it seem closer to us. I like it a lot. So it won't stay with me and haunt me like some of Moore's other stuff... but not everything has to haunt you to be good.

I was a little skeptical about this book when I first picked it up. Alan Moore is someone who is easily judged by his own standard, and with the absolute classics he's put out before (Watchmen, Swamp Thing, Batman Killing Joke, From Hell, etc.), I was afraid Top 10 would pale by comparison. Plus, Alan Moore was writing about 4 other comics at roughly the same time as he was doing Top 10, so he was probably getting a little burned out. Right?
Wrong. The only reason this book doesn't get 5 stars from me is that it doesn't quite measure up to the Alan Moore classics listed above. But Top 10 is not far behind. In the hands of virtually any other writer, this concept would have fallen flat on its face: the premise of having a whole city full of super heroes is easy to mishandle. But Moore treats everything so realistically, that you just can't help but find these stories believable. And the stories are filled not only with plot development, character development, and believable dialogue, but with humor as well. There are subtle parodies of Marvel and DC comics throughout, as well as some outright funny scenes that stand alone. After reading Top 10, I could understand why it won the Eisner award for Best New Series -- I can't wait for Top 10, Book 2 to come out!