Not another Top 10 list!
by Mike M
So I have been doing this podcast thing with my friend Steve where we talk about what we read from our weekly pull list of comics. We call this “Weekly Pulls: Pick of the Week,” a feature of Page Chewing Comics and Manga podcast. We have a good thing going and I am finally getting into a rhythm, taking cues from Steve who is a cagey podcasting veteran. I learned about this blogging opportunity from the Page Chewing Forum, a place where I can let my comic and Sci-Fi & Fantasy freak flag fly. We are currently reading the comic titan Alan Moore’s run of DC’s Swamp Thing with three other comicphiles. There are 6 trade paperback volumes, so this is not a small task. To gear up for this endeavor, I have been creeping my way through Moore’s bibliography. One of his lesser known works is Top 10, initially published by WildStorm (DC Vertigo) under his America’s Best Comics imprint. The artists are Gene Ha and Zander Cannon. I read a compendium of volumes 1 and 2, which amounts to 352 pages spanning issues 1-11.
What the hell, I will just get it out there that I absolutely loved this comic. The police procedural Top 10 easily ranks among my favorite comics read this past year. On the surface level, the series does not feel like it was written between 1999 and 2001, as Moore touches on themes we are grappling with in 2024 such as inequality, racism, artificial intelligence, sexual orientation and gender identity. Moore offers complex, flawed characters and impressive world building set in Neopolis where everyone has a super ability, along with a heaping serving of detective work solved in unexpected ways. I enjoyed following the character arc of Smax, a big blue invulnerable lug. He initially appears as a jaded brute with a troubled past, but morphs into an endearing sweetheart. But Top 10 does not take itself too seriously. It often parodies comic book superheroes and familiar tropes while not being too over the top. (Pun intended.) The humor was fantastic and I caught myself laughing out loud like a maniac.
The characters have an unexpected range of abilities, all with multi-faceted back stories. Some abilities are wild or fantastic. Others are more mundane, which I really appreciate. We have here a talking dog in a cyborg exoskeleton who falls in love with a human. Cut to a character who carries around a box of crime fighting mechanical toys her Dad developed. Yes, there are also sentient robots, who are trying to fit in with humans, often victims of discrimination. As I read further I found the characters intersecting in emotional and comical situations in this lived-in world, yet I kept feeling like Moore was only scratching the surface.
The sublime artwork by Ha and Cannon is exquisitely detailed. Observant readers will be rewarded, as Easter eggs abound throughout the panels. I am sure I missed a few obscure references, but appreciated seeing Marvin the Martian, as well as characters from Star Trek and Futurama in the background, just to name a few. Did I see Jughead? The detailed artistry compelled me to pay careful attention to the panels. I did not want to miss anything.
I highly recommend this to people who are interested in subversion of the comics superhero genre. There is no requirement to like police procedurals to enjoy this, because the character development and artwork outshine the detective plot points. This is for people who love immersive worldbuilding and multifaceted characters.
To hear how Moore revamped DC’s Swamp Thing, another invulnerable lug of a guy (er…plant) doing his thing in the 1980s, please tune into our Swamp Thing Saga discussions on the Page Chewing Comics and Manga podcast. We are covering the series over the next few months.
