Many people in the letters column pointed out its similarity to Astro City, mainly because Moore takes a down-to-earth approach to superpowered people (of course, not everyone in Astro City has powers, so the comparison isn’t that apt), but that’s something Moore has done his entire career. It’s basically a ghetto, where the powers-that-be placed everyone with powers so they didn’t destroy the rest of the country, but Moore wisely doesn’t bring that to the forefront of the story. He creates Neopolis, a city in which everyone has some kind of power. In Top 10, Moore takes a fairly common conceit and adds his own sense of genius to it, which is why it works so well. Moore has a great sense of humor, which he rarely lets show in his work, but Top 10 (and Smax, which is funnier than the main title) are good examples of how funny he can be when he’s not, you know, being all rape-y.

It’s also humanistic, clever without being smart-ass, and funnier than you might think. He’s amazing at that kind of thing, which is why this comic works so well. Moore takes something mundane – a police procedural – and makes it fantastic while keeping it grounded. far less pedantic than Promethea, and a hell of a lot less rape-y than LoEG (although it’s still a little rape-y – it’s Alan Moore, after all!).

But Top 10 hits that sweet spot that Moore is so good at – it feels more consequential than Tom Strong and Tomorrow Stories.

Tom Strong is fun adventure stuff, Tomorrow Stories varies in quality, Promethea is Moore deciding he’s smarter than everyone else, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen quickly became less about what was happening and more about how many references Moore could cram into it (which bedevils Top 10 just a tiny bit, as well). ABC was full of good comics, but of those, Top 10 is the only one that really stands out as great. Published by DC/Wildstorm/America’s Best Comics, 17 issues ( Top 10 #1-12 and Smax #1-5) and one graphic novel ( The Forty-Niners), cover dated September 1999 – October 2001 ( Top 10), October 2003 – May 2004 ( Smax), and 2005 ( The Forty-Niners).įor a lot of people, Alan Moore’s renaissance began in 1999 when he launched America’s Best Comics and its titles, after he had spent a good chunk of the 1990s in the wasteland writing WildC.A.T.s and other such stuff (although his WildC.A.T.s run is pretty darned good – he’s Alan Moore, after all). Top 10 by Alan Moore (writer), Gene Ha (artist, issues #1-12, The Forty-Niners), Zander Cannon (layouts, issues #1-12 penciller, Smax #1-5 inker, Smax #1), Andrew Currie (inker, Smax #2-5), Richard Friend (inker, Smax #5), Wildstorm FX (colorist, issues #1-9, Smax #4-5), Alex Sinclair (colorist, issues #10-12), Ben Dimagmaliw (colorist, Smax #1-3), Art Lyon (colorist, The Forty-Niners), and Todd Klein (letterer). It’s almost like the dude is good at writing comics or something!

Top 10 alan moore