Top 10: Book 1 - Alan Moore, Gene Ha, Zander Cannon
I've read two other books that are actually spin-offs of Top 10, and finally got around to reading it from the beginning. Top 10 reminds me a little of other series like Astro City or Powers, where there are a whole bunch of superheroes in one place. In this case, the premise is that the world (and parallel universes, of course) are full of "science heroes" and villains. After World War II, it was decided that there were just too many of them around, so the city of Neopolis was built and they were forced to relocate there. Of course, in a city where everyone has powers of some sort, you're just another citizen, forced to get a job. Superfast guys deliver pizza, and a defense attorney shows up who's literally a shark. Crime and policework, of course, are at a whole new level.
Top 10 is the nickname of the Neopolis Police Department, Precinct 10, and it's a sort of CSI with superpowers. In this volume, the cops at Top 10 are trying to track down Libra, a serial killer who's been attacking prostitutes; a drug-runner turns up dead and leads them to something bigger and mysterious; Gojira's son Ernesto gets himself arrested. It's a mixture of serious mystery-solving and police procedures with sight gags and comic-book references, and overall pretty entertaining. It must take a tremendous amount of time to write and draw, because all the extras and throwaway characters have to have powers, costumes, and (sometimes) wacky names.
One of my favorite sideplot is the investigation of the death of Baldur at the "Godz" bar; it seems Loki has been up to some tricks and Wodin's beautiful son has been murdered. The cops spend an afternoon questioning local deities until somebody who's familiar with the story finally shows up.
Anyway, the library has at least another volume, so I'll be checking that out next.
Fed to jonathan's brain | March 08, 2007
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