Alan Moore, "Top 10: Book One"
There�s no way I�m going to be able to talk about this without appearing like a total geek. Ah, well. Here goes.
I already mentioned how much I like Alan Moore as a writer for the comic genre, and that came from his stint on Swamp Thing, which I stumbled upon as a child. I�m not sure that I mentioned his magnum opus, which was a limited series called Watchmen (and as long as I�m being a geek here, I might as well mention that Terry Gilliam still really wants to do a movie version of that graphic novel, and since the relative success came from the adaptation of Moore�s From Hell this may one day happen. If it does, I sure as hell will be going. Anyhoo, anybody who has read Watchmen can skip this next graph.
So, Watchmen took up the premise of what superheroes do when they�re sick of fighting crime and supervillains. From what I remember about the hype, this was the first time such a major theme was produced with such length and detail. I�m probably the wrong guy to talk about it, as I didn�t read it myself until about four years ago.
Top 10 takes the premise one stage further: what if you have a lot of old washed-up superheroes who became alcoholics and drug addicts? What if some of the addicts turned to prostitution to support their habits? And how do you keep such people with amazing powers within the confines of the law? Moore�s answer is similar to the British (and I should mention that he hails from London) � ship them off to an island like Australia.
But of course, there�s got to be some semblance of law and order, so you have a select group of superheroes working in law enforcement. What you get is really a reworking of Hill Street Blues, except instead of having a running gag with a bumbling dope pusher, you get a running gag about a bumbling insurance salesman whose superpower (inflating to six times his normal size) keeps going off at the wrong time, which pins every cop in the room with him against the walls.
Ah hell. See, it just doesn�t sound funny when I try and describe it. But there are in-jokes galore here. The scuzzball defense attorney is a mutated shark. Somebody who is obviously supposed to be Mr. Fantastic from Fantastic Four beats his wife when she complains that certain parts don�t extend like they used to. There�s a billboard with the torso of what is supposed to be the Incredible Hulk with the slogan, �You wouldn�t like me when I�m naked � Buy Gamma Jeans with Non-Rip Fabric.� Superchildren read comic books with titles like �Businessman.�
Actually, I�ve seen things like this before, most noticeably in an older series called Marshal Law, where superpowers are illegal and the �hero� has to hunt them down and kill them. But this was still damn good, as I fully expected coming from Alan Moore.
The sad thing is that I already saw a second book for this, and I don�t think I can just casually wait for another copy to drift into the store, which means I�m going to be shelling out some serious cash for the next book. Worse, I was surprised that I caught all the in-jokes, since I don�t really read all that many comics.
Except Daredevil, of course.
And Anything by Alan Moore.
Anything by Frank Miller, for that matter.
Not to mention Jhonen Vasquez.
Oh, and Kevin Smith has been writing for Green Arrow.
I hear he�s starting a mini-series for Spider-Man too, I�ll need to check that out.
Then there�s Transmetropolitan ...
Ah, the hell with it.
