Top Ten

Synopsis: This was originally printed as Top Ten #1-7.

We are introduced to Neopolis, a world in which everyone has super powers—or rather, everyone has a background in heroic fiction of some sort (not every character has an actual power, but most are representative archetypes of given character ideals). We meet Robyn Slinger, a rookie police officer on her first day of the job, and we also meet many of the cops that will make up the thrust of the rest of the ensemble cast:

• Captain Traynor, the precinct captain.
• Sgt. Kemlo Caesar, a talking Doberman pinscher in a human exo-skeleton
• Irma Geddon, a walking armory
• Her partner, Jeff Smax, a surly seven foot tall invulnerable blue man.
• Officer Bodine, a.k.a. the Dust Devil, a cowboy with twelve shooter revolvers
• Officer Cheney a.k.a. Shock-Headed Peter, with electric powers
• Detective Jackson, a synaesthetic (someone who associates sensory information in an entirely different way from normal human beings)
• Detective Corbeau, a worshipper of Satan who can find the weak point in any piece of matter, organic or not.
• Girl One a.k.a. Sung Li, a bio-engineered female with enhanced agility.
• Alexei Glushko, The Spaceman, an alcoholic telepath frequently used for interrogation purposes
• Detective Jack Phantom, a lesbian phaser
• Detective Peregrine, a born again Christian with a flying harness.

Girl One picks up Irma Geddon from her home. They’re on their way to work when Girl One reveals that she actually doesn’t wear any clothing, but that her bio-engineered skin acts as a covering. They’re struck by another vehicle, a taxi driven by “Blindshot” Booker, a blind cabbie who claims to have Zen senses. While assisting the two officers in a gang infested area, Smax runs in Ernesto Gograh, the son of a legendary monster, apparently causing a lot of unrest in the area. Meanwhile, Bodine and Cheney are still on hooker patrol when Cheney comes across a prostitute and her john. He knows he should run them in, but decides to give the girl a break. Slinger and Jackson take “Blindshot” on a ride in a police cruiser. He leads them to another break in the murder investigation, the partner of the victim. Girl One discovers that Sgt. Caesar is color blind and attacks him, knowing that he’s been seeing her naked for a very long time without saying anything. Bodine and Cheney are called to investigate a dead body, and discover another victim of Libra—the prostitute that Cheney should have arrested before.

Bodine and Cheney are attacked by gang-bangers upset about the incarceration of Ernesto Gograh, and Sgt. Caesar tells Girl One that he has no interest whatsoever in naked females, as he’s a dog. We also meet Micro-Maid, the precinct’s forensic pathologist with the ability to shrink herself and other objects to microscopic size. Cheney gets a dressing down from Peregrine and Phantom about the Libra murder. They’re getting ready to interrogate Marta Wesson, the partner of the murder victim, when the precinct begins to shake. Ernesto’s father—the original Gograh--has come for him.

Captain Traynor manages to distract Gograh long enough for Micro-Maid to reduce him to palm size. Meanwhile, a woman named Annette Duvalle walks into the precinct holding her severed finger and faints in Caesar’s arms. They discover that she’s the first survivor of Libra. The police interrogate Marta, this time without the Spaceman’s help, but she spills everything she knows out of fear, and tells them wear to find the contraband that her partner was transporting. Detective’s Corbeau and Jackson, along with the Spaceman, go to Marta’s hideout to find the drugs, only to discover that it’s radioactive material. Slinger, Smax, Girl One and Irma Geddon are sent to raid a rave joint, and one of the arrestees is a minor celebrity in a boy band. Officers Bodine and Cheney, along with Jack Phantom and Caesar go into the sewers to chase after the Libra killer.

Duane’s mother calls him about a mice problem, but he’s too busy with the Libra killer to deal with her at the moment. They discover that the killer is actually a former Antarean hero named M’rrgla Qualtz going through a transformation who requires Pinearin, a substance found in the human brain, for food, and that she has deadly monofilaments in her current form that can slice through almost anything. With the help of Large Marge, the local madame and her girls, they manage to catch Qualtz. Duane finally goes over to his mother’s house to discover that it’s been invaded by Ultra Mice, mice with super powers. The only solution is to call the ex-verminator, who brings in Cats with super powers to try to drive the Ultra Mice away. Meanwhile, Duane’s mother will be staying with him.

Smax has a dream in which his uncle dies, and he’s revisited by the ghost of his former partner, who gives him a cryptic warning. He decides that he needs to be more friendly with his co-workers, and picks up Robyn on the way to work. Meanwhile, for some bizarre reason the area is blanketed in snow. Irma Geddon and Girl One are sent to a disturbance in the street. They discover a man dressed up like Santa with flying reindeer. He turns out to be a psychokinetic with a Santa Claus fixation who has enough power to disrupt weather patterns. Officers Smax and Slinger are of no assistance in stopping the disturbance, when in walks hostage negotiator Harry Lovelace, a.k.a. the Word, who has the ability to make people do what he says. On the way back to the precinct, Smax and Slinger notice a disturbance in the street, and stumble across a murder scene at the Godz bar-the murder of Balder.

Smax and Slinger call in Detective Jackson to investigate the murder scene and trace the deed back to Lokk, the Norse god of evil. In the meantime, M’rrgla Qualtz’s former teammates—and very influential members of the community—the Seven Sentinels of Victory are making attempts to free her. She’s reverted to her previous form of a very attractive humanoid female. Annette Duvalle shows up to see Sgt. Caesar, who’s having his exo-skeleton repaired. She asks him to dinner, and he accepts. Finally, Detective Corbeau shows up at the Godz bar and tells the others that the murder of Balder is a reoccurring story, and they’d be wise to just leave it alone.

Good Stuff: Swamp Thing might be the comic that made Alan Moore in American comics, and Watchmen might well be considered his Magnum Opus, but for me, Top Ten is the most enjoyable comic he’s written.

Moore does a great job of balancing hysterically funny scenes like the Santa Claus intervention and the Godz Bar investigation with scenes of poignancy like that of Micro Maid informing Andy Soames of his S.T.O.R.M.S. disease, to truly frightening scenes like the ones in the sewers. Each one of the characters is also very well realized and thought out, and each one gets his or her moment in the spotlight. Mainly, though, this comic is just plain fun.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the art of Gene Ha, who carefully fills almost every panel with not just well rendered action, but literally hundreds of Easter Eggs, adding to the re-readability of the comic.

Not so Good Stuff: I have nothing to say here. I can’t think of anything I’ve enjoyed more.

I give this book 10/10.