I did find this little gem, which was probably a leftover from the public employee who knew what a public library should stock in regards to graphic novels. Should I be offended that these are in the teen section? Whatever. I'll be the first to admit to being juvenile.
Moving right along. I had heard the name of this series dropped a few times on a certain podcast that I listen to religiously. It comes up whenever Watchmen does, mainly because it's written by Alan Moore. I actually only recently read through Watchmen, and rather than add another synopsis of Watchmen to the internet, I decided to talk about a different work by the same creator.
Top 10 gives us a two page text introduction to the setting of this story. Basically this is the world if most of the population was comprised of superhuman beings. Everyone has powers, cybernetics, mutations, or some other form of advanced abilities that sets them apart from absolutely nobody. The story is told through the interactions among various law-enforcement officers that have to deal with everyday troubles that occur in Neopolis, a virtual city of heroes, if you could call them that. The opening follows a girl who is called Toy Box on her first day on the job as a cop with an surly, eight-foot-tall, indigo-skinned, invulnerable douchebag of a cop with an atomic beam that fires out of his chest. After reading through the first couple of issues, I noticed that there is not much in the way of narration. The story is told completely through dialogue. Looking back to Moore's storytelling in Watchmen, most of the story is told through narrative and, in many cases, through the narrative of a comic book being read within the comic book. An interesting point to make, also, is that there is only one superhuman character in Watchmen. That being Dr. Manhattan.
Turn the clock to fourteen years later to Top 10. Every character is a superhuman, and the story is told using a completely different way of storytelling through dialogue and character interaction. I think this goes to illustrate the talent of Alan Moore. He is able to tell a story from the perspective of both the introvert and the extrovert. The introvert will easily find comfort from the inner monologue of Watchmen, be it from the perspective of Rorscharch's journal entries, or the metaphor drawn from the narrative of The Black Freighter story, or the thoughts of a man who is trying to find purpose in the humanity of which he has transcended.
On the other hand, the extrovert will fall in line reading Top 10 which hides the thoughts of every one of its countless, yet distinct characters. We learn about these characters strictly through the interactions they share. Not once, in the several issues that I have read, has there been needed an explanation of what is happening past the conversations happening. Every personality in this comic, of which there are dozens, is clearly defined without the author telling us why that particular person would feel this way or that way. Each of the cops that the story follows are paired up in partners. I feel that it is completely random, yet we get the feeling that it's the perfect pair every time. The repertoire is realistic and believable and every 'uh' and 'er' and pause dots '...' feels like it is necessary.
Gene Ha's visual storytelling is very fitting, as well, and believe it or not, I have nothing more to say about artwork. I don't know if Alan Moore chooses his artists to fit his story, but they always tend to fit like a glove.
I could go on and on about the versatility of Moore's story telling, but I feel that I've made my point. If you haven't read Watchmen, read it, and if you have read Watchmen, read Top 10. They are both excellent stories with very different executions that hold the same weight.
I give Top 10 two enthusiastic blind taxi drivers up and I'll hoist a headless hooker for this book, as well.
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