Top Ten “Season Two” #1

Posted by Jeb on October 14, 2008

(Wildstorm/America’s Best Comics)

Top Ten was a perfect little gem of a miniseries, possibly the best thing to come out of Alan Moore’s ABC imprint, and given that that group includes The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Promethea, that’s really saying something. But Top Ten was one of the most tightly plotted and elegant 12-issue arcs I’ve ever seen, packed to the brim with innovative characters and concepts, along with enough plot material to support dozens more issues. However, the story was more or less wrapped up, with the exception of a couple of dangling plot threads that were continued in the Smax spinoff series, and a since Moore bailed on ABC shortly after that was finished, that would have seemed to be that. As much as I would have liked to have seen more, I wasn’t hugely upset—let the original series stand alone, I say. (OK, there was the aforementioned Smax, and The 49ers “prequel” series, both penned by Moore, but as far as I’m concerned those are both sufficiently different that it didn’t really feel like they interfered with the self-contained nature of the original.)

So it’s a little puzzling that we’ve now had two attempts at continuing the franchise without Moore. The first, “Beyond the Furthest Precinct”, came out a few years ago, and while it wasn’t awful, it felt a bit off—Moore’s twisted humour was a big part of the original series, but it also had heart, something that BtFP seemed to lack. I actually bailed on it after a couple of issues, not feeling like I was missing anything.

Now, even more strangely, we’ve got an official “Season Two” that seems to be completely ignoring BtFP ever existed. The pedigree is pretty good this time around: Moore may not be involved, but original series artists and co-creators Zander Cannon (with his brother Kevin) and Gene Ha are the writers and artist, respectively, so you’ve got to figure that’s the closest we’re going to get to recapturing the magic of the original, right?

The plot appears to be set during the same timeframe as “Smax”, with only a short period of time separating it from the events of the final issue of Season One. The betrayal and death of police commissioner Ultima is still in the very recent past, and a new commissioner has been brought in, a by-the-book sort who promises to make life miserable for the Tenth Precinct. Tough broad Irma Geddon is still mourning her old partner, Girl One, and of course, Smax and Toybox are taking a vacation in Smax’s home dimension. A new character is also introduced: Slipstream Phoenix, a boy scout with the look of King Tut’s sarcophagus, who causes immediate resentment among the Top Tenners. And, naturally, there’s a shocking crime that kicks the overarcing plot (the sudden discovery of a load of bodies in the fountain in front of the precinct), plus lots of smaller stuff, both significant and mundane.

There’s no denying that the Cannons get the feel of the characters better than Paul Di Fillipo and Jerry Ordway, the team that did BtFP, and the continuity is a lot less jarring, since we’re following directly from the first series. But, surprisingly, Cannon & Cannon miss the mark on a crucial aspect of the storytelling: Moore modeled the original Top Ten on Hill St. Blues, with the same fractured, complex plot arcs, and the same resolute refusal to tie everything up neatly. The comic did a terrific job of capturing the feel of a complicated, chaotic world where there were always dozens of things happening at any given moment, and the story didn’t always have time to slow down to give them all equal weight. Important plot points and emotional arcs would often be resolved in passing, shoved to the background, or even moved completely off-page, which is what made the series so dense and rewarding. In contrast, this new series feels far more narratively conventional, attempting to weigh in on a handful of plotlines and, as a result, pushing a lot of the more memorable characters of the first run into the background–Hyperdog and King Peacock only have cameos, and I didn’t see Joe Pi at all.

To be fair, the Cannons don’t completely miss the boat on this—there’s still a feeling of bustle and lives intersecting—but it’s hard to picture the original series giving space to Slipstream’s moaning about his daddy issues. The whole point of the original series is that cops don’t usually get a lot of time for emotional resolution—they’re too busy doing their jobs.

Still, this is undeniably a good fit for anyone who was desperate for more Top Ten. But when the bar has been set so high, sometimes continuing to climb isn’t a great idea.

3.5 out of 5 Vikings
3 and a half out of 5 Vikings

Filed Under: Rack Raids

Tags: 3.5/5, alan moore, americas best comics, gene ha, superhero, top ten, wildstorm

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Top Ten “Season Two” #1

Filed Under: Rack Raids

Tags: 3.5/5, alan moore, americas best comics, gene ha, superhero, top ten, wildstorm

Add A Comment

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