A young lady named Robyn Slinger walks into the tenth Precinct, N.E.O.P.D. and announces that she's starting work today.
Welcome to the world as we know it. Welcome to Neopolis. Welcome to Alan Moore's TOP 10. Welcome to the unusual characters who make up this NYPD BLUE IN OUTER SPACE.
Sergeant Caesar, better known as Kemlo, is a dog. no really. he walks on two legs and talks, but he's a dog. There's Duane Bodine. He dresses like a cowboy, talks like a cowboy and is first seen arresting Aberdeen Angus. Angus, by the way, is a bull. No...really! King Peacock is a dark voodoo man who allegedly is into devil worship. the cook in the commissary uses heat vision to cook the food. Irma is a tough mother of two with an armory strapped to her uniform. Detective Kowalski, now known as Jackie Phantom because of her phasing ability, is a lesbian with a sly remark at every instance. Li has a costume which constantly changes. That's because it isn't a costume...it's really bio-engineered skin with pigments which can be maneuvered at will. Jan(short for Janus), the police dispatcher, is two-faced. No really!
Professor Gromolko, one of the perps picked up by Top Ten who later swallows a twelve shooter., is represented by Mr. Frenzy, his lawyer. His lawyer the shark. No really! Even Slinger is a bit different. She investigates crime scenes with the help of toys her father made. In fact, nearly everyone in Neopolis has a special ability; some more prevalent than others.
The main plotline present revolves around the team's search for the Libra killer. but, like all good cop dramas, there are subplots. There's Slinger's father with Alzheimer's Disease. There's the suicide of Gromolko and what it means to those connected to him. There's the fact that Caesar, being a color blind animal, can see that Li is really naked, which results in a lunch room brawl. There's Alexi, the squad's telepathic officer, who has a drinking problem and often communicates through a monkey named Tanya. No really.
This book is LOADED with inside jokes and telling signs that fill the panels. It could be a billboard sign which declares: "Don't catch S.T.O.R.M.S.! Sexually Transmitted Organic Rapid Mutation Syndrome." Or it might be graffiti on the wall saying "I have a Giant Size man thing call 555-3281". A legless beggar in the street carries a sign declaring he was the victim of the 92 circulation wars. Another street vendor is selling Rollex Signal Watches. From Exotic topless robot goddesses to invisible girls performing in two way alien combos to references to Science heroines doing films like DYNAMO DAMSEL DOES DALLAS, the filth of the section of the city known as Noho is depicted in absolute beauty.
And the dialogue is pure Moore. In issue #1, one of the prostitutes Bodine picks up tells sergeant Caesar to go into the corner and lick his privates. In a true TV cop drama or movie, she would tell him to do something else. But, since he's a dog, the joke works on several levels.
The writing is crisp, funny, poignant and truly some of Moore's sharpest work. The art by Gene Ha and REPLACEMENT GOD's Zander Cannon is intricate in its' detail Every little nuance is there for the reader to grasp. Picture it as DVD on paper.
Moore's America's Best Comics line for Wildstorm is gaining all sorts of positive press. This book is by far the most captivating. And, in its' own way, is both the most serious and funniest. While TOMORROW STORIES is a series of quirky tales, TOM STRONG wallows in true superherodom and PROMETHEA swims in comic mythology, TOP 10 has a gritty quality you can taste. And it also hits below the belt when it come s to one liners, sight gags and jokes.
For all those readers who have been raised under the banner of Moore's work on FROM HELL, SWAMP THING and MIRACLEMAN, put those down for a bit and pick this up. It is by far the best work he has done in a decade. And that's saying quite a lot!