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A review by monitaroymohan
Top 10, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore
2.0
There's a lot to commend Top 10, the 12 book series of graphic novels by Alan Moore.
The story follows a police precinct in Neopolis consisting of superpowered beings. We follow the detectives' daily trials and travails as they investigate a Jack the Ripper-esque serial killer. It's a police procedural, but with superheroes. We see them struggle through their family lives, their professional issues, their love lives.
Several teams investigate different cases. Sometimes the cases overlap. There are other smaller cases to follow as well.
The art is beautiful, so visually arresting. Neopolis comes alive in Gene Ha's illustrations. It's not just the people, but the places. The skyline, the extraordinary skyway, the dank and dreary alleyways. I could get lost in that world.
What irked me, though, was that despite its novel idea and concept, Ton 10 still treads the same old path. The men are diversely drawn, an old cowboy, the nerd, the gigantic invincible fella, the old old captain. But when it comes to the women... we have one large woman who is covered head to toe in tech. Almost all the rest are conventionally drawn and they are all highly sexualised. Seems like in Neopolis women find it hard to get pants, or even a proper shirt. Only one female character dresses like an actual cop (as opposed to the men, almost all of whom dress in suits), and she's black and is the typical trope of 'keeps falling in love with all the men around her'.
The highly sexualised nature of the women continues in the professional field. Barring the cops, the only women we see are the prostitutes being killed off, and a porn star. There's no gratuitous nudity, but plenty of angled shots accentuating the women's... assets. If they were drawn as such as part of an overriding commentary on our view of female heroes, I may have forgiven it. But no, it's all part and parcel of the gaze of the writing. Ladies have to be hot, guys can be a range of them. Almost all the women's love lives are on display, but the men are not judged by that. They have their various issues, love not being the most integral part of it.
I wanted to love this book, but it wasn't possible with that all-pervasive male gaze. Story and art was great though.
The story follows a police precinct in Neopolis consisting of superpowered beings. We follow the detectives' daily trials and travails as they investigate a Jack the Ripper-esque serial killer. It's a police procedural, but with superheroes. We see them struggle through their family lives, their professional issues, their love lives.
Several teams investigate different cases. Sometimes the cases overlap. There are other smaller cases to follow as well.
The art is beautiful, so visually arresting. Neopolis comes alive in Gene Ha's illustrations. It's not just the people, but the places. The skyline, the extraordinary skyway, the dank and dreary alleyways. I could get lost in that world.
What irked me, though, was that despite its novel idea and concept, Ton 10 still treads the same old path. The men are diversely drawn, an old cowboy, the nerd, the gigantic invincible fella, the old old captain. But when it comes to the women... we have one large woman who is covered head to toe in tech. Almost all the rest are conventionally drawn and they are all highly sexualised. Seems like in Neopolis women find it hard to get pants, or even a proper shirt. Only one female character dresses like an actual cop (as opposed to the men, almost all of whom dress in suits), and she's black and is the typical trope of 'keeps falling in love with all the men around her'.
The highly sexualised nature of the women continues in the professional field. Barring the cops, the only women we see are the prostitutes being killed off, and a porn star. There's no gratuitous nudity, but plenty of angled shots accentuating the women's... assets. If they were drawn as such as part of an overriding commentary on our view of female heroes, I may have forgiven it. But no, it's all part and parcel of the gaze of the writing. Ladies have to be hot, guys can be a range of them. Almost all the women's love lives are on display, but the men are not judged by that. They have their various issues, love not being the most integral part of it.
I wanted to love this book, but it wasn't possible with that all-pervasive male gaze. Story and art was great though.