This may sound strange coming from someone who writes about what I consider to be classics in the comics industry, but I’m not really one to believe in the idea of something being the “greatest” era. Best is very subjective, so I’m not just talking about my own preference for what I consider things to be my “favourites,” but more specifically, I’m talking about people who say they were born in the wrong era. They rather prefer 50’s fashion. 80’s music. A movie from the 30’s. Anything.
I think it’s reductionism. Usually the social and political issues of the time are ignored. Feeling nostalgic is fine, but wearing rose-colored glasses only creates problems. I certainly understand wanting to be in a situation where your favorite media, entertainment, and culture were new and fresh, and I don’t think there’s ever been a better time for that than now. Sliding now. Because you can have it all. Great new releases coming up and everything we’ve released so far. Don’t limit yourself to one time period.
However, I believe that the second best time for comics for anyone is childhood. Or when they first fell in love with the medium. (Applying that may cause problems with superhero creators, but that’s another discussion for another time.) The best one is different for everyone, and none are wrong. When they unleash wonder and imagination through the magic of creation. If you’re lucky, it will happen more than once. It may come in waves.
I myself often find myself drawn to cartoons from the 80s and 90s. That was my childhood and teenage years. Horror and strange manga. DC Comics and Vertigo. In the ’90s, the X-Men were pretty much just like everyone else. Although the fringe has almost always called to me. The last 20 years or so have definitely been independent. That being said, one of the all-too-brief and sadly tense times when the industry caught lightning in a bottle was in the early 2000s, when the aptly named “America’s Best Comics” was announced.
wsz “‘Interesting,’ said Tom Strong, and continued his journey into the changing, half-remembered city of the dead.”
I can probably pick any manga or arc from that line (and very likely will in the future) and consider it a classic. It wasn’t an exaggeration to call this work “America’s Best Comics,” but perhaps there was more tongue-in-cheek humor in the name than arrogance. However, I will focus on Tom Strong #10 by Alan Moore, Gary Gianni, Chris Sprouse, Al Gordon, Matt Hollingsworth, and Todd Klein. In a way, I kind of picked it at random (not really, it was one of the Tom Strong issue choices I considered), but it oddly fits into some of the larger themes I had in mind this week.
Tom Strong is a boy’s adventure manga in concept. While it has certainly drawn comparisons to CC Beck’s Captain Marvel in terms of style and presentation, Tom Strong as a character is more of a throwback to pulp adventure heroes. Especially something like Doc Savage. It’s a far cry from Moore’s previous venture into Captain Marvel-adjacent material with Marvelman/Miracleman. But it doesn’t end with an expansion into his extended family, featuring his wife, daughter, robot, and talking gorilla friend. It’s like going back through the history of comics and moving them forward with more progressive ideas and futuristic sentiments.
That’s inherent in the issue itself, as it’s split into three separate stories. They were all written by Moore, colored by Hollingsworth, and lettered by Klein. The first is a mostly illustrated prose story using Gianni’s art. The story features Strong entering a place called the City of the Dead, which basically looks and functions the same as in the past. A strong will to return to see his parents. In one kind of morality, you can see it, but you can’t touch it. It’s good to remember the past, but you can’t stay in the past. Gianni’s artwork is really nice and doesn’t resemble old novel illustrations. It’s very textured and has great attention to detail.
The remaining two stories were written by Sprouse, co-creator of Tom Strong, and inked by Gordon. Although both are relatively self-contained, they are interconnected and further propel the ongoing narrative within the book. They open up the concept of a world of endless possibilities within the world of America’s Best Comics. The first is a fun take on a funny animal cartoon, and the second is a nod or wink to an existing, familiar world. Sprouse and Gordon do a good job of keeping the basic style of the main characters, Tom Strong and his daughter Tesla, while making each one unique.
The changes in presentation and style throughout the same story, let alone the entire story, are beautifully handled by both Hollingsworth and Klein. In Gianni, the colors fade with the descent into the world of the dead, becoming flatter and more lifelike in Warren Strong’s funny animal world. Similarly, Klein’s letters adapt to different characters and story types.
wsz “With an almost infinite number of mes in a similar number of worlds, I am statistically guaranteed to mess up some of them!”
And that’s just one problem. of a certain series. Tom Strong #10 by Moore, Gianni, Sprouse, Gordon, Hollingsworth, and Klein is just a drop in the bucket for the Tom Strong corner of the ABC Universe. Enjoy exploring not just the world within comics, but the endless possibilities of how comics approach storytelling and history. This is a very enjoyable read on the surface, but it’s also a celebration of the art of comics.
But it also ties into what I loved about comics. And collecting in general. How can I get the problem itself? DC is selling it separately digitally in case you want it right away, but I can understand the cost being prohibitive. Part of the fun for me with so many series, especially the complete cast of Swamp Thing, for example, was finding back issues that I missed. Fill in the holes in my collection.
Tom Strong is an oddity whose collection doesn’t seem to be currently published. The Tom Strong Compendium, which had a second volume that came out a few years ago (including the spin-off series The Horrible Stories of Tom Strong and a sequel by Peter Hogan and Chris Sprouse, one of the rare times I OKed a sequel after Moore left DC again, among other related stories since Sprouse is a co-creator and should be able to do whatever he wants with the characters), looks like it will be published next year.
I recommend looking for older books (if you go that route, they are included in the original hardcover/paperback volume 2) at your local comic shop or convention. See if the joy of discovering physical items is right for you. (But again, I realize it can still be expensive. You might also want to check your library for out-of-print books.)
Rabbit
Classic Comics Encyclopedia: Tom Strong #10
Tom Strong #10
Screenplay: Alan Moore
Artist: Gary Gianni, Chris Sprouse, Al Gordon
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Author: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC Comics – Wildstorm | America’s Best Comics
Release date: September 20, 2000
Read the past works of the classic manga encyclopedia!
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