World Famous Comics: Alan Moore's America's Best Comics
Alan Moore's America's Best Comics
By: Alan Moore, Various Publisher: Wildstorm Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Wildstorm Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 192 Publication Date: January 01, 2004 Release Date: January 01, 2004
A letdown after Volume I After enjoying the first bound volume of " America 's Best Comics," I rushed out to get volume II, hoping for the same. I was disappointed.
This volume is a potpourri. Aside from the Tesla story mentioned, there's a clever 10-page series featuring helmeted heroine Promothea, called "Little Margie in Mystic Magic Land." This section is drawn in the style of early-20th century comics, and concerns the adventures of a little girl and her Asian companion, "Chinky" (oh, please!) amongst the planets. There are mock ads, a take off of "The Sopranos" using vampires, and an intolerably unfunny strip about America history written in the style of Saturday morning cartoons. The last quarter of the book is a series of sketches for various characters from the series.
I'd skim this one, or give it a miss. Being reduced to making fun of one's creations is a sure fire way to tell you've run out of ideas.
Okay -- but Moore can do better than this Since I don't (any longer) read periodic comics on a regular basis, my only contact with them is these compilations, which I tend to view as the illustrated equivalent of novels or short stories. Which means those strips that begin in media res are apt to go right over my head, since I'm not familiar with previous plot-lines, but that's not necessarily a fault of the publication. Artistically, the most successful one in this collection is probably "The Many Worlds of Tesla Strong," which is also the longest. Eric Shanower's "Promethea" is also pretty good, a take-off on the 1900-style art of "Little Nemo," but with some sly 2000-style social asides. The least successful has to be "The Cobweb," which is done in a junior-high-school-amateur style that I can't take seriously. I was also kind of put off by "Splash Brannigan." I mean, are they kidding? But the rest of the book is certainly worth reading, and the collective "Sketchbook" section at the end is especially interesting.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Not Available Comics
Trevor
