Tom Strong #1

Written by: Alan Moore

Art by : Chris Sprouse

After a 11 issue binge of Grendel, I felt I needed to read something to balance out all that anti-hero awesomeness. Tom Strong is just the title to do that. Were Grendel reflects a morally ambivalent trend in comics, this book seems to long for a time when right was right and the bad guys always wore black.

This issue is an origin story told in a different sort of way. The book opens as young Timmy Turbo gets a piece of mail - his official Strongmen of America introduction pack. Included in this pack is a comic entitled How Tom Strong Got Started. Tom's origin unfolds as Timmy reads his comic on the way to school. We see the fateful crash that strands Tom's mother and father on the mystical island of Attabar Teru, Tom's birth, the loss of his parents, his first adventures in Millennium City and his marriage to Dahlua.

Timmy sits, too engrossed in the story to realize that his cable car is under attack by the Blimp Bandits and that his hero, Tom Strong, is fighting them off. Timmy never even notices until he gets off the car and walks past Tom who welcomes him to the Strongmen of America.

Chris' art is fantastic. Just the right blend of old and new styles that give this book an almost futuristic retro look. Moore's script is great - the comic inside a comic idea is still awesome. This is a good opening to one of the overlooked gems in modern comic book history.

If you like your heroes extra pulpy, or are a fan of Alan Moore this is a title you can't miss - Get it from MyComicShop.