Storied Arcs
Welcome to Storied Arcs! A read-along deep dive into comics, one story arc at a time...
In each episode, we will discuss one story arc, typically in the form of a trade paperback, for a completed comic series. In general, we will be avoiding ongoing or continuing series so that we can discuss a work in its entirety.
We’ll also be avoiding the “big two” (Marvel and DC.) While we love those comics, there are plenty of podcasts covering characters like Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and so on. Instead, we’re excited to explore some of the great creator-owned stories. We’ll deep dive into the story while evaluating the prose, art, and all the easter eggs we can find.
Learn more at www.storiedarcs.com
Storied Arcs
Intro to Top 10 & Creator Spotlight: Alan Moore, Gene Ha, Zander Cannon, and Todd Klein
For this season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex will be tackling the critically-acclaimed, multi-dimensional police procedural comic Top 10 (issues #1-12 of the original series only) from America's Best Comics (aka Wildstorm aka DC) by Alan Moore, Gene Ha, and Zander Cannon. They start with some background on America's Best Comics and use that to track the publication history of Top 10 and its subsequent spinoffs and sequels through the years. Then the guys attempt to (briefly) cover the comics history of writer Alan Moore (he's Alan Moore, folks), along with the works of artists Gene Ha and Zander Cannon, and letterer Todd Klein. To close, they give a short, spoiler-free synopsis for the book and talk a little bit on why they picked it for the show.
For our purposes, we'll just be focusing on the original Top 10 comic from 1999 to 2001 (issues #1-12) and breaking our discussion across two trade collections as they were originally published- issues #1-7 first and then issues #8-12 to close. We understand that the most likely way of reading Top 10 at the moment is either the 2015 single-trade collection published under the Vertigo banner or the 2023 compendium containing all of the Top 10 series, spinoffs, and specials, but the single issues are out there to be discovered as well. However you find it, go read Top 10 Volume 1 (issues #1-7) and join us back here next week to jump right into the discussion!
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