Tom Strong
Issues 1-6. Written by Alan Moore, pencilled by Chris Sprouse, letters by Todd Klein.

"Follow the amazing adventures of the greatest Science-Hero ever!"

Parallel empires that extend beyond dimensions, madmen pursuing immortality through modular machines, Nazi superwomen, genius musclemen, steam-powered robots -- and to top it all off, intelligent, talking gorillas. All of this and much, much more can be found in Tom Strong, one of the greatest science-adventure series around, written by the (probably) most prolific and (surely) mad writers in comics -- Brit Alan Moore -- and drawn by Chris Sprouse, an artist I can only describe as the American version of master Belgian comic storyteller Hergé.

The main premise is simple: Tom Strong was born on a mystical island by means of a somewhat cold and heartless experiment conducted by his dad. Raised in a gravity chamber which makes him at least five times stronger than a normal human, he was also fed the strange Goloka Root, which turned him hyper-intelligent and resistant to the march of time. As the series starts, Strong has left his island of Attabar Teru with his wife Dhalua and their daughter Tesla. They are accompanied by Pneuman, their steam-powered butler, and King Solomon, a jolly, talking Gorilla. Although he is 99 years old, Tom is still as energetic and powerful as ever -- and he is still having adventures, both in Millennium City as well as everywhere else in the world. He spends his time saving people, discovering new worlds and beings, and going up against strange and wonderful villains.

The best description of the series is as an amalgamation of many genres and influences, and though it harkens back to the science-heroes of the Pulp Age (Doc Savage serves as the main inspiration) it doesn't feel at all old. In the science-hero mold, Tom Strong's stories have a certain European vibe behind them, most precisely similar to the Belgian books Tintin or Spirou Et Fantasio. What this means is that the plots are more concerned with adventure and discovery, rather than protection and fighting a villain, which, while still maintaining a role, is not the main thrust.

Tom Strong is an adventurous, plot-driven book, containing simple, positive themes, which are demonstrated by the villains Stong faces or by the situations in which Strong finds himself embroiled. Make no mistake -- the characters are indeed fun, but the crux deals with the ideas presented each month, some of which are familiar concepts with twists, and some of which are entirely new. Moore can create cool menaces such as The Modular Man, a villain who wants to secure his immortality by preserving his mind in self-replicating miniature robots, or The Pangean Entity, a being who is the very consciousness of Earth's first continent. This type of originality in villains is rarely seen in other comics, but Moore creates these characters at a whim, using them either recurringly or for simple one-shots. And they vary every month! One issue features Tom fighting Paul Saveen, his Moriarty-esque, while another pits him against the "AzTech" civilization, a highly-advanced Aztec tribe bent on conquering parallel worlds with the help of an engineered computer god named Quetzalcoatl-9. In Tom Strong, the fun is found in zany adventures rife with cool, original villains -- each and every month.

The art is handled by Chris Sprouse, one of my favorite in the business. His style is made up of clear lines (yet another European inspiration), giving his characters a clean and uncluttered appearance. They have great, non-traditional body types, and Sprouse isn't afraid of detail. In Issue #3, dealing with the aforementioned AzTechs, the soldiers' outfits are filled with such detail that one wonders how much time Sprouse spends slaving over a page. He's a tremendous storyteller who doesn't waste panels to sneak in pin-up shots. His background work and design sense are flawless, whether seen in the retro-futuristic Millennium City, Nazi airships, or a souped-up motorcar. Sprouse always delivers, creating beautiful backgrounds, gadgets and machinery for Strong's world -- just take a look and tell me you're not impressed.

The work of one of the field's best letterers, Todd Klein, must be mentioned here, as he not only creates interesting fonts and balloons designs for the book, but also gives each of the covers a different feel -- one looks like the cover of a science mag when Tom fights the Modular Man; another, featuring Tom battling Nazi Superwoman Ingrid Weiss, gives the appearance of a World War II-era magazine.

So there you have it. If you're looking for a fun adventure book for all ages, if you're a fan of old pulps, or if you just like the more European aspects of comics, like clean, uncluttered art or adventure-based stories with great twists, Tom Strong is for you. Go buy it. Now.

-- Yannick Belzil

Tom Strong is published by DC/Wildstorm comics, and is available in comic stores.

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