Line #18 Creator/AmericasBestComics


1	America's Best Comics is an imprint of Creator/{{Wildstorm}} Comics covering a number of comic series created and often written by Creator/AlanMoore. Moore agreed to create [=ABC=] with Wildstorm before their takeover by Creator/DCComics. Despite the fact that he had at this point determined never to work for [=DC=] again, for reasons mainly related to the dispute over ownership of ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'', he agreed to continue with the [=ABC=] project to avoid inconveniencing and disappointing his other collaborators.
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3	The line largely ended after Moore's final departure from DC, but in 2017-8 the shared-universe characters controversially began to be introduced to the mainstream DCU, with Promethea guesting in a ''Justice League of America'' issue and Tom Strong appearing in ''ComicBook/TheTerrifics''. It was this comic that revealed that this universe is the previously-unknown Earth 25 from ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity''.
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5	Oh, and if you're wondering why a man from Northampton founded an imprint called "America's Best Comics", the name comes from the title of a Standard Comics book published during the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks; Moore used some of the original book's characters in the series he created for ABC.
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7	'''Comics published under the America's Best Comics name by Alan Moore were:'''
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9	* ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'': with art by Kevin O'Neill. Initially conceived as a Victorian PublicDomainCharacter version of the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, later expanded into a series of stories set in a world where [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover every]] British fictional character actually existed. The only [=ABC=] work to be creator-owned, and not to be a part of the shared universe the other titles take place in. Subsequently moved to Creator/TopShelfProductions following Moore's final cutting of ties to [=DC=].
10	* ''ComicBook/TomStrong'': with art usually by Chris Sprouse. A series about the [[InsistentTerminology Science Hero]] Tom Strong and his family. Tom is a character half-way between the superhero and earlier pulp action heroes like Literature/DocSavage, while his relatives have resemblances to [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} the Marvel Family]]. Conceived as an attempt to fuse the freewheeling vitality of the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]], the optimism of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]], and the characterisation and storytelling sophistication of more modern works. From issue 23 Moore handed this title over to other writers, returning for the final issue 36, which crossed over with ''ComicBook/{{Promethea}}'' to provide a GrandFinale to the whole universe.
11	* ''ComicBook/{{Promethea}}'': with art by J H Williams [=III=]. In which student Sophie Bangs finds herself the [[LegacyCharacter latest avatar]] of the AnthropomorphicPersonification of creativity and the imagination. Began as an overt ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' {{Homage}}, but rapidly became an [[AuthorTract increasingly didactic]] homily on Moore's mystical religious and philosophical belief system.
12	* ''ComicBook/TopTen'': with art by Gene Ha. A CopShow set in Neopolis, a city where [[FantasticGhetto everybody is a superhero, supervillain, alien, or extradimensional being]], with very overt {{Homage}} in characterisation terms to early ''Series/HillStreetBlues''. Also notable for the [[ReferenceOverdosed incredible density]] of {{Shout Out}}s included in the art to other works of all genres and media.
13	** ''ComicBook/{{Smax}}'': with art by Zander Cannon. A mini-series following ''ComicBook/TopTen'' characters [[CowboyCop Jeff Smax]] and [[WrenchWench Robin "Toybox" Slinger]] on a trip back to the HeroicFantasy realm which he fled as a young man.
14	** ''The 49ers'': with art by Gene Ha. A graphic novel dealing with the founding of Neopolis and the early life and love affairs of [[DaChief Captain Steve "Jetman" Traynor]].
15	* ''ComicBook/TomorrowStories''. An AnthologyComic featuring prepubescent MadScientist Jack B Quick, BadassNormal masked vigilante and ''[[ComicBook/TheSpirit Spirit]]'' {{Homage}} Greyshirt, MsFanservice masked vigilante the Cobweb, parody superhero the First American, and slapstick comedy [[RubberMan living-ink]] superhero Splash Brannigan.
16	* ''Tom Strong's Terrific Tales''. An AnthologyComic featuring Tom Strong stories by Alan Moore, generally more quirky or artistically experimental than the main series, and also stories by Steve Moore (no relation) featuring Tom as an adolescent, and MsFanservice SpaceOpera heroine Jonni Future.
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18	'''America's Best Comics titles not written by Alan Moore, generally spin-offs from the Moore series, were:'''
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20	* ''Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset'' by Rick Veitch. A mini-series featuring the ''ComicBook/TomorrowStories'' character Greyshirt, notable for its [[JigsawPuzzlePlot formal experimentation in storytelling]], with normal comic stories, newspaper stories, and even in-universe newspaper comic strips all gradually combining to form the overall arc.
21	* ''TerraObscura'' by Peter Hogan. A pair of miniseries set on a parallel Earth introduced in a ''ComicBook/TomStrong'' story arc, featuring superheroes originally created in the Golden Age Standard/Better/Nedor comics.
22	* ''ComicBook/TopTen: Beyond the Farthest Precinct'' by Paul Di Filippo. A miniseries continuation of ''ComicBook/TopTen'', introducing some new characters and depicting the main cast dealing with a full-scale threat to their reality.
23	* ''ComicBook/TopTen Season Two'' by Zander Cannon. An [[AlternateContinuity alternate]] continuation for ''ComicBook/TopTen'', ''Beyond the Farthest Precinct'' not having been especially well-received by fans. Notable for being a four-issue miniseries that [[LeftHanging just stopped]] with no sign of resolving any of its several plotlines. A single-issue annual didn't resolve any of the plotlines either.
24	* ''ComicBook/TomStrong and the Robots of Doom'' by Peter Hogan. A Tom Strong miniseries notable for explicitly retconning out the events of the final issues of ''Tom Strong'' and ''ComicBook/{{Promethea}}'' so that [=DC=] could continue to tell generic superhero stories in the universe without dealing with the major changes introduced there. And people wonder why Alan Moore gets upset with them...
25	* ''Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril'' by Peter Hogan. After a lengthy gap, a further Tom Strong miniseries which takes Tom back to the world of Terra Obscura.

Context Creator / AmericasBestComics