Top 10: The Forty-Niners

Top 10: The Forty-Niners, a graphic novel published by America's Best Comics in 2005, is a prequel to the ABC series Top 10, a police procedural set in the city of of Neopolois, where superpowers, robots, monsters, and other comic fodder are the norm for all citizens. It was written by Alan Moore, drawn by Gene Ha, and colored by Art Lyon, with lettering, logos, and design by Todd Klein. Unlike the original series and its spin-off Smax, it was released in one 112 page edition instead of being released in separate issues and collected later.

The Forty-Niners is set in the founding days of Neopolis, shortly after World War II. Realizing that average citizens do not want to live next door to the science heroes, mutants, and robots largely responsible for the Allied victory, the U.S. government built Neopolis, where all of these exceptional people can live together. The story primarily follows a young Steve Trainor, a.k.a. Jetlad, the boy fighter ace who will later become Captain of Neopolis Police Precint 10, from which the series derives its name. The primary story lines follow Jetlad's metting with the great love of his life (seen at the end of Top 10: Book 2) and the formative days of the Neopolis Police, as they try to prove that they can bring order to the chaos of Neopolis.

The story features several characters who either appear in the original Top 10, or else who are alluded to in conversation or background picture.

Cast of characters

Spoiler Warning Nothing here will really be a spoiler to anyone who's read the original Top 10

• Steve "Jetlad" Traynor: Only ten when he first began flying fighters against the Nazis, Traynor is sixteen in this story. He makes friends with Leni early on and takes a job as a mechanic with the Sky Sharks. In the original series, he has grown up to become the Captain of Precint 10.

• Leni "Sky Witch" Muller: A German pilot who rode a mechanical flying machine that resembled a broomstick, Leni defected to the United States due to her hatred of the Nazis. She joins the new Neopolis Police Department.

• The Skysharks: An international team of fighter plane aces who fought for the Allies.

• John Sharkey: Leader of the Sky Sharks, Sharkey has a deep distrust of the robots and vampires and wants the military to take policing duties of Neopolis.

• Wulf: Twenty-five year old German Skyshark, Wulf becomes Jetlad's first and possibly only lover, as they are still together in the future or the original series.

• Lars: A Danish Skyshark with very crude humor.

• Pierre: A French pilot and great fan of Jetlad's, Pierre is still friends with Jetlad and Wulf in the future and probably knows about the nature of their relationship by that point.

Police

• Zaran "Doctor Omega" Orval: Alien based on Superman, the Doc is the progressive Captain of Neopolis.

• Rocket Ryan: An officer with a Rocket on his back. Apparently had two side-kicks known as the "Time-Twins" that the Doc ordered him to downplay, due to rising concerns about the relationship between heroes and their sidekicks, as well as the dangers young wards were put in.

• The Maid: A Joan of Arc-based officer with full chainmail and holy powers to determine the truth and bless things. She is considered the heavy artillery against the undead.

• SteelGauntlet: Introduced at a dysfigured scientist inside a heavy robotic suit of armor.

• Officer Pure: An officer who seems to be based on Captain America.

• Sam "Major Lilliput" Slinger: (Colonel Lilliput in the future) Looking like a fopish 18th century French officer, the Colonel (senile father to Robyn "Toybox" Slinger), he commands a large number of toys (many more than Robyn has in the futre, but seemingly less sophisticated.)

• Ramon "Black Ridere" Morales: Leni's partner, he is based on Zorro and rides a motorcycle.

Minor characters

• Johnny "John Q" Genovese: The Mayor of Neopolis is terrifed of the volatile experiment that is Neopolis will blow up in his face and lacks the slick rhetorical skills normally associated with politicians. His main concern is to keep his citizens from their natural tendency towards vigilantism so that the new police can keep order. The Q that is his crest looks strikingly similar to "Captain BBQ" the hotdog guy seen in Neopolis in the future.

• Betty "Doesgood": New landlady of Steve and Leni. One of the first residents of Neopolis, she came from a generation where the special people didn't have superpowers, they simply stood out for being smart or funny. She gave advice and is eager to forget about those days. She is friends with Sloppy Sullivan.

• "Sloppy" Sullivan: The Skysharks cook. Apparently friends with Betty Doesgood.

Themes

One theme that occurs throughout the Top 10 series is prejudice, whether it applies to homosexuals, vampires, or robots. The conflicting attitudes throughout the series make the reader question what is simply bigotry (hatred of robots is often used as a metaphor for hatred of black people in the later series) or what is simply common sense (vampires are offended by the prejudice against them, but are only seen in the series as attempting to feed on humans, subtly or overtly). In Forty-Niners, several essentially good characters display some of these prejudices, similar to ways that the prejudices of heroes of the real past are often dismissed as "common for the time." Other characters reflect the individuals who changed those attitudes.