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Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

The third Top 10 book picks up five years after the previous one, with a set of new recruits joining the Neopolis Police Department at the same time the mayor puts a new commissioner in charge. New writer Paul Di Filippo tries to do like Alan Moore did, and balance a number of ongoing plots, but with more characters and fewer issues, it seems like nothing gets the time it deserves. Interesting ideas are raised and then never come back, or have almost no impact on the story. How was Joe Pi affected by his undercover mission? Did Smax ever find an apartment that would suit the residency requirement? What happened to the new precinct captain and the new mayor's war on terror? Where did Toy Box's boyfriend come from anyway?

The death of a key character's family member warrants a mere page; the resurrection of another key character doesn't even get that. (Why bring someone back to life and give them one line of dialogue in over a hundred pages?) The overarching plotline is tied up when some guy just turns up and tells someone she has a power she didn't know about. That power works, the end. It's nice to see these characters and concepts again, but Di Filippo doesn't do them justice: this book has neither the laughs nor the drama of the first two. I hope that when Zander Cannon takes over as writer, it's better than this.

Who does do Top 10 justice is Jerry Ordway. Ordway is one of those guys who should always be drawing more comics, and his traditional heroic style is different than that of Gene Ha and Zander Cannon, but just as suited to Neopolis and its inhabitants. He has a mastery of facial expressions, and the storytelling is always clean and clear. The book looks great even when nothing great is happening.

Alan Moore n'est plus au scénario. La série prend sa vitesse de croisière mais perd de sa capacité à étonner. ( )

Paul di Filippo writes highly entertaining and rather weird science fiction short stories, so I was curious to see how he tackles the world of comic books. It's very difficult to follow in Alan Moore's footsteps, and di Filippo doesn't quite keep up. He keeps up the weirdness factor for Neopolis, but I was disappointed at the ending, which is a bit of a deus ex machina that would have benefited from foreshadowing. The story includes some acerbic commentary on the authoritarian streak in American society after September 11, but there just isn't enough room in this tale for di Filippo to really develop that plotline. It was still fun to take a return trip to Neopolis, though. ( )

As usual the Top 10 characters were great and the art was a lot of fun with all it's special "guest appearances" although they may have been a bit overdone. Unfortunately the story on this one was just ok it had a kind of deus ex machina ending and the pacing seemed off, like he ran out of the room and skipped to the end.

I'm not sure they needed to add new heroes to the mix either but at least they were fun. ( )