BDcomics

Top 10 December 8, 2005

Posted by BDcomics in : Comics ,

Top 10 is a superhero comic book series published by the America’s Best Comics imprint of DC comics. Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Gene Ha and Zander Cannon, the series details the lives and work of the police force of Neopolis, a city in which everyone, from the police and criminals to civilians, children and even pets, has super-powers, colourful costumes and secret identities. Its deadpan tone allows it to range from farce and black humour to touching emotional scenes.

The series is noted for its meticulous attention to detail and dedication to the premise of millions of super-beings sharing a single city. For example, a caped street corner watch vendor seen in one panel uses a cardboard sign advertising “signal watches”, and a hot dog vendor cooks his wares with heat vision. One plotline involves a boy-band called Sidekix whose hit single is called “Holy Broken Hearts”. Likewise, all other advertising, signage and graffiti in the Top 10 universe contains references to the world of comic books and super powers, as does nearly every line of dialogue.

The story is littered with fantastic creatures and comic book references that add color to every situation, but the story at heart is still a cop tale, as the police track down murderers, drug runners, and gang bangers, and deal with their own demons. As bizarre as the citizens of the city may be, their basic human motivations, strengths, and weaknesses remain the same. The book also addresses a wide range of prejudices; monsters, robots, and fantasy creatures often face the bigotry faced by real-world human minorities. The series also addresses a range of sexual taboos, including homosexuality, pedophilia, bestiality, and human/robot, although it is never “adult” in content, and never depicts any acts more explicit than a kiss.

The series is noted for its meticulous attention to detail and dedication to the premise of millions of super-beings sharing a single city. For example, a caped street corner watch vendor seen in one panel uses a cardboard sign advertising “signal watches”, and a hot dog vendor cooks his wares with heat vision. One plotline involves a boy-band called Sidekix whose hit single is called “Holy Broken Hearts”. Likewise, all other advertising, signage and graffiti in the Top 10 universe contains references to the world of comic books and super powers, as does nearly every line of dialogue.

Infor from Wikipedia.

Top 10 Download link:
http://www.megaupload.com/de/?d=DCSS706W

Thanks to Pilz for this.

Planetary December 8, 2005

Posted by BDcomics in : Comics ,

Planetary are an organization billing themselves as “Archaeologists of the Impossible”, tracking down the world’s secret history. Funded by the mysterious Fourth Man, who it is said could be anyone from Bill Gates to Adolf Hitler, the field team consists of three superhumans: Jakita Wagner, who is strong, fast and nearly invulnerable; The Drummer, who can talk to computers; and the new recruit Elijah Snow, who can control temperature.

The series occurs in the Wildstorm Universe, along with other titles such as Stormwatch, The Authority and Gen13. For instance, Snow was born on January 1, 1900, as was Jenny Sparks of The Authority, and the two know each other. Despite this, Planetary intersects only a little with other Wildstorm series.

Planetary’s field team travels the world investigating strange phenomena: monsters and other beings, unusual relics, other superhumans, and powerful secrets which certain individuals are trying to keep hidden from the rest of the world. Their purpose in doing this is partly curiosity, and partly to use what they learn for the betterment of mankind. There are, however, groups who oppose their goals, and the organization has a substantial history which is gradually revealed during the series.

In later issues the plot becomes increasingly related to The Four, analogues of Marvel’s Fantastic Four whose goals run in direct contrast to that of the Planetary team.

One of the series’ main hooks is that it portrays alternate versions of many well-known (and obscure) figures from popular culture. At various times we are shown versions (sometimes multiple versions) of John Constantine, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Nick Fury, the Justice League, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Godzilla, Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage (as Doc Brass), Tarzan and other pulp fiction heroes. There is even a pastiche of the modern League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, not to mention Japanese monster movies, 1950s horror/science fiction movies, Hong Kong action movies and more. This provides a rich backdrop for the ongoing story, and is similar to Philip Jose Farmer’s Wold Newton family.

(In general, the public domain characters such as Holmes appear as themselves, while those still under copyright appear in altered but recognizably similar form. In some regards the series is thus similar to the series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.)

The idea of the series is to create a concise world in which archetypes of superheroes, pulp fiction heroes, sci-fi heroes, and characters from just about every possible mass media format, live in one large universe while the Planetary team investigates them and ties together the ends. As Warren Ellis said in his proposal for the comic series: “[W]hat if you had a hundred years of superhero history just slowly leaking out into this young and modern superhero world of the Wildstorm Universe? What if you could take everything old and make it new again?”

The comic relies heavily on Cassaday’s detailed and imaginative artwork and it features a variety of styles of cover with no consistent logo or layout. The mysteries Ellis sets up are what ultimately drive the book, as he gradually shows us the characters’ relationships, their histories, and who the Fourth Man is.

In addition to the references to superheroes and literary figures, the mysteriously unnamed “Fourth Man” may be a reference to the unnamed “Fifth Man” from the Cambridge Five, whose identity was a hotly pursued mystery for some time.

Info from Wikipedia. Official site: http://www.dccomics.com/features/planetary/
The first issue is also available for download in the official site.

Planetary
Download links:

http://rapidshare.de/files/8490751/Planetary_-_Authority_-The__Ruling_the_World.zip.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/8491528/Planetary___JLA_-_Terra_Occulta.zip.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/8492089/Planetary_Batman_-_Night_on_Earth_-.zip.html

Thanks to Julian Jair Téllez Morales for these.

« newer posts

Top 10 December 8, 2005

Planetary December 8, 2005

Archives

Categories

Recent Posts

Feeds

December 2005
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Nov				Jan »
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31