Graphic Novel Review: Tom Strong

By Alan Moore  

5 Stars 

Born and raised in a high-gravity chamber, Tom Strong is the world’s greatest and strongest science hero. Kept alive by the mysterious Goloka root, he has faced evil for a century alongside his equally immortal family. He has equal brains and brawn and uses it in forging the future for his beloved Millennium City; with his family, his gorilla and his robot butler by his side, Tom Strong faces villainous scientists, living nanomachines, Aztecs and strict school principals in his never-ending crusade for the preservation of science and justice. This is a weird book, but in a good way. It’s surprisingly optimistic for a book written by Alan Moore, who, if you don’t know, authored books like V for Vendetta or Watchmen, two very dark books.

Tom Strong is almost the opposite of that; it’s an homage to old 1950s “Raypunk” pulp comics, things like Adam Strange or Flash Gordon. It’s surprisingly funny, and the stories always take a strange turn, like aliens abducting a Wild West town and transporting it to the 21st century or an alien turning a Mayan Pyramid into a spaceship. Tom Strong himself is a very interesting character; he has talked in an overly polite manner since he was born in the early 1900s. He’s incredibly strong, but he never actually ends much of his fights with his fists; he just talks the enemy out of it or invents something to chase them away. The entire book is wonderfully bizarre, but everything is treated with normalcy, things like Solomon, Strong’s British talking gorilla friend, Pneuman, the robot servant, and even Strong’s daughter, Tesla, while looking and acting like a normal teenager, is in her 60s. This is a great book, and although not groundbreaking, it’s very fun to read.   

Reviewed by Gavin 

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