Couple of reviews this time out. First, Kevin with Tom Strong: Book 1:

Don't let the talking monkey fool you.

Ditto the robot butler.

Tom Strong is a smart book.

Written by hirsute prodigy Alan Moore, this is a book about growing up. More to the point, it's a book about how Western pop culture grew up. Tracking the 20th Century as witnessed by Strong and his family (wife Dhalua, daughter Tesla, robot butler Pneumann and simian aide-de-camp King Solomon), the first collection chronicles their pulp-inspired adventures protecting the world from enemies like the Modular Man and invading forces from the Aztech Empire at the dawn of the 21st.

But don't be fooled. There's a heck of a lot more going on here.

Tom Strong is self-aware right off the bat: The first chapter tells the story of Timmy Turbo, a preteen who buys the first issue of a comic called -- you guessed it -- Tom Strong. As it turns out, Strong's adventures are chronicled in a series of comic books, which Moore uses as a storytelling device to clue the reader in on the family's adventures earlier in the century.

Many of the stories involve Tom Strong battling some enemy from his past, the introductions of which are chronicled in the 'Untold Tales' of Tom Strong -- comics-within-a-comic written and drawn in the styles of comics from decades past. The format gives the book a chance to showcase different artists, though all, I think, have well-established résumés; Dave Gibbons, Moore's partner in crime in the well-known Watchmen, makes an appearance.

But, as I said, it's not all about the pulp. There's a more profound message in Tom Strong, one about how we imagine our heroes, and how that could have gone wrong, and where it didn't.

Strong is a Western pop hero in the classic sense of the word: tall, rippling biceps, Caucasian, nigh-invulnerable. But other aspects of his story aren't so typical. His wife, Dhalua, is black, and the two have a biracial daughter. His arch-enemy is Ingrid Weiss, a genetically engineered Nazi superwoman, who represents all of the evil things that Strong could have been created to be.

In this way, Strong is the antidote to critics who might charge that Western popular culture is white-centric and paternalistic. Strong may be the titular superhero as well as husband and father, but he is in no way patriarchal. On at least one occasion, it is Dhalua and Tesla who come to Tom's rescue at the hands of something far more sinister than he ever could have become. Both women are strong characters, operating as part of a family unit, but at the same time fiercely independent.

I can't say much more without giving away the ending. But in the end, all of the Strongs must do battle with the worst that humankind has to offer, and the evil that Tom could have become had he -- and the people who canonized him a hero -- made a few different choices.

And now Dave with A Distant Soil: The Gathering:

Colleen Doran's A Distant Soil is nothing if not ambitious; Doran has been working on the story for over a decade, mixing science fiction, Arthurian legend, traditional fantasy and other elements into a far-reaching epic. The Gathering collects the early issues of the series and effectively introduces the setting and most of the characters.

Siblings Jason and Liana are prisoners of a scientific institute bent on exploiting their telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Jason orchestrates a break-out from the institute, but is soon separated from his younger sister; a gang tries to strip the seemingly-defenseless Liana of her belongings, only to be stopped by police sergeant Minetti. Liana's attackers quickly become her would-be protectors when a group of strangely-armed pursuers attempt to take her into custody; she makes short work of them with her powers, only to encounter yet more strange visitors. D'Mer and Rieken are emissaries from an alien resistance movement that wants to overthrow the Hierarchy of their society, Ovanan - the Hierarchy has deemed Jason and Liana to be a threat that must be eliminated, so the resistance is determined to protect them and enlist their help. To aid the cause, D'Mer and Rieken recruit a band of adventurers that includes Minetti, a gang member named Brent, a mysteriously-arrived-in-the-20th-Century Sir Galahad, an alien shapeshifter, and others. At the same time, a different cell of the resistance rescues Jason from the Hierarchy, and reveals that his father was actually an exile from their world. This alien heritage is the source of Jason and Liana's power, and the reason the resistance wants Jason to help them kill the avatar, the central power behind Ovanan.

As I said, it's pretty dense, and I've even left out a plot twist or two to give you a reason to read the book - but Doran makes it work here. A few minor members of the extensive cast of characters get lost in the shuffle, but Doran usually succeeds in distinguishing them both in terms of character and appearance. Her black and white artwork is very sharp, and may be a case where color can only distract from the crisp lines and strong design and layout. (I base this judgment on a comparison of the Distant Soil interiors with the color covers and other colored artwork Doran has done - while that work is quite good, her black and white work is somehow even more vivid.) The linework is very detailed, and the alien architecture and landscapes are handled very well. The various psychic linkages and astral explorations are also well-designed, with a great sense of composition that conveys the intense, dreamlike quality of these moments.

Having already praised the premise, the writing, and the artwork, I should take a moment to commend Doran on her cast of characters, which draws from a diverse range of ethnicities, social strata, and sexual orientations in a realistic manner. It's done very matter-of-factly, so I don't want to make a big deal of it, but it does deserve a mention. It really only makes sense - Doran has worked hard to make this fantastic world as believable and detailed as possible, and the diversity of the cast is but one of the ways she accomplishes this. Science fiction/fantasy fans who immerse themselves in that world with this volume will not be disappointed.