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This is certainly in the "guilty pleasure" category, not because it's not done really well (it is) but because it's hard to explain why it would be worth doing. As many many people have pointed out, it can pretty much be summed up as "Hill Street Blues meets Astro City," that is, it's a cop show set in a city where everyone is a superhero (or a robot, alien, or Godzilla). The sight of Alan Moore deciding to do this, presumably stoned out of his mind and giggling fit to die, would make a pretty entertaining comic too. Anyway, it goes without saying that Moore has done a fair job of inventing all the superheroes that everyone else forgot to invent and matching them up with various cop-show stereotypes... but typically for him, in the middle of this kind of pointless exercise, he sneaks in an image that made me just stare and cry: Hyperdog, the hero who looks like a guy with a dog's head but is really a dog who sits inside a life-sized human puppet because it makes him look cool. A lot of the credit goes to the artists, who make the whole thing look kind of lush and crunchy. ( )

It's got Ultra Mice and Atom Cats! ( )

One of Alan Moore's best works. It's a wacky read that never goes completely off the rails. For example, a dog in a metal suit could have just been a one-off gag, but Moore develops the character and his relationships (both professional and romantic) masterfully.

While there is an overarching plot, Moore takes us on a number of detours that only add to the fun. The battle between the superpowered mice and cats and Ex-Verminator's consequent woes are probably my favorite scenes.

I thought the story developed a little too slowly, but once we get out of the opening scenes, things start rolling along nicely.

Gene Ha's artwork is incredibly detailed, and nearly every panel is filled with snarky details and references. His character drawings come across as a bit stiff, but it doesn't detract much from the visuals.

All in all, this is a graphic you'll be rereading numerous times. ( )

An extremely simple premise - cop show meets superhero reality - that turns out be to surprisingly fun and at times touching. ( )