n 1899, scientist and inventor Sinclair Strong and his wife Susan left America to live on the remote island of Attabar Teru, so that Sinclair could conduct his experiments in isolation. Their only companion was their Pneumatic Man (or Pneuman), a "steam calculator" automaton, although they soon came to know the native inhabitants of the island, the Ozu.
On New Year's Day, 1900, Susan gives birth to Tomas, whom Sinclair plans to make his greatest experiment of all. Rearing the boy in an increased-gravity environment, and nourishing him on pure Reason and the local Goloka root (which he learned from the Ozu promotes longevity and higher cognitive awareness), Sinclair hopes to raise a near-perfect human being. Unfortunately, the Strongs do not live to see the results, as an earthquake takes their lives when Tom is only eight.
After spending the rest of his youth with the Ozu, in the 1920s Tom Strong heads for America. There, with his superhuman strength, intellect and longevity, he becomes the guardian of Millennium City, and a world renowned "science champion." Tom Strong is ready to face danger, but he does not have to do so alone.
He marries Dhalua, a young woman (relatively speaking, of course, given that they all eat Goloka root) of the Ozu. She gives birth to a daughter, Tesla. Also joining the family is a talking gorilla, King Solomon, who is forever at odds with the mechanical Pneuman.
Tom and his extended family protect Millennium City from the likes of the diabolical Paul Saveen, the menacing artificial intelligence known as The Modular Man, a bunch of conquering Aztecs from an alternate universe, the alluring but deadly Swastika Girls, and the primordial life form known as the Pangaean. It's a good thing all those applications for the Strongmen of America keep pouring in!
Something old, something new
One of the titles from America's Best Comics, a recent imprint of DC Comics, Tom Strong is a comic book very much about comic books. Many of the stories are told as comics within comics. The villains and heroes can thrive for more than a hundred years, making Tom Strong a broadly accessible series about history, sentimentality and the timeless theme of good versus evil.
This volume of the ongoing Tom Strong series collects the first seven issues, a number of which have been nominated for and won various comic book industry awards, including the esteemed Eisner Award. This collection also provides extra goodies not included in the original, individual issues, such as an in-depth backstory for the series and some character sketches.
The comic's creators use a number of fictional and artistic styles, generating great stories from old and new characters and premises. Renowned writer Alan Moore (The Watchmen, From Hell) does a superb job of storytelling, producing rich and exciting dialogue and plots. The masterfully vibrant art of Chris Sprouse (who supplies most of the pencils for this collection--many of the flashback or "Untold Tales" sequences have art by other notables like Arthur Adams and Dave Gibbons), inker Alan Gordon, and colorists Tad Ehrlich and Mike Garcia of Wildstorm FX, effectively bring to life everything from the minutiae of scientific contraptions to the enormity of the landscapes, including the fantastical, Metropolis-esque Millennium City.
And, while the characterization in Tom Strong is on the flat side, it's an appropriate choice of tone for the series and doesn't stop the characters from being very entertaining. Moore and the artists successfully explore a number of characters within a short expanse of time, from Tom's Victorian parents, to the quippy King Solomon and Pneuman, to the dastardly villains that Tom Strong's heroes have to face time and again.
