America's Best Comics (DC)
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America's Best Comics is a comic book publishing brand.
It was set up by Alan Moore in 1999 as an imprint of Wildstorm, an idea proposed to Moore by Wildstorm founder Jim Lee when it was still under Image Comics.
Under the ABC imprint, Moore has penned many well-regarded series; the most well-known being The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, an intelligently-written strip which merged several famous Victorian-era fiction characters into one world. Other notable series include Tom Strong, an homage to pulp fiction heroes such as Tarzan and Doc Savage; Top 10, a drama set around a police precinct in a city where everyone has superpowers; and Promethea, one of Moore's most personal pieces which detailed Moore's view on magic.
Peter Hogan and Rick Veitch had their own spin-off series, Terra Obscura and Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset respectively, and Steve Moore (no relation) co-wrote Tom Strong's Terrific Tales with Moore.
Regular contributing artists include Kevin O'Neill, Chris Sprouse, Rick Veitch, J.H. Williams III, Gene Ha, Zander Cannon, Kevin Nowlan, Hilary Barta, Melinda Gebbie, Jim Baikie, Yanick Paquette, and Art Adams.
All the lettering for the ABC line is done by Todd Klein, with the exception of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which was handled by Bill Oakley.
Wildstorm was later sold to DC Comics without Moore's knowledge, although the Internet was buzzing with the news of what Moore would do to Lee upon discovering the truth. This was because Moore had sworn years earlier that he would never work for DC again.
According to the interview Moore gave George Khoury in the book The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore, when Lee first saw Alan Moore after the takeover, the tall figure of Moore holding his snake-headed walking stick impressed Lee so, he was sure Moore - who was then still ignorant of the sale - was going to beat him senseless. Moore was reluctant at first, but ultimately decided to accept his new situation as he had promised work to a number of his artist friends from Rob Liefeld's defunct Awesome Comics line. In the same interview, he said that it was better to go back against a principle for the greater good, than to have no principles in life at all.
Moore announced that the imprint's 'universe' would end with the 32nd issue of Promethea, where the ABC Universe would be met with the Apocalypse. Moore wrote the last issue of Tom Strong and two 64-page Tomorrow Stories specials offering a final farewell to most of ABC's characters.
Before those final stories, the ABC line continued a little while longer under other writers. Tom Strong, for example, had been written entirely by guest authors since November 2003. These authors have included; Peter Hogan, Geoff Johns, Mark Schultz, Steve Aylett, Brian K. Vaughan, Ed Brubaker and Michael Moorcock. A sequel to Top 10 called Beyond The Farthest Precinct has been penned by novelist Paul Di Filippo and artist Jerry Ordway and another title, written by Peter Hogan and Steve Moore, was going to explore the remaining secrets of all of the major ABC characters. This mini-series, America's Best Comics: A to Z, started in September 2005 but was cancelled after four issues.