Many Worlds of Tesla StrongI chose the variant, because I like it more, though Bruce Timm did a nice regular cover.
Creative Team: Peter Hogan-writer, Alan Moore-plot assist; Chris Sprouse & Karl Story, Michael Golden, Adam Hughes (& Story), Phil Noto, Art Adams, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (PBHN), Frank Cho, J Scott Campbell, Claudio Castellini, and Jason Pearson (Whew!)-art; Todd Klein-letters, Dave Stewart & Phil Noto-colors, Scott Dunbier-making sense of it all.
Synopsis: Tesla Strong, Pneuman and King Solomon are putting away some gear, when Solomon accidentally fires a loaded bazooka. They go to clean the mess up and he decides he wants to check out the newly repaired Searchboard and he accidentally activates the controls and warps across dimensions. The board returns without him and Tesla goes looking for him.
Tesla emerges in a dark, devastated area and hears a voice yelling at her. It is Tekla Strong, one of her dimensional counterparts, she tells her to land and get inside, but the hatch light goes out and Tesla learns about what Tekla fears.....mutated cockroaches!
They fight their way through the infestation and the light comes back on an they get inside the underground facility. Tekla tells her that the world was all but destroyed in a nuclear exchange, between the US and Soviet Union. Tom Strong built the facility, which houses 40,000 survivors. The only others are some Mormons and the Swiss. They, too, have lost an ape, Archimedes, The Atomic Ape. He fell through a warp gate they use to hunt for a new Earth, but can only use sparingly, due to the power drain. Tesla says she will continue the search, on the Searchboard.
She warps again and emerges under water. She is saved from drowning by the mermaid, Tori Strong. Tori gets some gear, from Winston, a man sailing on a boat. They dive back under the sea to the sight of Millennis, a vast city, on the ocean floor. Tori explains how her father saw the coming threat of global warming....
They go to talk to Tori's father and tell him of the missing Solomon and Archimedes and he says the sea monkey, Poseidon, has also disappeared. Tesla promises to look for him and moves on to continue the search, while wondering if there is some kind of quantum connection to these missing apes.
Tesla next lands in the talking animal world of Warren Strong and discovers his children in trouble, captured by Basil Saveen......
She bops Saveen on the noggin and frees the kids: Topsy, Turvy and Delilah (actually named Fluffy Tail). Tesla asks if they have seen a gorilla and they say, sure, their math teacher, Mr Pythagoras. He was demonstrating geometry, when a see-saw catapulted him into a hole in the sky. Tesla thanks them and continues the monkey hunt.
Elsewhere, King Solomon wakes up and finds himself in a rather crowded place...with other versions of himself!
Tesla next lands in a small apartment, home of Tesla Terrific, in her disguise as dorky Tara Strong, college student. Tara tells Tesla to put on her wig and glasses and jersey and they are interrupted by Ms LaGuna, her neighbor, who is snooping. She sees Tesla Terrific and Tara Strong, together, for the first time. Tesls shoos her out then explains that Tara is her cover and Ms Laguna keeps snooping and she must hide her identity. Tesla Strong explains her quest and Tesla Terrific offers to use the monitors at the Strongbox. Along the way, they stop to defeat Tinkertoy and his giant mecha....
They mop up, then Tesa terrific tells her that there is no sign of Solomon, but Terrifo, The Science Ape is also missing. Tesla moves on to find more clues.
Tesla next emerges in the lair of the Spider Priestess, who has Tes of the Tigers trussed up in her web, menaced by her pets....
She frees Tes and they escape to the jungle and meet her tiger friend, Rajah. Tesla asks if she is missing a gorilla; and, would you believe it? Tes is missing one too. Off Tesla goes to the next dimension.
She emerges on the world of Tamala Strong and her nudist parents. In fact, every one goes around naked, engaging in free sex, uninhibited....
After an aggressive invitation to join them and Tammy's boyfriends (plural) in a hot tob, Tesla scoots off, without even asking about missing (presumed naked) apes.
Tesla ends up in the world of Quetzalcoatl-9, the serpent tech god from Tom Strong #3. He is still trying to get his people to give up blood sacrifices. he helps Tesla by analyzing traces on the Searchboard and identifies the dimension where Solomon emerged. Tesla thanks him and mentions the plight of Tekla's people and the tech-serpent god sugegsts they might be able to aid him with his experiment. Tesla moves on.
Tesla finds herself on Eath-B, the counterpart to tesla terrific's Earth-A, where the Strongs are science criminals. They capture her and take away the Searchboard....
On her world, Tesla's mother and father find Pneuman and the mess and learn of Tesla's quest. Tom goes to prepare another Searchboard.
Meanwhile, Tesla is awakened by cold water to the face and finds herself chained to a dungeon wall, where Twyla Strong intends to play with her. She tells her that they programmed the Searchboard to bring Tom Strong there, when they met up with them in issue #10; but, they got Solomon, instead. They thought he might then follow after his ape, but Tesla came. Now, they have sent a bomb to the Stronghold, on the Seatchboard. Twyla leaves Tesla in the dark.
Tesla despairs of her fate, when a block from the wall slides out and gentleman adventurer Peter Saveen appears, to rescue her. He frees her, but she believes they are too late to stop the bomb. Peter tells her to cheer up, Professor Parallax can aid them and they move off. He introduces her to Ilsa Weiss, the counterpart to Ingrid Weiss, the mad Nazi enemy of Tom Strong. On this world, National Socialism saved people, until defeated by Tiberius Strong. He fathered her son, Alois, but had murdered his previous wife. They go to the Sprang Typewriter factory, where the dimensional apes are held, behind a forcefield. They find other Searchboards and outfit Tesla with one and a time machine, invented by Prof Parallax. Tesla and Peter Saveen travel in time and see Tesla being brought to the dungeon, by Twyla Strong and her father. He then sends Tesla off on the Searchboard, to stop the bomb, as it emerges.
Tesla arrives in time and alerts her father, giving him coordinates to divert the bomb. He follows them and it shifts to Tekla's world, exploding over the ruins of the past. She explains the situation, but says they only have one bard. Tom shows her the two-seater model he has built and Dhalua joins them. When she heard Tesla talk about Ilsa Weiss, she got a look in her eyes. They take the boards to Earth-B, where Ilsa has succeeded in freeing the apes, who are battling Tiberius Strong. tesla and her family join the fight. They get some aid from Quetzalcoatal-9 and defeat Tiberius Strong, while Tesla kicks Twyla's twisted hinder. Tekla's people are moved to Quetzalcoatl-9's world, to aid in his experiment with free world, on an Eden-like planet. They keep Tiberius Strong as a prisoner. Tom Strong has arranged a therapist for him. He and Tesla leave to go explore a bit, before dinner.
Thoughts: A fun little romp through alternate realities, with the many Tesla Strong dopplegangers introduced in issue #10 of Tom Strong, where a previous Searchboard incident brought the other Toms & Teslas to the Stronghold. We also get to see alternate Paul Saveens and Ingrid Weiss, plus a reappearance of Quetzalcoatl-9, from issue #3. It's a bit choppy an episodic, as you would expect, but it lets the various artists go nuts with an alternate reality. Chris Sprouse & Karl Story handle the end pieces, while Michael Golden handles the horror of Tekla Strong's world. Adam Hughes and Karl Story do the mermaid world and Phil Noto the funny animal stuff, leaving the ape gathering for Art Adams. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez essays Tesla Terrific, rather in the style of the Supergirl adventures that inspired this take. Frank Cho does the cheesecake for Tes of the Tigers (and a bit of jungle bondage) and then J Scott Campbell handles the sex comedy stuff, with Tammy Strong and her parents. Claudio Castellini gets the Aztec world and Jason Pearson bats cleanup, with Earth-B and Twyla Strong. Each segment is geared towards their strengths, so all are well matched to the subject, which makes up for the abruptness of individual segments. The climax is a little rushed, but full of nice poetic justice moments, such as Tiberius Strong being smooshed by a giant Aztec ape and Dhalua being uneasy around Ilsa, as she brings up too many memories of Ingrid Weiss. She even calls her a hussy, to Tesla, despite the fact that she is virtuous and aided in the battle.
By this point, Alan Moore is starting to withdraw from the ABC line, involving other writers, such as Peter Hogan, who will handle the upcoming Terra Obscura mini-series, while Moore concentrates on wrapping up the main books. His involvement with Tom Strong has a few more issues and Terrific Tales has another 5, but he already farms out some of that. League will have one more contractual arc, after Vol 2 (Black Dossier) and there is the Smax mini-series and the 49ers graphic novel, from the Top 10 series. He sees Promethea through to its conclusion. I may return to summarize that, in the wrap up of this thread, when we get to that point.