I have heard a lot of good things about the first Issue of Think Tank by Matt Hawkins and Rahsan
Ekedal from Top Cow. Always being one to
give in to peer pressure, I figured I would give it a shot. Let’s get right down to it:
Cover:
The
cover works well as an illustration.
Generally I like the cover to have more to do with the content of the
book, but I do know that the first issue of any series generally has a more generic
cover featuring the main character(s).
For that I give this one a pass. While
the cover doesn’t really tell you what is inside the book, it gives you an idea
what’s inside the main character as the confidence and downright cockiness that
Dr. David Loren has in himself and his ability can be seen in that smug look on
his face. In that respect, Ekedal got
the characterization on the cover absolutely perfect.
The coloring is great on the cover
and the design is also successful, using multiple subtle lines to bring the
reader’s attention to the focal point: Loren’s face and that smart-ass smirk
that says a lot about the person that he is, as well as what being smarter than
everyone else and engineering weapons of death and destruction for a living can
do to someone’s psyche.
The only real issue that I have
with the cover art is that the left hand of Loren looks a little small (and
this is actually a chronic problem throughout the book as many of the
characters’ hands/wrists appear abnormally slender). That is not major and probably is not noticed
by someone not looking for it. However,
the title is not entirely clear. I knew
what the cover to the first issue looked like so I easily located it on the
shelf, but for those that did not know, or someone that was not necessarily
looking for this book but just happened upon it on the shelf may skip right
over it as the title fails to pop. I
would have suggested that there be no obstruction of the letters themselves,
leaving them a stark white. That would
surely pop out against the background.
7/10 – The only thing that really knocks this down for a ten
is the logo. Other than that it is a
fairly effective cover that is not only designed well, but executed well,
especially the coloring.
Story:
This is
where Think Tank really shines. I can honestly say that this took me a while
to read (though to be fair I did have to stop frequently to help my four year
old read his comic) but it is exactly the right amount of investment that I
want to put into a comic. I don’t want
to pay three to four dollars for a book and finish it in less time than it
takes me to take a shit. There is no
evident decompression here as this book is jam packed with content and it still
leaves off at a great cliffhanger that makes me want to pick up the next issue
right away. Loren and the other
characters are written consistently throughout the book and Matt Hawkins does a
great job of making us feel for Loren as a victim of his own creation. He is quite possibly the smartest person on
the planet but he is not like some of the other, traditionally genius
characters in comics; he is not a billionaire with his own private jets and portals
to the negative zone.
Loren is a government employee that
has to deal with the moral quandary of being a creator of death dealing
weaponry. This takes the traditional
“with great power comes great responsibility” superhero trope and brings it
down to earth. Instead of asking “what
would Spiderman do?” it asks “what would you do?” because there is nothing
truly fantastical and unbelievable about the content of this book Sure,
some of the technology exhibited here could be seen as a bit over the top, but
it is not technology that is completely impossible as Hawkins does a great job
of grounding everything in reality. While there are only a few people that can
identify with having David Loren levels of intelligence, that is still way more
people than those that can identify with fighting Doctor Octopus on any given
day.
I love the fact that Loren’s “rivalry”
with a fellow member of the think tank was not only mentioned, but actually
expanded upon in the very same issue! I know, novel idea, right. Hawkins gives us the teaser and I remember at
the time thinking to myself “I wonder how long it will be until we get to learn
more of this story”. Fear not, brain,
for your answer is just a flip of the page away. Hawkins could have probably milked that
teaser for issues, but he didn’t, and I actually respect him more for it.
One of my favorite things about
this book is that it does not feel like it is written as a movie test
script. It feels like it is written as a
comic by someone that remembers when the majority of comics were good every
month instead of just average. This is
an incredibly interesting and well written book and deserves to be picked up
for the story alone.
10/10 – I loved the story and the jerk with a heart of gold
that David Loren is so far. Hawkins
writes him, and the rest of the characters for that matter, realistically and
convincingly, and it is really a job well done.
Art:
This is
where we start to run into some issues with the book. Let me get this out of the way first though;
I love the inkwash! This is a breath of
fresh air in a comic industry that is consumed by over coloring their comic books.
It is no coincidence in my mind that two of my favorite comics that have
come out this year are Punk Rock Jesus
and Think Tank, and neither have
colored interiors. That being said, I
will reiterate that the colors on the cover (which I assume are by Brian Reber
but if not I apologize) are quite good.
Ekedal does a great job of
character design, and even the small things like giving Loren a five o’clock
shadow adds to his representation as a “slacker genius”. While the solid black line around every
figure tends to flatten out the characters a bit, Ekedal does a good job of
using the interior lines (just look at how he renders the aforementioned five o’clock
shadow) to round out the characters into more three-dimensional beings. 
This is what I mean by big head and small hands/wrists
As I said earlier, it seems that Ekedal struggles with
proportions just a bit as heads appear a touch too large in some panels as well
as hands and wrists too small/slender.
This is not rampant throughout the book but it does break up the natural
flow that Hawkins has created with the story as I found myself stopping and
having to double-take a couple panels.
The biggest issue that I have with the art is that many of the
characters look different from page to page, even panel to panel. It is not that they are so off as to be
completely unrecognizable but again, it is something that causes me to take
pause and have to look back to make sure.
It took me until my second readthrough to determine that the character on the left might not be a younger version of David Loren (to be fair and prove that I am not just a big dummy, the entire page is full of Loren talking) Regardless, I am not wild on how the eyes on the character on the left are drawn, but that's more a personal preference than anything.
Where is the top of his head? This is some Andy Kubert proportions right here.
Ekedal’s
use of backgrounds and especially his use of the inkwash in the backgrounds is
excellent. He successfully uses the
medium to differentiate the various planes (fore, middle, background and
everything inbetween) and he seems incredibly comfortable in that medium which,
as I said before, is a different and welcome take on how comics are rendered.
I love how everything here is clear even though it is all in various shades of grey. Ekedal has shown that he has mastered the inkwash technique.
This may be one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite panel in the book. There is so much going on but it is all clear and wonderfully designed.
I like the motion in the top panel and the emotion in the face of the character on the left. However, David Loren looks concerned in the bottom panel which is not necessarily part of his character. I would think that either a blank expression or a smug look of indifference would be more in line with how he is portrayed in the book, even in light of the threats that are levied against him.
7/10 – The art is quite good, and the issues that I have
with it will in no way negatively impact my desire to purchase issue two.
Overall:
9/10 – Good art is paired with a great story. It is definitely a comic that I will be
following and hopefully a lot of others will as well, as Hawkins and Ekedal
deserve time to build up more of their story.
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