THINK TANK – SEASON 1 (Issues #1-#12) — COSMIC TREADMILL

The last issue of Top Cow’s President and COO Matt Hawkins’ Think Tank: Season 1 hits shelves next Wednesday, February 12th.

Imagine being a successful comic book bigwig and a physicist and television producer and on top of all that, write a number of titles for Top Cow and Image!

With an insider’s view of the comic making industry, the back matter for Think Tank often has Matt speaking on readership numbers, legal and illegal. The Science Class at the end of the book also goes in-depth to his research and theoretical military tech used in the book.

Issue #12’s glossary announces what is next for the black and white spy-fi series as it embarks on a newly colored life in Season 2 and a one shot in March!

Review copies come my way, and also I am willing to try new books when one catches my attention from the media or by its cover on my weekly trip to the shop.  

 Think Tank had been on viewfinder for months. I was intrigued by the concept, and I can highly recommend this book for fans of G.I. Joe, 24, and more recently The Activity or Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Matt Hawkins and Rahsan Ekedal are the co-creators of this present-day military drama starring slacker drone pilot and super genius inventor Dr. David Loren.

From mind-reading tablet apps, to scary almost real world genetically triggered smart bombs, Loren’s inventions are under military contract. But that doesn’t always mean he agrees with their applications.

After all of the characters are introduced, we’re treated to some really upper level brass conspiring against Dr. Loren and his partners.

What are mostly just pranks and personnel tricks in the first few issues escalate quickly into international espionage, kidnapping, assassination attempts and the start of World War III,

I was taught in college to be skeptical of the media and what the military wants people to believe. Matt struck that funny bone more than once for me while reading this series.

The similarities to Larry Hama’s Marvel G.I. Joe run are what makes this series outstanding. More to the point, remember how Larry had a slew of military acronyms always at the ready for MRE* or C-4* (Meals Ready to Eat, and Plastic Explosive) in the caption boxes? We’ve got those in Think Tank, but with more meat to the bone and extensive resources if you want to do your own healthily skeptical research! A lot of Think Tank is like telling a great G.I. Joe: Special Missions story through the eyes of one highly trained and extremely talented specialist’s eyes. I could eat this stuff up all day.

Back to the comic market aspect of the book. The art is amazing, Rahsan Ekedal can draw his characters equally as naturally in a therapist’s appointment or jumping out of a Black Hawk helicopter. The book is toned in black and white rather than colored, and the creators will be making an adjustment with an oversized, full color one-shot in March as Loren helps a SEAL team member cope in Think Tank Fun With PTSD #1.

Selling comics is a hard business. Let’s not forget about the competition for attention on the store shelves when considering making your own product. Even with advantages like vanity imprints on your independent comic book work can make it difficult for the book to get the exposure it may need amongst Big Two relaunches and crossover events.

Top Cow’s Think Tank is a near perfect comic book for me to get into, but I passed over these issues in my weekly pull for over a year. Was it because of the black and white interior? Not sure. Was it too nerdy for me, or did I feel like the concepts might be over my head initially? Possibly.

Hawkins most assuredly has a hit on his hands for comic fans like me, so hopefully trades of Season 1 translate into some attention for Season 2. Or, as he explains in the back matter of issues #10—12, simply enough people aren’t talking about Think Tank and it’s a shame! I’ll be looking forward to more political commentary, camouflage suits, drone insects and explosions in the full color Season 2!

If ComiXology is your bag, baby, keep this a top ranked digital title for Top Cow and check out issues #1-11 today and finish the run with #12 next Wednesday!