The story of successful genius billionaire in comics has been done to death so its a breath of fresh air that the boy genius is kind of a screw up. Enter child prodigy Dr. David Loren, the star of Image Comics new series Think Tank. An inventor and all around slacker David seems to enjoy his genius and the lifestyle it affords him. Imagine the college dorm roommate who just sits around philosophizing about grand ideas, but in David’s case he could actually make them happen. He works on the DARPA project for the U.S. government and his sole job is to come up with military equipment to help soldiers in the field.

David is conflicted because he isn’t alright with the idea of inventing things that will aid in the killing of others. So we now have a moral center and that’s needed because David is kind of a douche. He is immensely intelligent but doesn’t really care about the people around him or what they think of him. He uses his partner, Manish, as a water carrier for his personal laziness (i.e. – sends him to meetings instead of going himself). The moral conflict of the story is the strongest point, but isn’t heavily explored. I’d imagine this gets flushed out sooner rather than later. Once David decides he going to care about doing something meaningful he makes a grave mistake in underestimating someone and something. I’m very anxious to see how things progress in that direction.

The writing is well done and the story is paced properly. Matt Hawkins’s story, so far, is enjoyable. Dr. Loren while a jerk in a sense, has a very likeable quality to him. There isn’t a ton of direct dialogue but more so narration from David. This lends well to the whole genius premise. His superior intellect should be used for more internal processing than just constantly babbling. Rahsan Ekedal’s artwork really sells the comic. He uses heavy lines to shadow characters which is a personal favorite style of mine. All and all the first outing isn’t too bad, but not groundbreaking either. Its worth a read, and if Hawkins is daring, the series will get pretty intense pretty fast.

Review of Think Tank #1
Jay's Rating
Overall Review

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