Think Tank
By Matt Hawkins
Illustrated by Rashan Ekedal
Image Comics, 2012 (and beyond)
Think tank is a series of graphic novels of the military fiction/spy genre. It follows a genius scientist working for the US government who grows a conscience and decides to leave service... by any means necessary.
I am somewhat limited in my ability to review the series, as I have only read the first volume and am not particularly motivated to continue. However, the general format is fairly straightforward. Dr. David Loren is a snide and snarky genius who can invent pretty much any near-future tech that he puts his mind to -- and he can do it quickly and without his superiors noticing. This is important, because while he is not anti-military, he is very anti-working-for-the-military. The narration alternates between flashbacks to his younger days, pranks he plays on military staff, and his constant friction with the higher ups... and of course, his escape attempts.
The art and the dialog aren't very compelling, but there are two decent hooks. This is a basically fact-based work, which is to say that all the technology exists or is in the process of being developed. Moreover, the technology is all pretty cool military hardware, from drones to invisibility cloaks to customized acids. At the back of the volume there is a 'Science Class' section which reviews the hardware, the military systems, and the science in the story, with notes on how close current technology is to matching the story and links to further reading.
Oh, and the action-adventure component isn't too bad either. There are no spies here (at least, not yet...), but there are a lot of soldiers running around with advanced technology and failing to catch a scientist-cum-escape artist. Which is good fun. Unfortunately, the action is interrupted by the rather wordy (and cramped) science narration, and vice versa.
Overall, this is probably a good graphic novel for you if you are into graphic novels, military technology, and action. The art is pretty good but uneven, and the character development is limited -- at least, in the first volume. Even so this is a high quality production, with more heft than a lot of the graphic novels out there. And despite me personally being slightly underwhelmed, it has received a lot of very good reviews.