Tech Jacket #5
Publisher: Image
Writer: Joe Keatinge
Artist: Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez
Cover: Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez
Their home destroyed by an alien escape pod; their son, Zach, lost somewhere in the galaxy; and an all too convenient solution to the Thompson’s problems arrive in billionaire Nicholas Crowe. Crowe wants possession of the Tech Jacket worn by Zach to see if he can duplicate it and manufacture his own security force for the Earth. However, after getting a glimpse of his past and how that has shaped him, Keatinge has made it very hard for the reader to trust that Crowe has nothing but good intentions. All the while, Zach is actually being controlled by the entity known as the Colossal, and things aren’t particularly going well for our hero.
Keatinge puts quite a bit of focus this issue on Crowe’s manipulation of the Thompson family. He does well with having him play on their parental instincts of wanting to protect their son, but makes you question if he’s really a “bad” guy or just an opportunist with good intentions. His motives to protect Earth seem quite legit, and Keatinge hasn’t shown us anything yet to prove otherwise, but he does seem more than willing to go all the way for what he wants. Zach still comes off pretty fun even with the situation as dire as it is. His dialogue with The Colossal shows that he’s still very rough around the edges due to his age, but it’s still enjoyable to see him make mistakes along the way.
The artwork continues to look great as Randolph and Lopez show why they’re such a superb team. Regardless of if you’re watching a dialogue heavy sequence or things are moving at break neck speed, you’re going to get some great visuals. The action scenes are huge and have some crazy perspectives that really put them over, but it’s great to see Randolph pull back and move the narrative along at a moderate pace as well. Something that was done quite well during Zach’s conversations with the Colossal.
Tech Jacket is sci-fi fun that is fit for any fan of the genre, and with the arc wrapping up next issue hopefully the creative team ends it just as big and exciting as when they started!
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