I enjoyed the first few issues of Tech Jacket, but lost track of the series, an all-too-common result of my fairly large reading list. Since I'm a guy who leans toward trades these days, and a guy who loves the digest/manga format, you'd think I would be thrilled by this packaging of Kirkman and Su's teenage super-hero/science-fiction series. And there is a lot to like here, but I think Image fumbled a couple of important decisions in the packaging, and seeing the whole story together, some of the flaws that didn't jump out at me in single issue form become much clearer. Tech Jacket: Lost and Found offers up a teenage hero with heart, plenty of great action and an intriguing story, but it also leaves a lot of unanswered questions and suffers from some weak transitions.
Tech Jacket wears its influences on its sleeve, ranging from Spider-Man to Jackie Chan film The Tuxedo to Green Lantern. The story begins with Zack as the lovable loser type, not quite as put-upon as Peter Parker but certainly not the most popular kid in school either. However, Zack's relationship with his father is stronger and more honest than most parent-child relationships in comics, reminding me of the similarly-strong family dynamic that Kirkman handles in Invincible, and the focus of the story really isn't on how Zack interacts with high school and normal life, at least in this first issue. Tech Jacket really seems like a wish-fulfillment book for teenage readers, as the teen hero gets cool super-powers and a visit to an alien civilization soon after.
Indeed, Tech Jacket really sort of ditches Zack's normal life altogether in the middle of the story and takes him off into outer space, where he learns to use his alien weapon and becomes the major factor in changing the course of a long-running interstellar war. Kirkman plays with archetypes that have been used in science-fiction films like Last Starfighter and Star Wars in making the inexperienced young hero into a savior, the only hope of this advanced race, adding popularity and fame to the wish-fulfillment list as well. As with Invincible, Kirkman keeps things fairly light, and there's not a big sense of danger or moral ambiguity in the war, even though Zack is pretty much killing a lot of his foes. I kept expecting a role reversal where we learned that the Geldarians aren't quite as nice as they seem, but it doesn't happen, at least not yet.
E.J. Su does a good job with the normal life stuff, but where he really shines is when he gets to draw the science-fiction backdrops and war in action. The space battle sequences are terrific, with an overwhelming number of enemies and plenty of high-tech slugfest, and it's clear that while Su is no slouch at dealing with people, his real skills lie in the depiction of detailed and cool-looking technology. The final battle between Zack and the Kresh, ranging through space and into a massive alien city, is spectacular, and definitely the visual climax of the book.
There are a couple of problems which struck me in serial format but which are highlighted even more in this trade collection, however. We're presented that Zack is a fairly responsible young man with close ties to his family, but when he disappears into space with the Geldarians, he doesn't even spare a moment's thought for what his family must be thinking, that they're likely to believe him dead or kidnapped. In keeping the angst low, Kirkman instead makes Zack look a little callous or extremely clueless. In addition, there are some things introduced in the book, including the mobster who made a loan to Zack's father or the way Zack's parents react to his return, that again read like wish-fulfillment, presenting Zack as a sort of do-no-wrong character, and I would have liked to see a little more conflict in the way he chooses his actions. There are certainly moral questions that go completely unaddressed, reminiscent of the old days when Batman would happily shoot his foes or drop them into vats of acid, and I find that moral certainty less interesting.
My biggest problem, though, is with the format of this graphic novel. Tech Jacket is a concept which worked well in color, and I question the decision to remove the color. Especially when the price doesn't warrant it. Image, like so many other publishers, is experimenting with the digest format, but they seem to have missed the point a little bit. If you're going to make the artwork smaller, you almost have to match the $9.95 price point that has been set by TokyoPop, Viz and Crossgen, especially if you're taking out the color, which is one of the reasons you could expect to charge more.
