By GustavoLeao / 11:58, 19 June 2009 / Trek Books

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SPECIAL ADVANCE COMIC BOOK REVIEW

William Shatner Presents The TekWar Chronicles #1

Reviewed by Patrick Hayes aka PatBorg

The covers: There are three to choose from.  I only saw the Cover "A" by interior artist Erich Owen.  It consists of five characters: the robot parole officer, protagonist Jake Cardigan with weapon drawn, an unnamed male that appears in a (can't spoil) sequence, a woman running, and Walter Bascom.  It sums up what you're in for--a futuristic tale with some hard boiled action.  It's okay, it's just not dynamic.  This is the first issue of the comic and I would be putting everything I could into making this cover as compelling as possible against all other product that comes out on Wednesday to get a customer to pick it up.  This cover is average.  There is a "B" cover by Mike Coffey and a "C" cover by Erich Owen (this information is stated on the inside front cover).  I'll include an email addition should I see the other two.  Overall grade: Cover "A" C.

The story: William Shatner and Scott Davis do a decent job in setting up the story of Jake Cardigan, former police officer, fresh out of "sleep" in prison.  The Tek War franchise began when Shatner was working on Star Trek V, and there have been numerous novels, televisions movies, a television series, and a previous 15 issue comic series from Marvel.  If you're worried that you're going to be missing out on stuff, don't worry.  You can begin your introduction to the Tekverse here and be fine.  In a space station/prison Cardigan is pulled out of his induced sleep by a robot parole officer who tells him his time is served.  Having been in prison for several years, Jake is anxious to find his wife and son, but is told they are off limits for him.  This increases his depression as he is also a former Tek addict (think addiction to being in the Matrix before there was "The Matrix").  The history of Tek is nicely done on Pages 5 and 6.  On Page 13 (and I'm including advertisements in my numbering) the plot gets rolling with the introduction of an obviously powerful businessman, Walter Bascom, who wants to hire the released Jake for a job.  Jake's got no money and he lives in a rathole of an apartment, what do you think he does?  Ah!  But not so quick!  There's two diversions first, and I was surprised and happy to see them happen.  The two things that Jake does fit perfectly with what the character wants -- not with what the plot demands.  I liked that.  I won't spoil them, but I was pleased to see that the character of Jake was being developed before the plot revved up, which I'm sure will happen with next issue.  The focus of this comic is to set things in place for what's to come.  The first time I read this comic I grew frustrated at the slow pace.  A week later to write this review, I realize that elements have to be put in p lace before the plot can begin.  On the second reading I was st ruck by how natural Jake's reactions to being released were: there were a lot of interior monologues, much in the fashion of the hard boiled detectives of the 1930's and 40's, and Jake's Tek addiction is similar to the alcoholic detectives of those days.  You would always wonder if the detective would succumb to the bottle to escape their problems; here, it's Jake using Tek.  And the sequence when that comes up was very interesting.  This is a slow build for a first issue, but the final page introduces the inciting moment that gets the ball really rolling.  I was bummed that the comic chose to end there because I really did want to see what would happen next, so it ends at the perfect cliffhanger.  Overall grade: B

The art: Erich Owen provides the art, and he does an acceptable job.  Vaguely remembering how Jake was drawn as William Shatner in the Marvel version of the comic (by Lee Sullivan), I was ecstatic to see that Jake has finally become his own man, visually.  He looks like Joe Palooka with about a million miles of road traveled.  Thank you, Mr. Owen.  With this, though, comes a lack of fluidity with the characters.  They look as though they are all in staged positions, like textbook examples out of How to Draw the Marvel Comics Way.  Granted, Owen does not get many opportunities to draw compelling panels and pages, since the story is just setting things up.  When he does get the chance to shine, he's pretty good: I liked the "quiet" moments, such as Page 11.  And his backgrounds are better than average.  I wanted the story to go down some of those lurid streets, and I got that on Page 15.  Plus, the interior of the prison was great!  Characters, though, come off as static.  The character introduced on Page 18 is a full page splash, but the angle that the reader is introduced to the character takes away any possible horror.  I found myself looking at the hardware, rather than the man.  It looked good, but that shouldn't be my focus.  With the close-up of the character on Page 21, I finally got the "Ewwww!" factor that I should have had on 18.  I will say that Owen does a really good job on Pages 26 and 27.  It looked good and fit the mood well.  In total, this isn't art that will have people talking, but it's good enough to keep me interested, and I do want to see how Owen will handle the action sequences that I'm sure are to follow.  Overall grade: B

The colors: Michelle Davies does the duties here and they are great!  Now I might credit Davies for things that I should be crediting Erich Owen for, but I'm guessing that Michelle was responsible.  Among them are the details put into enhancing the look of the walls (such as on Page 3) and the broken down city.  It's got to be a challenge to grit up the background without having it overshadow the characters, and it's done very well in this book.  I also liked how the dialogue balloons were a different color, such as during internal monologues, since that helped me differentiate quickly between what's being said versus what's being thought.  Lettering is also highlighted with color, such as Jake's scream on Page 3, which made it stand out from the dark cells of the prisoners.  If there's any grouse to be made, it's that the city which is crumbling is in browns, grays, and greens, while the f uturistic "rich" environments are blues, whites, and silvers.  It's a cliche, but it works.  Overall grade: A

The letters: Jaymes Reed also does very well here.  I am always appreciative when the letterer differentiates between speaking (stressed and unstressed words), thinking, and computer voices.  Having the colorist shade a box a specific color also assisted my reading.  I liked how the internal monologues had lower cases letters -- a novelty in most comics!  Reed doesn't get much in the way of "action" sounds, but (can you see it coming) next issue promises to keep him busy.  Overall grade: A

The final line: You can come in cold to the Tekverse and not be lost by this comic.  The story harkens back to the pulp detectives of 30's and 40's, but that's its intent.  The art is not fantastic, but it's acceptable.  Is it worth your money?  One issue in?  I say, give it shot.  Overall grade: B