By Victoria Irwin
Senior Correspondent
After the incredibly violent death of Colonel Harrison at the hands of General Clarkson, Doctor Loren is far from doing well. He is haunted by the fact that his desire to break down the system by experimenting with horrible biological weapon abilities lead to Harrison’s death. Harrison’s desire to do the right thing ended up costing his life. Dr. Loren breaks in to his therapist’s office to tell her how he doesn’t know what to do with the emotions, other than want to cling to them. His therapist kindly informs him that he has spent all his time existing but not really living. As the Taiwanese discover that the death of 38 of their citizen was not from Avian Flu, but a man made pathogen, the United States falls under suspicion. Abroad in Moscow, Mirra is contacted by Dr. Loren, only to be kidnapped by unknown agents. With everything suddenly up in the air, Dr. Loren must find a way to fix the problems.
Matt Hawkins spends much of the issue focusing on the interpersonal relationships of his characters. We see Loren’s partner, Manish, truly interact with his “slightly taller” wife for the first time. Despite his lack of ability to form long term bonded relationships, we even see Dr. Loren reaching out to his puppy Newton, and even briefly to his ex girlfriend Mirra.
Rashan Ekedal has really come into his own in regards to illustrations in the comic. Though Hawkins has claimed a few were his ideas, he does mention in the afterward that quite a few of the funnier Dr. Loren t-shirts were created by Ekedal. Ekedal continues to create beautifully elaborate art in a black and white form that lesser artists would be unable to really capture.
Think Tank continues to be an intelligent, original story with fantastic art. While it make take a little while to catch up, I highly recommend reading everything that comes from the team of Hawkins and Ekedal.
