Image Comics
Creators: Matt Hawkins, Atilio Rojo, Troy Peteri, Elena Salcedo, Bryan Hill and Carey Hall
Release Date: September 2017
This will not be the first time I've mentioned this title on the blog. I covered the first trade collection and why I was interested in giving the series a try here. The series is the story of a hacker who is working to attack the corruption rampant in many of this country's mega-churches. It is not an attack on any specific religion or even on faith in general. One of the two FBI agents also central to the plot is a devoutly religious man, and the character is not presented as foolish or a zealot simply because he is a man of faith. Rather he is shown to be an intelligent, caring individual who also takes issue with the corruption the hacker, Samaritan, is targeting. That's intelligent, thought-provoking writing that uses real-world events and situations as a springboard for story ideas.
I liked that first trade so much, I was happy to learn that not only would there be a second volume, but that the writer, Matt Hawkins, and the illustrator, Rahsan Ekedal, had another series they collaborated on titled Think Tank. I decided to try Think Tank, which had three existing trades at that point, while I waited for The Tithe Vol. 2 to come out. I absolutely loved that series, too, although that's where the scary description comes in.
Think Tank follows the life of a young man named David Loren. Loren is a genius, so much so that he is recruited at the age of 17 by the government to come work for them. Loren is one of the people responsible for creating a lot of the tech the government uses, often for clandestine purposes and military applications. In exchange, they provide Loren with anything and everything he needs to live and work because they keep him under close wraps on a military base he is not supposed to leave. He has limited contact with the outside world — although often more than his handlers realize — and often gets bored with his work, the limited minds around him and the general sameness of his day-to-day existence. Not to mention he has increasing qualms about how the officials around him use his developments. So Loren has a tendency to go a little rogue.
Much like The Tithe, Think Tank is very intelligently written, and the stories leave readers with a lot to think about. Adding to the narratives is Hawkins' insistence on using real tech currently in use by the militaries and the governments of the world — not just our own — in his stories. I can't say for certain about the individual issues, but every one of the trades from both series have had extensive material, citations, internet links and other research to show the true applications behind the ideas in Hawkins' stories. The fact that some of this tech is real and not just the subject of a riveting fictional story can be a little scary at times.
But wait, there's more. (You remember I said these stories were thought-provoking and intelligent, right?) Both The Tithe and Think Tank inhabit a shared universe. Loren and his core supporting cast did not appear at all in The Tithe Vol. 1. And Samaritan and her core cast did not appear in the first couple trades of Think Tank stories. But some of the background politicians and other ancillary characters in Think Tank did appear as background characters and politicians in The Tithe. I confess, I did not catch those minor characters' crossovers until I read the solicits for a book called Eden's Fall. That book was co-written by Hawkins and Bryan Hill, and it was Hawkins' name that first caught my attention. But reading the advance solicitation material clued me in that this limited series would combine elements of all the Edenverse titles — Think Tank, The Tithe and a third series called Postal I hadn't previously been aware of. So I got Eden's Fall, and it also was great. That single trade is set in the environs of the Postal series, but also includes major characters from Think Tank playing a role, and could easily be billed as The Tithe Vol. 2.5. That's because events in Eden's Fall occur as a direct result of things from The Tithe Vol. 2, and the aftermath of Eden's Fall leads directly into the events in The Tithe Vol. 3.
Some readers might be getting skittish at this point. "Whoa, do I have to read all of these titles to make sense of any single story? That can get pricey!" I understand that fear, believe me. Many intra-company crossovers these days leave you with only part of the story unless you buy all the related crossover titles and one-shots, sometimes bits and pieces that are only very loosely related to the whole, but nonetheless important if you want a complete story. And I agree, that if you are already reading The Tithe, you kind of need to read Eden's Fall or you'll get lost between The Tithe Vols. 2 and 3. But Think Tank stands quite well on its own, and Think Tank is not needed to read any of The Tithe. All you really need to know about any crossover characters is given to you within the book in which they appear. Reading both series has given me a better understanding of some behind the scenes events in either book. But neither is critical to understanding the other. Which is how such crossovers should be handled, giving the decision-making power "to buy or not to buy" entirely to the readers.
Having said that, I liked The Tithe enough to try Think Tank — now up to five trades, the latest of which was a little weaker than the first four, but still good — to stick with The Tithe itself through three trades — all very great reads — to try and love Eden's Fall and now, finally, to go back and try Postal, the book Hawkins co-writes with Hill. That's the one Edenverse title I haven't read yet, but I like the others enough and the brief glimpse I got of those characters from the Eden's Fall collection, that I'm willing to try this series too — which currently has six trades available. What cemented my desire to take the plunge and try Postal, too? Both the Eden's Fall trade and The Tithe Vol. 3 trade included the first full issue of Postal for readers not familiar with the series. In fact, the Eden's Fall trade include the first issues of Postal, Think Tank and The Tithe, giving new readers an idea of what they could expect from the beginnings of each of the characters involved in the Eden's Fall story line. That's good cross-promotion. Not just, "If you liked this title, try our other products," but "If you liked this title and are interested in our other products, here's a free sample before you buy."
I know this post is light on specifics from any of the various titles. I always try to shy away from major spoilers, when possible. But I've also tried to give a sense of what the series I've read are about. I can't speak to Postal in depth yet since I haven't read those beyond issue No. 1. But if what I have said about The Tithe, Think Tank or Eden's Fall has piqued your interest at all, I think you'll enjoy them. And I like each of those series enough to try a fourth title by the same writer. These are definitely good comics!
