Villordsutch Reviews Think Tank: Fun with PTSD #1…
SPECIAL OVERSIZED ISSUE!
Dr. David Loren tries to help a SEAL team member overcome his PTSD in a story that will make you laugh and cry. Plus Zero G dogs!
Our last issue of Think Tank was way back in February and albeit a mere three months of not having Dr. David Loren and his smarts along with the good Doctor’s wit woven throughout a technological thriller and the beginning of World War 3, it feels as though that quarter of a year has left a gaping void in my comic book reading life.
Returning with this one shot until it’s full colour launch of Season 2, Think Tank: Fun with PTSD sees Matt Hawkins tackling a more internal and delicate issue than bio-warfare and unmanned drones; here he turns his pen to PTSD or for those not upon their acronyms you’re looking at Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which you may be aware is currently a one heck of a hot topically potato within the armed forces at this moment. PTSD is extremely real and is not something to be made fun of, as Matt Hawkins goes on to emphasise this within this comic; he really isn’t making fun of it, it’s just unfortunate that before I began to read this comic I’d judged it by its title.
The story isn’t globe-trotting or government-toppling; we open with Dr. Loren entering a class of teenage cancer sufferers as he monologues about innocents and pain and due to these two factors his disbelief in God. It’s shortly after when Petty Officer Morgan, one of the Navy SEALs that rescued him in China, is brought by in handcuffs and we discover that he has recently murdered his wife. David considers this man a hero and so he tries his damnedest to help him; it’s here we discover that Morgan is suffering from PTSD and using his skills as a scientist David tries to put his previous ways of building devices which were design to kill to instead perhaps cure and save the life of a hero.
I have a few problems with this issue – the minor one being that it feels to isolated, small and not as grand as I come to expect from Think Tank, though I shouldn’t expect our protagonist to be globe-trotting all the time I know. The other major problem was that I’m already rather educated in the world of PTSD and as I also expect the Think Tank community to have a standard level of intelligence that they too will be aware of PTSD and may also feel like this comic is attempting to preach to the converted. I can see what Matt Hawkins is trying to put across, I understand it completely, and that the Think Tank universe is grounded in our dirt too, but I felt like I was reading a Dr. David Loren meets Quincy, M.E. cross-over issue.
This extra large issue is however a steal in the terms of getting your money’s worth and not only that but .25c of each issue sold is going to the charity http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org; considering that publishers make 40% of each issue sold to cover all costs, you’re also getting a preview of a new comic from Matt Hawkins and Linda Sejic called Wildfire.
Even with my problems with this issue you’re still getting a Dr. David Loren smart-arse extraordinaire story here, with excellent art work from Rahsan Ekedal, and science class and a dog tied to a drone (there I was talking about intelligence levels and being educated).
View our preview of Think Tank: Fun with PTSD #1 here.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published May 14, 2014. Updated January 18, 2020.
