Tech Jacket is apparently not part of the upcoming Image superhero line, which is odd, since it would seem a natural fit, and writer Robert Kirkman is already working on one of the other books involved (Invincible).

Kirkman is still probably best known for the notorious Battle Pope, one of those comics which you could clearly tell was a brilliant idea just from seeing the adverts.  However, Tech Jacket is a dead straight superhero origin story.  If anything, the problem with this book is that it's a little too straight.

Zack is a schoolkid who can't get the girl he wants because she's smitten with a jock.  When an alien spaceship crashes on Earth, he ends up with the Tech Jacket body armour of one of the crew.  And if you're wondering, "What's the twist?" then... well, there isn't one, really.  That's basically it.  Schoolkid finds cool body armour that falls from the sky.

For what it is, it's very well done - Kirkman establishes his characters effectively enough, and EJ Su's artwork is beautiful, with nice, clean, understated linework that sells the Tech Jacket concept as something genuinely desirable.  It's a very nice looking comic, in fact.  But there's really no getting away from the fact that, at least on the strength of the first issue, it has a stock character in the lead, and a generic origin story.

Rating: B-

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