A look at the “TekWorld Issue #2” comic

TekWar is a scifi franchise created by William Shatner. It began with novels, but expanded into video games, TV movies and series, and comics.

The world of TekWar is a cyberpunk setting full of much of the cybernetic modification and gritty criminal plots that come with the territory. The main conceit is the titular “tek”- an addictive but dangerous digital drug. The primary point of view of this universe follows Jake Cardigan, a disgraced member of the police who was framed for dealing tek and sentenced to being cryogenically frozen, before being exonerated by a private investigation agency called Cosmos. Jake is now indebted to Cosmos, and works for them as a hard nosed investigator.

That premise is the starting point of most TekWar media, and the comic series, titled TekWorld is no different. I recently came across a trove of these comics, and want to share this strangely massive but unknown scifi franchise.

Unfortunately my collection starts at issue #2, missing on on the introduction of Jake into his new life working for Cosmos. All of the art is by Lee Sullivan, who will be a TekWorld regular for upcoming issues. The cover art is broadly speaking, eye catching, but the longer I have looked at it the more odd it gets. Jake’s pose while firing his gun is somehow too dynamic. I have no idea what he’s meant to be doing with his left hand, but it looks for all the world like he is emulating Magneto in some kind of attempt to use non-existent powers. His car seems oddly proportioned, even granting that this is a compact future car, and I am not sure if he is meant to be entering or exiting it, though either one of these actions being the answer raises more questions. The soft, almost airbrush quality to the highlighting on his jeans are strangely distracting to me, especially since the jeans- and specifically only one leg are the only objects colored this way and the highlighting isn’t even facing the muzzle flash from his gun.

Without dwelling too long on the cover, I’ll get inside of of this issue, which is referred to as both ‘City Of Devils’ and ‘Across The Border’ by different websites. The first page starts with a bang. Jake and his investigative partner Gomez walk into a trap as human appearing androids loaded with explosives get close and detonate.

With Gomez left hospitalized, Jake is on the case solo and with more motivation than ever to take down the teklords.

At Cosmos, Jake’s boss Walt Bascom fills him in on what the plot is going to be. A Dr. Kittridge and his daughter Beth were working on an “anti-tek” system (and no I don’t exactly know what that means), and both of them have disappeared in Mexico. Likely the dong of the powerful teklord cartels. The way Beth is drawn has some strange Rob Liefeldian qualities. The stiff pose and strangely almost painted on dress that somehow clings hard enough to show the belly button are unnecessarily surreal. Bascom’s crazy eyes while explaining the situation don’t help either.

Bascom informs Jake that the territory of Mexico that he needs to investigate is run by a woman with the title of Warbride. I actually quite like her design. Cybernetic arms with bare relfective metal always get a thumbs up from me. The belt and attached leg gear are a little wacky but do all seem to follow some kind of logic. Even the camo pattern is just the right amount of detail without becoming overly busy or distracting. While I do love big, stupid nonsense comicbook guns, this particular one is something of a swing and a miss for me. The brick silhouette is boring, with the only really notable aspect being the strange fin protruding out the front. Worst, for such a silly gun it isn’t even colored and shade with a reflective finish- something I know the artist is able to do because of the lovely reflective arm.

On his way to start the assignment, Jake is taken against his will on a short side trip to meet a mysterious “old friend” at the defunct Spaceland museum. I do like dilapidated future locations.

The old friend turns out to be a man named Winterguild, who is the head of an international agency also chasing after the cartels. He warns Jake that he is already in Mexico, and to stay out of the case, which is already being worked by his people. Jake has none of it and heads to Mexico.

Within a page of arriving in Mexico, Jake is attacked by a man with a buzzsaw arm. The man oddly reminds me of Aquaman visually.

A few visually and narratively boring pages later, and Jake is directed to the location of a secret lab used by the Kittridges.

Jake arrives at the abandoned appearing lab, and the following panel is just amazing. Ten out of ten. robots hanging from meathooks in a spooky abandoned building in the middle of the jungle. Perfection.

Deeper into the building Jake finds, by all appearances Beth laying on a slab in a dark room. It is an intriguing cliffhanger even if Jake does sort of turn into Dracula in the final panel.

The characters are a bit odd, and the stakes somewhat ill defined, but I do find myself strangely intrigued by this setting. It is like a time capsule containing scifi ideas that never quite made it, yet are clearly part of a vision that is being pushed forward with determination. I am looking forward to more.