Tankers is yet another bad idea because MFR supports wide reaching comics instead of limited runs. As a fan of Robert Venditti, I find a surprisingly campy series. Plus who doesn’t love good corporate satire? With the art team of Valiant’s Rai no less?
Tankers: Inflating Investments
Venditti is no stranger to absurd science fiction and commentary, his debut series The Surrogates attests that. This time he gets to show off how oil companies won’t change their business models. With nuclear energy becoming a more viable power source, you’d think that these companies would reinvest. Instead much like the real world, they advance technology if it can improve their business. Only instead of advancing smart technology, they invent time travel! Okay… but why? To delay the dinosaurs’ meteoric extinction so they can get more oil down the line. Yeah… scientific accuracy is not the point of this series.
Tankers is all about a team of military contractors backing up the scientists in this project. You would expect most of these people to have a little discipline; but half of them are gung-ho, trigger-happy, ne’er-do-els who revel in the mech suits the conglomerate gives them. The fact this half breaks the laws of warfare by firing off their weapons to try and make the prehistoric sight a practical hellscape before they even step through the portal says a lot about the situation. The conglomerate doesn’t care about how they do operations, all that matters is the money and ideological goals.
Is There Anyone To Root For?
You might be thinking, what makes these people our heroes? Remember when I said half of them aren’t great people? The other half are only trying to be a part of something bigger than themselves. The least experienced Tanker, Eugene Goldfarb, is trying hard to fit in amongst the others. Frankly after seeing the capabilities and gear from the mech walkers it’s hard to not want to be part of the excitement. The reader feels this excitement too thanks to the art by Juan Jose Ryp and colorist Andrew Dalhouse. The composition, detail, and flashy effects look like something out of a Christopher Nolan action movie.
Then you have the only female of the team, Diesel Roach who isn’t trying to prove anything; it’s just a job for her. The fact she has to shoot down one of her teammates’ attempts at flirting shows she’s one of the more professional members. She also seems to like living in the moment like when she prefers looking at the prehistoric world instead of take pictures. It’s rather nice to see an everywoman in an absurd situation.
I certainly hope these two at least get what they really need out of Tankers. That said, some of the other Tankers grow on readers. Patch despite his awkward attempts at wooing Diesel has a sense of nobility. And Heatseeker shows off his willingness to take on greater responsibility for his team and dangerous weapons.
Tankers: Absurdly Entertaining
Bad Idea once again lives up to its reputation of absurd stories. You can’t help but feel how much fun the creatives are having in Tankers. Every little thing about the energy industry trying to maintain a failing system is turned up to eleven. Like where do these people get the energy necessary to pull off time travel? Oil definitely can’t cover this! Everything was going to blow up in their faces, evolved predatory dinosaurs is just more fun to watch in the long run.
The series runs very much like a theme park ride or an on-rails shooter. It’s full of memorable happenstances that the reader will never forget. While the characters take a while to grow on readers, the awe inspiring settings, dinosaurs, and the overreactions to everything is a sight to behold. With all three issues, the reader will probably want to enjoy the thrill ride again and again.
Tankers gets 8/10 for smart commentary and for displaying a wild ride the creators had a good time making.