There’s two type of war stories: one that romanticizes the events and one that reveals the dirty underbelly of war. TET is the latter of the two. Now, if that’s your cup of tea then you’ll probably enjoy this realistic look at the effects of war on a person’s entire life. The story takes place in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. We meet our main character Eugene as he narrates his life. He’s dating a woman from Vietnam and has asked her to marry him and we pick up with this conversation as she agrees to move to the United States with him after his tour is over. The catalyst of the story is when Eugene is assigned to a murder investigation when someone he knows is murdered. During this time, we also flash forward in the story to see Eugene older and nursing old injuries. There’s some other story connections that aren’t worth spoiling, but otherwise that’s the gist of the issue.
Overall it’s an interesting read. Paul Allor is clearly going somewhere with the story and has layered elements for the plot to use in later issues. My thing is… there’s only so many ways this story plays out. Granted there’s going to be a twist at some point, but then of course there’s going to be a twist. Maybe it’s just that I’ve read a lot of Vietnam stories and I’ve seen a lot of Hollywood movies with the war as its focus, but I just can’t imagine there’s too many surprises to be had with this story. With that said, it’s the journey that will make it worthwhile. We’re just too early into the series to know if the journey is going to pay off.
The art is solid. Paul Tucker’s style reminds me a few artists out there, but none that I could get to the tip of my tongue to tell you. His line work is thick and rough. There’s not a lot of smooth edges in this comic, but rather sharp points and an overall gruffness that gives the story all its personality and atmosphere.
I know that TET isn’t for me. I knew after a few pages that it wasn’t going to be a series that I follow. I can still see the craft at work here. The art is pretty damn great and it does a lot of heavy lifting for the series. Like I said, the books personality comes from the art. As for the story, it’s good, but it’s not to that level that it can suck anyone into it. It’s trying and I’ll even say that it’s pretty close, but it was just missing that special something to make me want to keep reading. Maybe this war story is for you. Maybe it’s your first in which I would say keep with it, you never know. For me though, it’s was a solid first issue, but not much else.
Score: 3/5
TET #1 Writer: Paul Allor Artist: Paul Tucker Publisher: Comics Experience/IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 9/9/15 Format: Print/Digital