Before making it big with The Walking Dead and Invincible, comic creator Robert Kirkman debuted a number of creator-owned books that showcased his diverse creative sensibilities. Among them was Tech Jacket, a superhero sci-fi series debuting in 2002 from Kirkman and artist E.J. Su that followed ordinary teenager Zack Thompson who discovered technologically advanced alien armor allowing him to become the titular Tech Jacket. The original series lasted only six issues but continued in 2013 with digital-only issues #7 and #8, which were reprints of backup stories from Invincible issues #71–75. Another series launched in 2014 from the creative team of writer writer Joe Keatinge and artist Khary Randolph which lasted twelve issues. Though not reaching the heights of popularity as Invincible, the character of Tech Jacket not only exists in the same superhero universe but played an integral role in the epic “Viltrumite War” storyline.
After a brief appearance last season in the Invincible animated series during the “Invincible War” storyline, the Season 4 trailer confirmed that Tech Jacket would indeed return. Although praised for being incredibly faithful to the source material, the Invincible animated series isn’t afraid to deviate in new and unexpected ways.
Spoilers for Invincible episode “Give Us a Moment”
Instead of Zack Thompson, the Tech Jacket of the Invincible animated series has swapped the character’s gender to be a teenage girl named Zoe Thompson (fittingly voiced by actress Zoey Deutch).
This isn’t the first departure the animated series has made from the source material. Fans are well aware that the show changed the ethnicity of Mark’s girlfriend Amber Bennett from White to Black. Likewise, the character of Shrinking Ray was originally male in the comics but was switched to female along with the alternate name spelling of Shrinking Rae and an expanded role. In an exclusive interview with Den of Geek, Kirkman revealed the decision to gender swap the character was for a rather sample reason. “When it came time to introduce Tech Jacket, I realized that if we had brought him straight to comics, he’d be very similar to Mark.”
The episode does seem to hint at a potential romance between Zoe and Oliver Grayson, Invincible’s half-brother, or at least some sort of kinship that wasn’t in the original “Viltrumite War” storyline.
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