Here Comes the Boom!- Part Two

Part Two of this week long look at all things Boom! falls on a book that I was really sad to find out was a miniseries:

Talent #1-4

Written by Christopher Golden & Tom Sniegoski with art by Azaceta.

If I remember correctly this was originally billed as being similar to 'Lost', or 'Lost' meets...whatever. Anyway, this is NOTHING like 'Lost'. Well, there is a plane crash. It's infinitely more similar to Unbreakable.

Talent is the story of a teacher, Nicholas Dane, the lone survivor of a plane crash. Dane was found twelve hours after the plane crashed into the ocean, drowning. When he wakes up in the hospital he's hailed as both a miracle and a terrorist, and when a man tries to kill him he goes on the run. Dane finds himself engulfed in a bizarre conspiracy involving a force called The Balance. Dane also finds himself in possession of the talents of the many people that died in the plane crash. Boxing, origami, even deadlier arts; he's also taken on (unwillingly of course) the unfinished business of those people.

If Talent was a TV show it would make for damn fine viewing. Of course, it would probably have been canceled six weeks in. Thank God for comics.

The writing here is top notch. Once again Boom! produces a book that's more than the sum of its parts, a mish-mash of ideas from The Bourne Identity, Unbreakable, The DaVinci Code, and so many more. The art is great, though it did take some getting used to, but it fits the tone of the story nicely.

Like I said, I was pretty shocked to see it come to an end in issue four, Dane's story looks to be far from over with so many loose ends to tie up. Not to mention the mystery of the people after him.

I can only hope that it has one more similarity to 'Lost', this is just one of many seasons to come, and that unlike 'Lost' the story doesn't become so damn mundane that I can't be bothered to tune in anymore. But based on what I've read the latter isn't likely to happen, I'll keep hoping for the former.



There ya go, short and sweet.

-L