Talent

by Christopher Golden, Thomas E. Sniegoski

The sold-out sensation is finally collected! Optioned in a five way studio bidding war by Universal Pictures, Talent tracks Nicholas Dane, miraculous sole survivor of a plane crash. As mysterious men arrive to kill Dane, he discovers he can channel the talents of the victims of the crash! Discover why "Ain't It Cool News" said, "Since the company's inception, Boom! has been creating quite a rumble in the comics world, but with Talent, they're definitely living up to their name. Highly recommended."

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN has been called “the king of the horror-thriller.” The New York Times bestselling, multi-award-winning storyteller has made his mark in many mediums, as a writer of novels, screenplays, animation, audio dramas, and comics, and as an editor of landmark horror anthologies. His work has been published in dozens of languages around the world. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Audie Award, he has been nominated for others, including the British Fantasy Award. His best-known novels include Road of Bones, The House of Last Resort, All Hallows, and his latest, Carry Me to My Grave. He lives in Massachusetts, where he watches too many movies and eats too much chocolate.

Reviews

[Devon Munn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an interesting idea, after a plane crash a guy inherits abilities of the other passengers and settles their scores. Nice to see Paul Azaceta's dark and gritty work here too. Though i do agree with some reviewers that this could've gone one a couple more volumes

[Ricardo Nuno Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great graphic novel.
I read it last year and reread it today just for this review.
It's a quick (but great) read, in fact.

The plot is well built, full of intrigue, mystery, action, a touch of mysticism and quite a few twists.
The art is on par with the narrative, in the typical "rough" style of Paul Azaceta.

Unfortunately, the story is not closed enough, and it will probably stay that way (since this series is a bit "old" now, from 2006). If it had a more "complete" ending, it would deserve my full 5 stars.

Aside from that, it's a rather entertaining graphic novel for action/thriller fans.
You won't regret picking this one up.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting concept - a random college professor survives a plane crash, but winds up inheriting all the 'talents' of a few special passenger who died in the plane crash, and is eventually used to right something called the balance. Interesting.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some guy miraculously survives a plane crash and gains abilities, but he has to "pay back" his fellow passengers.

[Griffin Muli · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was excellent. If it was the first 4 issues of a 40 issue run. But it's not. It's a miniseries. Why.

[Brennen Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but unsatisfying. Probably would have been a good series if it was longer. Has a bit of Unbreakable vibes.

[Terry McFadden · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars, except 1/2 stars aren't allowed.)
I think Boom Studios, the company that published this, must make comics w/ selling the stories to movie & television in mind, and this book is no exception.
The artist Azaceta can certainly tell a story, but unlike his work on Outcast, for example, here he leaves his art REALLY rough. It almost looks like he just enlarged his thumbnails. (I know this isn't exactly the case, but the book includes samples of his thumbnails in the back.) Ron Riley's colors are a big help to make the storytelling clear.

The team never completed the story. This is just set-up. I was disappointed to be left with a cliffhanger that the creators never resolved.

Finally, the production of the book annoys me. I believe they shrank the pages from the original comic book format. The small font in dialog balloons can be a challenge to read. The pages are so closely cropped that sections of art and dialogue are shoved into the "gutter"

[Brennan Miles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even 3 overall - This felt like the beginning of what could have been a really good series. As it stands, it’s way too short to really explore the very intriguing concept. The execution was a little poor and incredibly rushed. It never really had time to grow and make the reader invested.

I really like Paul Azaceta’s minimalist art style. I’m a big fan of his series Outcast with Robert Kirkman, and I picked Talent up at the bargain shop because his name was attached, and it was only $2. Very happy with his contribution.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had potential but it was obviously planned to be a longer series and most of it is left unexplained by the end. A plane is downed and one man survives. He gains the abilities of everyone on the plane in order to settle their loose ends. Meanwhile, someone chases him that doesn't really matter because we never get to the point of why they are sending hit teams after this guy. Given it's unfinished nature, I'd only recommend this to completists like myself.

[Sean Goh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinda a crime that this great concept only got 4 issues, and not even a proper resolution. The characters are hard to differentiate given the paucity of panels to work with >__>

[Adam Klatka · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little Unbreakable, a little generic action film, a little Heaven and Hell. All fun.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this had been volume one of a series, it would have been really good. But it wasn't. It's a shame, Golden and Sniegoski are good authors.

[Daryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was surprisingly good. When a plane holding 148 passengers goes down, only one person (Nicholas Dane) survives. And somehow Dane gains the power to tap into the abilities (talents) that his fellow passengers possessed. He also gets some insights into their lives, emotions, hopes, plans, etc. So he goes about trying to right some wrongs, or just letting someone know they were loved. But there's a mystery about why the plane crashed (spoiler: it wasn't an accident). And there's a mysterious woman who keeps appearing to Dane and talking about "the balance." All of this turned out to be a pretty fascinating and compelling story. The art by Paul Azaceta (now the artist on Robert Kirkman's Outcast) somehow manages to be both sketchy and detailed, and is suitably dark (aided by the coloring of Ron Riley), and fits the paranoia of the story quite well. The whole trade reads like a plot for a movie or pilot for a TV series (and it would make a decent one) and ends with a lot of plot threads dangling.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting story, and it doesn't surprise me that it has been optioned for film. It is very cinematic in style.
The basic premise is that a man survives a plane crash, quite impossibly, and begins to remember things related to the people who died on that same crash...their conversations, their skills, even phone numbers they knew. So of course, someone wants him dead like all of the rest, but who and why? That's the core of the story.
I'm not a big Tom Sniegoski fan, but his artwork suits this story.

[Jack Haringa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talent features a five-star story wrapped in two-star artwork. Frequent collaborators Golden and Sniegoski construct an intriguing premise and drive it forward with a combination of emotional investment and conspiracy-fueled urgency. The interplay between conscienceless contract killers brings a surprising amount of humor to some heavy material about fate, faith, and morality. Unfortunately, the art is murky and sketchy, making sequences and characters difficult to differentiate or interpret. I'd be interested in seeing the story fulfilled with a better artist.

[Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story has an interesting premise. A man is on a flight that explodes but instead of dying, something happens to him. The rest of the volume explores both what happened to him, why it happened and those who have an interest in his situation. At times, I found it hard to keep track of the various characters and their involvement. This was the ultimate frustration in what was an intriguing story.