Having not read the first two issues of Talent, I was in something of a quandary when I started reading this issue. At first, I thought it was going to turn into a 'kids looking into a mystery' story. Then it looked like it was going to be a murder mystery.
Finally, looking at some of the names used and some other clues and putting them together with what Dane said to the woman in white about the Balance, I understood it to be a supernatural thriller.
If you have been reading the story up to now, you are probably way ahead of me. So, why not just deal with this book and leave the history for later?
The writing is excellent; fast paced, provocative and entertaining. Golden has proven he can write Comics as well as novels, at least to me with Talent. As for the art, I personally loved it, it reminded me at times of one of my favorite artists, Pat Boyette, intentional or not. There are worse people to pattern a style after, trust me.
Nick goes to save Vicky this issue, putting to good use the 'talent' Marcus had in life. He defeats the mobster's henchmen, and then shows Pennuco what it is like in the ring.
The questions remain, whom Dane is running from, who the people are chasing him, and he still wants to know what The Balance is about.
As much as I like this story, I just hope it does not follow the easy route of blaming God for everything. As a Christian, that cop-out gets boring, probably just as much as making all the black people on TV to be drug dealers, pimps and thugs just a few years ago bothered the African American people in this country. Or putting all the blame for everything bad that happened on the Japanese during the 1940's and drawing them in caricature just to humiliate them.
While I am not going to defend religion, since religion pretty much sucks, I do wish people would start blaming the Devil occasionally.
And yes, I can make any book a source of spiritual learning if I want to. And this book will make you think, if you allow it to.
It is a beautiful work that I wish would sell a carload of issues, because I think it is impressive and could tell a lot more then a simple story about channeling the dead.