Comic Review: Eureka: Dormant Gene #1 and #2

Story: Mark Cosby and Jaime Paglia
Script: Jonathon L. Davis
Artist: Mark Dos Santos
Color: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Marshal Dillon
Publisher: BOOM! Studios

One of the cool things about exploring a television series in other media such as graphic novels (or novel novels or video games or off-Broadway musicals) is that you can explore areas of the fictional universe — like minor characters or clever back stories — that are only hinted at in the regular series.

The danger is that the graphic novel (or sock puppet show or modern dance interpretation) version will overindulge in the ability to explore strange new areas of the TV series, and get so out of whack that it completely loses the feel of the beloved TV series to begin with.

But fear not.  Cosby and Paglia have struck the proper balance.  Zoe is the main focus of the first installment, as she laments the fact that, as a “cool” person, she doesn’t fit in with all the hyper-genius kids who idolize the chess team instead of the football team, and where film class discusses the technology used to create film instead of just watching the frakking movies.

Zoe wishes for — and gets — a Twilight experience, complete with mysterious-yet-hunky chemistry lab partner.  Oh, and there is the giant twenty foot tall raving lunatic madwoman who rampages through Tesla High.  How did that happen?  I don’t know, but welcome to Eureka.

Just as you start to fear that the comic will just be a carbon copy of the TV show, the second issue takes you in a completely different direction. Who is this nerdy guy who is sympathetic and creepy at the same time?  Why am I not seeing any of the regular characters?  Hah, that’s the trick.

You’re nervously enjoying the back-story of this seemingly random character when WHAM! You are back into the main story line that was set up in the first issue.

At the end of issue #2, we are left with a bunch of questions.  What about the giant 20 foot tall raving lunatic woman?  Will Zoe consummate her Twilight-style romance (my guess is “no way,” but I still want to see how it all blows up in her face).  This is a good start to a potential ongoing story arc that hopefully will continue to balance the strengths of a comic — exploring stories that cannot be explored with in the regular TV series — with the reason readers might be interested in a Eureka comic to begin with: the beloved characters and the quirky town of Eureka.

The artwork is rather basic, but solid.  This seems to have been a deliberate choice, and fits in well with the overall feel of the Eureka world.  Thus, the artwork, although nothing to get your eyeballs salivating, matches the story being told.

Slightly annoying is the fact that the regular characters make only the briefest of appearances.  And the main attraction of the show — watching Sheriff Carter use his basic horse-sense to deal with problems that the geniuses around him are too “intelligent” to be able to solve on their own — is missing from these issues.  However, it looks like this might be rectified in subsequent issues as the plot further unfolds.

Overall, both true fans and those with only a passing familiarity with the show will be happy with this read.  You’ve never heard of Eureka? Well, you’ll be at a disadvantage, but you’ll probably like it too.