Line #19 ComicBook/Touch2004


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/touch2004.jpg]]
2
3	A series from the short-lived DC Focus Imprint.
4
5	''Touch'' follows Supernova Solutions, a PunchClockHero agency run by the mysterious Cooper "Coop" Santiago, saving lives in exchange for money. Unknown to most, Santiago has powers of his own; namely to give, or take away powers with just the touch of his hand, with the series largely following his efforts to find someone perfect for his agency.
6
7	The series was resolved after six issues, when DC Focus folded.
8
9	----
10	!!Tropes:
11	* AccidentalMarriage: Dex and Janelle got married in Vegas while they were drunk and were just too lazy to get a divorce.
12	* AmicableExes: Brian and Allison had sex once (well four times, but all in one night) and she tries to talk Coop out of firing him.
13	* ApologeticAttacker: Larissa is apologetic about any damage by her astral projection alter ego Angry Jenny.
14	* ApparentlyPowerlessPuppetMaster: Cooper seems like just the business manager of the heroes, but he controls everything, and has the power to take it all away from them with just a touch.
15	* AwesomeButTemporary: One guy Cooper gives powers to fill in during a dry spot at the agency (an old friend named Brian who gets a form of telekinesis ) makes it clear he's only there short term.
16	* BadassBiker:
17	** Dex, Coop's second superhero after firing Rory, is a buff and brave biker, although he's also TooDumbToLive.
18	** Larissa is a decent motorcycle rider.
19	* TheBartender: Bree, the bartender of a rock and roll bar, quickly this it off with Brian.
20	* BerserkButton: Rory's wife died in a car accent and he goes crazy when it's brought up.
21	* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: Dex wanted to be buried with his motorcycle.
22	* BuyThemOff: Janelle is convinced to quietly drop her lawsuit (already on shaky ground anyway due to Dex's vasectomy being revealed) after Brian and Coop help set her up with a record contract.
23	* ChekhovsGunman:
24	** Brady, an insurance executive who appears on one page of the first issue (paying Coop and Rory for saving his company heavy losses by rescuing several trapped construction workers) apparently recommended Coop to Moses Sinclair, which sets the remainder of the story into motion.
25	** Rory who vanishes from the story after the first issue besides the odd reference and a brief flashback at the end of the second issue, only to reappear in the last two pages of the final issues [[spoiler:And make Coop lose his powers to Allison as a side effect of an attempt Rory makes on his life.]]
26	* CigarChomper: Both Dupris and the head of the poker game he wants to get into are heavy smokers.
27	* CloserToEarth: Brian and Jordan, compared to Rory, Larissa, Dex and Levon.
28	* ConspicuousGloves: Cooper can never take his gloves off due to his hands glowing whenever he still has the power, or passing it on to anyone he touches bare-handed.
29	* CutLexLuthorACheck/ GoodPaysBetter: The whole mindset behind Cooper's agency of using superpowers to help people for money rather than committing crimes.
30	* DaddyIssues: Larissa Sinclair has erratic powers of Astral Projection and they unconsciously manifest out of resentments towards her dad.
31	* DarkIsNotEvil: Coop is constantly dressed in black, but is the hero (sort of) of the series. He isn't free of KickTheDog moments (such as some of his treatment of Rory and selling the bike Dex wanted to be buried with) and is motivated for profit, but he doesn't use his powers for evil purposes, does have a sentimental side and is willing to risk his own life fighting Travis rather than giving Brian back the powers which have been hurting him.
32	* DecoyProtagonist: Rory Goodman (Coop's first hero) is the main focus of the first book before Coop takes away his powers after he makes the agency look bad (Rory later comes back looking for revenge).
33	* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Jordan, whose drifted from one low paying job to another and isn't sure what to do with his powers.
34	* DirtyCop: Lieutenant Dupris, who first blackmail Jordan into helping him cheat at gambling and then threatens to cripple him.
35	* DrunkWithPower: Downplayed but the end of the series shows [[spoiler:Allison getting Cooper's powers]] and commenting that they need to renegotiate their partnership.
36	* EverybodyLives: Only two characters die across the six issues (not counting Rory's wife, a PosthumousCharacter): Dex and Larissa's mother. Neither of them are major characters and both die of natural causes (although Dex is a borderline case).
37	* FatBastard: Fuller, the chunky, smarmy-looking politico who objects to the idea of Sinclair's campaign hiring Allison because of her showgirl past. Also Simmons, the fattest of of the construction workers Rory saves in the opening scene, is a whiny, unhelpful guy who screams that he doesn't want to die "with you losers".
38	* FirstEpisodeTwist: The first issue follows PunchClockHero Rory Goodman and his manager, Cooper Santiago. The issue ends by revealing that [[SuperEmpowering Santiago gave Rory his powers]], and he takes them back when Rory's HairTriggerTemper becomes too expensive. As he searches for Rory's replacement, the story doesn't try to hide that Santiago is the real meta-human.
39	* FramingTheGuiltyParty: Jordan and Coop frame Dupris of cheating at gambling, something he was guilty of, just not at that particular game.
40	* FriendOnTheForce: Allison has an unnamed friend in the FBI who gives her background info on Levon Carlisle and who Coop later calls to take custody of Carlisle.
41	* GarageBand: Brian had a college band called Robot Ninja Seven with (to quote Roddy Strangelove, who saw one of the three performances they made before breaking up) two japanese girl and a drummer who looked like Lurch from ''Franchise/TheAddamsFamily''.
42	* HawaiianShirtedTourist: Brian is introduced fresh into town and wearing a Hawaiian shirt.
43	* HelloAttorney: Coop's lawyer Allison tends to wear striking evening dresses and is a former showgirl.
44	* HeroOfAnotherStory: During Rory's opening rescue, one of the people he saves mentions that he's a super-powered guy like "that cop in New York."
45	* IgnoredExpert: Dr. Felder, who questions Coop's decision to send Dex into a place with so many explosive materials to stop a rampaging robot.
46	* InnocentBystander: Jordan, initially, being roped into things by giving Coop and Larissa a ride, leading to him ending up being given powers by necessity to save them from a car crash.
47	* IJustWantToBeNormal:
48	** Larissa's dad wants to turn her into a hero in order to boost his planned political run while she is perfectly happy to lose her powers and is uncomfortable with how they manifest.
49	** Brian provides a short-term version as he does agrees to take powers to help out Coop but makes it clear that it's only for the short-term.
50	* IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney: Allison was a cowgirl-themed showgirl before graduating Law school.
51	* LaResistance: Carlisle plains to be recruiting for one against an evil conspiracy, although Coop thinks he's just nuts.
52	* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Using his power exerts a physical toll on Brian which, among other things, keeps him from having sex.
53	* LoveAtFirstSight: Brian and Bree have some strong chemistry from the moment they first talk to each other.
54	* LowerClassLout: Dex, who has a tattoo that says "White trash".
55	* MindOverMatter: Brian and Jordan get telekinetic powers. Brian's takes the form of immobilizing people in bright prisms of light, while Jordan's is more slight of the hand/ flip over a car kind.
56	* MadwomanInTheAttic: Larissa's father has kept her secluded in the house since she was twelve to hide her uncontrolled powers from the world, partially to protect her from scorn but mainly to avoid embarrassing him and ruining his political dreams.
57	* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Dex and Janelle were married but not seeing much of each other and Janelele had a one night stand with Travis the local dishwasher before discovering she was pregnant soon afterward. The paternity is decided by the reveal that Dex had a vasectomy three years ago.
58	* MundaneUtility: Jordan (a man who Cooper gives powers to in order to save him from a car accident) initially uses his new telekinesis to cheat at gambling.
59	* MysteriousWatcher: Carlisle, as he shadows Cooper at certain points in the fist two issues.
60	* NeverGotToSayGoodbye: Larissa gets Cooper to take her to say goodbye to her Alzheimers-ridden mother who she hasn't seen in six years but they arrive minutes too late, setting off her Larissa's powers again.
61	* NiceToTheWaiter: After Jordan causes a distraction at Dupris' poker game by making the waitress spill a drink tray, one of the players and one of the bouncers both assure the nervous waitress that it isn't a big deal and that the boss won't be upset.
62	* NotWearingTights: Rory, Dex and Brian don't wear tights for Cooper.
63	* NumberTwo: Allison, Cooper's lawyer, right-hand girl and one of the few people [[SecretKeeper aware of his powers]].
64	* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Cooper.
65	* PetTheDog:
66	** No one who knew Dex well has much good to say about him except for Diego, a HeroicWannabe and Sci-Fi geek who hangs outside Supernova Solutions and mentions Dex would buy him fast food sometimes.
67	** Levon Carlisle is willing to give money to a beggar (really a disguised Brian) in the middle of threatening to kill Coop, although he adds a warning that if the man uses it to buy drugs or alcohol he will find out.
68	* PhotoOpWithTheDog: Coop arranges several of these, like having Rory help some zookeepers subdue an angry tiger.
69	* PortalDoor: Levon Carlisle approaches Cooper and tires to get him to fight corporations together in a magical fashion. When Cooper refuses, Levon uses his powers to make a portal in the wall which eh steps through, then it vanishes.
70	* ProperlyParanoid: Mr. Wilshire, who makes an endorsement deal with Coop and Rory, cancels it due to concerns about Rory's HairTriggerTemper being a PR liability. Concerns which are quite valid.
71	* PunchClockHero: Cooper and Supernova Solutions. None of them are bad guys really, but they do what they do for money (although they charge affordable rates for less affluent customers).
72	* PunnyName: A noticeably fat political consultant Sinclair meets wit tho discuss his political plans is named Fuller.
73	* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Rock musician Roddy Strangelvoe gets high on a mixture of booze and anti-depressants and waves around a samurai sword, with Coop and Brian being hired to stop him before he hurts someone or embarrasses himself on TV.
74	* SlippingAMickey: Knowing that Rory won't voluntarily give back his powers and will be wary if Coop tries, he drugs Rory to take them back.
75	* StalkerWithACrush: Travis, the real rather of Janelle's baby, shows up threatening her with a gun.
76	* {{Streaking}}: Cooper has to run through a casino naked after losing a bet to Larissa.
77	* SuperEmpowering: Cooper's power although he has no control over who gets what power and can only empower one person at a time. [[spoiler:In the final issues, he loses the power after a gunshot wound and Allison gets it]].
78	* SuperpowerLottery: Coop can give anyone powers with the touch of his hand, but he has no control over what those powers are. Of the three people he touches in the second issue, the first develops impressive super strength, the second merely has his skin turn fluorescent and is useless for saving lives and the third develops impressive powers of telekineses, but ones which have a negative effect on his health.
79	* SuperStrength: Rory (and possibly Dex) have this as a power, and Rory is nigh-invulernable.
80	* TooDumbToLive: Dex dies smoking near a ruptured gas line right after winning a battle.
81	* TheUnReveal: The source of Coop's power is unknown, and its implied in a flashback to the first time he gave Brian powers that he only developed it as a young adult. Once when describe what he does to Jordan he even invokes this.
82	--> '''Coop:''' And don't ask me how I got these. That's a story for another day, far, far in the future.
83	* UnwittingTestSubject: Levon Carlisle was experimented on by the government, giving him powers.
84	* UselessSuperpowers: After Dex's death, Cooper gives a man named Geoff powers, but they simply take the form of making him luminescent, an interesting power but not one which would work for marketable hero work. Coop pays Geofff two grand for his trouble, takes the power back and then gets Brian to fill in.
85	* VivaLasVegas: Supernova Solutions is based out of Las Vegas and the story (particularly the covers) capturing the feel of the city's reputation well.
86	* WalkingShirtlessScene: Dex fights with his shirt off.
87	* WalkingSwimsuitScene: Jordan's girlfriend Tanya and her friend Lou (a former fellow showgirl of Allison) both wear bikini tops/sports bras around.

Context ComicBook / Touch2004