The Human Target: Volume 2

The Human Target: Volume 2
Tom King, writer; Greg Smallwood, artist
DC Black Label, 2023

This collection brings the final story of Christopher Chance (The Human Target) to an end. Spoiler alert: there is no miraculous solution to his situation. He has been poisoned with an exotic compound for which there is no cure, and no cure appears. But that is where the narrative has been headed from the beginning, so it is no surprise. The second arc begins on day eight (there is a calendar at the beginning of each issue, so the reader is always aware of the countdown).

Chance does not have much time, but he is still obsessively seeking the answer to who killed him. So, he spends a day with Fire–and passes her test by not trying to seduce her–and another day with Rocket Red, who is a Justice League friend of Green Lantern Guy Gardener (Chance and his lover Ice both think that they killed him, but appearances can be deceiving).

In the end Chance does get his answers, largely by tricking the simple-minded Green Lantern G'Nort into taking him to OA so he can check the Room of Records. There he discovers that Guy Gardener is indeed alive, and that Ice was involved in the attempt to kill Lex Luthor that got him killed by accident. His final request to Ice involves the exotic compound that killed him, and we see that resolution at the end of the story. As usual, revenge is best served cold. King and Smallwood have delivered a crime noir masterpiece here. It is effective even for those who are not familiar with all of the Justice League history referenced (including me).

I'm tradewaiting a hardback collection of all 12 issues, Mark, but you've made me more eager than ever for its arrival!

If there's a flaw in King's re-interpretations of existing characters it's that he gets to kill so many of them off (See: Heroes in Crisis, Mister Miracle, Adam Strange, Human Target), meaning that he gets to add dramatic weight that other writers are proscribed from doing, plus it pushes his books out of continuity. (Except Heroes in Crisis, which was included in continuity from the get-go, and other writers had to un-do everything.) That seems an unfair advantage; an otherwise mediocre story can be elevated by a dramatic death at the end. Take Adam Strange; I think the story would have been improved by omitting the major death at the end, which allowed a certain character to shuffle off without having learned anything or owning up to his behavior. (Which I thought was largely unexplained and out of character anyway.) A character coming to grips with his or her own mistakes is more interesting than watching them skate (albeit by dying).

But this seems like a cool story. In fact, it's a cool story every time I've seen it, like in both versions of D.O.A. And a great many good stories have been narrated from beyond the grave, like Sunset Boulevard. That's OK; "D.O.A. in the DCU" is a pretty good elevator pitch, and I'm keen to see the execution.

Replies

Captain Comics September 11, 2023 at 11:30am

I'm tradewaiting a hardback collection of all 12 issues, Mark, but you've made me more eager than ever for its arrival!

If there's a flaw in King's re-interpretations of existing characters it's that he gets to kill so many of them off (See: Heroes in Crisis, Mister Miracle, Adam Strange, Human Target), meaning that he gets to add dramatic weight that other writers are proscribed from doing, plus it pushes his books out of continuity. (Except Heroes in Crisis, which was included in continuity from the get-go, and other writers had to un-do everything.) That seems an unfair advantage; an otherwise mediocre story can be elevated by a dramatic death at the end. Take Adam Strange; I think the story would have been improved by omitting the major death at the end, which allowed a certain character to shuffle off without having learned anything or owning up to his behavior. (Which I thought was largely unexplained and out of character anyway.) A character coming to grips with his or her own mistakes is more interesting than watching them skate (albeit by dying).

But this seems like a cool story. In fact, it's a cool story every time I've seen it, like in both versions of D.O.A. And a great many good stories have been narrated from beyond the grave, like Sunset Boulevard. That's OK; "D.O.A. in the DCU" is a pretty good elevator pitch, and I'm keen to see the execution.

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