This is a review of The Human Target by Tom King (writer) and Greg Smallwood (artist). Technically, this is a twelve-issue miniseries in two volumes, and my review covers both volumes. SPOILER WARNING. I reveal the killer’s identity, so if you don’t want to know whodunit, read no further.
Let’s get this out of the way. I can see how this book would upset people. A big part of what Mr. King does is give new spins on older, more obscure characters. Other comic writers who do this are Brian Michael Bendis and, of course, Alan Moore. If you are the nostalgic type who has a stake in the JLI (Justice League International) and its characters, I would not read this. You won’t like it.
Why not? There was a show I watched as a kid called The Brady Bunch, which was a dumb kid’s show. That’s fine, because I was a dumb kid. After The Brady Bunch ended, they did a spinoff called The Brady Brides that dealt with all sorts of adult themes that never lasted longer than an episode. Marcia would have a drinking problem, and then it’s never referred to again. I loved The Brady Bunch. I think I watched a single issue of The Brady Brides, and hated it so much I never watched another.
People have nostalgia for the characters of the JLI. I read the first few years of the run, 30+ years ago. It featured a group of obscure, often goofy, characters. We have Guy Gardner, the Rambo Green Lantern; Booster Gold, who comes from the future; Fire and Ice, who hail from Brazil and Norway; Rocket Red, a Russian hero; Blue Beetle, best known for BWAH HAH HAH. No, seriously. That’s what he’s known for.
Turns out, the characters of the DC Universe harbor deep, dark secrets and untold trauma. If you’ve read Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis, where Ralph Dibny’s wife Sue is raped and then murdered, you’ll know what I mean. Why would people read that? I read it back in the day, but at that point I’d been reading superhero comics for decades. Basically, it’s adding a degree of noir – not realism – to your comics. If it’s done well, think Watchmen. If it’s not done well, we have ASSHOLE BATMAN and The Blue Beetle being shot in the head.
Would I read it today? Well, I read the first volume of this graphic novel, skimmed the second, and then called it quits. Skimming means I read the issues quickly, a skill perfected from years of waiting in line at the comic book store. Did I hate this graphic novel that much? No, I thought it was depressing. At its heart, The Human Target is all about watching an emotionally stunted man die.
The plot: Christopher Chance, who goes by the moniker the Human Target, impersonates Lex Luthor. That is Mr. Chance’s job, taking the bullet for his client. In this instance, it’s literal. Chance is shot impersonating Luthor, but that’s what saves his life. He spits out the poisoned coffee he drank earlier, but the poison is still in his system, which means he has twelve days to live. One of the interesting things about this graphic novel is that Luthor is one of the few characters who is what he appears to be.
Okay, then. Besides everyone, who’d want to kill Luthor? Hold on, there’s a clue. The poison has trace radiation from a certain dimension, blah blah blah. Turns out a member of the JLI poisoned the coffee, and Chance has twelve days to find the culprit. Lo and behold, the culprit turns out to be Ice, the last person you’d expect. Why? I read the book, and I don’t know why. Yes, she died (and then got better), and it was sort of Luthor’s fault, but who in the DC Universe hasn’t died? Maybe she’s unstable because she killed her father and grandfather as a child and then made up a dumb story about being raised by a lost tribe? Most superhero origins are traumatic, so what does that prove?
Ice is an enigma. In noir terms, she’s the femme fatale. Whether or not she fits into that mold, or whether she’s jammed into it, I leave to the reader. There are two ways to read Ice – the first is that she feels awful about accidentally, you know, killing Chance; the second is that she does everything she can to derail Chance’s investigation. Either interpretation seems valid to me. Or it could be both, because two things can be true at the same time. It’s hard to tell, because a lot of what she does and says is performative. The creators wouldn’t have Chance fall for the woman who kills him, right? BWAH HAH HAH!
The technical term for Chance is an alphahole. What’s that? Well, combine an alpha male with an asshole and – well, you get the idea. The alphahole is a staple in romance novels, where he has attractive qualities and is always redeemable (after he grovels). Chance is a realistic alphahole in that he has no friends, family, or lovers. No, that’s not true. Chance has one friend, who has the worst cover identity in the universe. The guy owns a pizza parlor, doesn’t know a word of Italian, and microwaves his pizza. Since Chance has killed many people and will also serve your prison sentence for you, he isn’t a nice guy. He is absolutely positively no doubt terrified of any hint of intimacy.
The Human Target is an uneasy fusion of superhero comics and noir. Plot-wise, it’s tight; character-wise, it’s all over the place. Let me be clear: I have no particular love or nostalgia for these characters. The reinterpretations didn’t work for me, and I thought Chance was an extremely depressing character. Maybe this graphic novel will work for you, but that’s my take. Anyway, next week I will have a best/worst of 2024 list for the New Year.
Abandoned Places 