martes, 2 de noviembre de 2021

Some thoughts about Human Target #1

Who is willing to die for the most important people in the world?

Christopher Chase has made a career of impersonating powerful persons for their protection. However, his own life might be in peril now and not because of the job he choose.

A new Black Label series is here and is handled by none other than the hit and miss Tom King. Yes, King is unfortunately still a pretty uneven writer for me because I loved his Strange Adventures series while I thought his Rorschach book encapsulates most of his worst tics (I'm still on the fence about his Supergirl). Fortunately though, Human Target seems to be more focused on a straightforward story instead of being unnecessarily cryptic to try to look more "complex" like Rorschach.

Right from the beginning we're introduced to the protagonist Christopher Chase and the kind of person he is, including the unique profession he's dedicated to and little bits about his past, a lot of the issue in fact is concentrated on the protagonist's inner thought which are narrated in King's classic esoteric dialogue but fortunately not going too far into his uber pretentious zone. The more character-oriented premise allows for a more personal story which I believe is where King's writing shine the most (because, as I mentioned several times before, mysteries and heavy plots are not his specialty).

Even Lex Luthor gets a pretty interesting portrayal here due that he plays a very important role in this opening chapter. Thankfully, King goes for a more realistic depiction of the character instead of the stereotypical villanous one that you would see from someone like, let's say, Tom Taylor (who unfortunately has way too many books right now). The interactions between Chase and Luthor are especially enjoyable and leads for what seems to be a very intriguing mystery. I'm glad to see someone like Doctor Midnite here as well and, based on Mister Terrific's role in Strange Adventures, makes me wonder if King has something prepared for the Justice Society of America.

Mind you, this might turn out to be yet another overly-extended series in which King's premise hardly justify the amount of issues and I'm not particularly excited to see the Justice League International being involved here considering I still detest King's take on Booster Gold but so far, so good.

Greg Smallwood's artwork has an immense amount of detail in each panel and follows the script as closely as possible and even elevating it at some points. King is always paired with some of the best artists at least.

Solid beginning, let's see how it continues.

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