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Human Target #3
Human Target: Strike Zones
A new Softcover collecting the first five issues of the acclaimed series. Christopher Chance has left L.A. for New York City, but his strange career as a professional assassin decoy continues to blur the boundaries between illusion and reality, leaving him ever more uncertain about who he really is — and how much that really matters.
128 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2004
82 people want to read
About the author
Peter Milligan
1,306 books392 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.
He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.
His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.
Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).
Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.
He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.
His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.
Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).
Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 8, 2011
Milligan keeps an even keel in this series, but there's just not enough variety the stries. Same problems, same themes, same insights about identity. I don't feel like we've gotten anything that wasn't covered in the first, much more interesting arc. As in Shade's 'American Scream' storyline, we get another glimpse here of Milligan trying to come to terms with things that are quintessentially American; namely, baseball.
His take is amusing, and Chance's distance from the national pastime feels a bit European, though interestingly, the series itself feels more Japanese. I've never been fond of Pulido's work on this series, too flat, not enough flair or style. He's not pushing any boundaries with the art to match Milligan's scripts so I keep downgrading the books.
Whether it was intentional or not, Pulido is evoking Japanese baseball Manga and for once, he's actually experimenting with the form. I didn't feel like the experiments really went anywhere, they were just unfocused attempts to break the frame and do something more 'Vertigo'. Mere difference never makes for strong inspiration.
In his aping of Manga, we get some rather out-of-place art decisions, such as changing protagonist Chance from a classic Hollywood Clooney-lookalike with a lantern jaw to a young, slender, pointy-chinned bishonen (Japanese 'cute boy' stereotype). It was fairly inexplicable to me, but at least Pulido is trying.
Not a bad story, lots of twists and flashy language, but Milligan seems content to coast, or perhaps he's just not sure what else to say. Not every setting inspires every writer. Again, he's tackling the quintessentially American: Noir. But if Charlier and Leone can outdo us for Westerns, it shouldn't be beyond Milligan to bring a new perspective to it.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
His take is amusing, and Chance's distance from the national pastime feels a bit European, though interestingly, the series itself feels more Japanese. I've never been fond of Pulido's work on this series, too flat, not enough flair or style. He's not pushing any boundaries with the art to match Milligan's scripts so I keep downgrading the books.
Whether it was intentional or not, Pulido is evoking Japanese baseball Manga and for once, he's actually experimenting with the form. I didn't feel like the experiments really went anywhere, they were just unfocused attempts to break the frame and do something more 'Vertigo'. Mere difference never makes for strong inspiration.
In his aping of Manga, we get some rather out-of-place art decisions, such as changing protagonist Chance from a classic Hollywood Clooney-lookalike with a lantern jaw to a young, slender, pointy-chinned bishonen (Japanese 'cute boy' stereotype). It was fairly inexplicable to me, but at least Pulido is trying.
Not a bad story, lots of twists and flashy language, but Milligan seems content to coast, or perhaps he's just not sure what else to say. Not every setting inspires every writer. Again, he's tackling the quintessentially American: Noir. But if Charlier and Leone can outdo us for Westerns, it shouldn't be beyond Milligan to bring a new perspective to it.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
September 21, 2023
The most 2003 comic I've ever read and not at all in a good way. Peter Milligan. Pick different headlines to rip from.
April 6, 2020
Human Target: Strike Zones collects the first five issues of the ongoing series written by Milligan throughout with illustrators Javier Pulido and Cliff Chiang. These stories were drawn by Pulido exclusively. The story picks up where it left off from Final Cut, and in chapter one Christopher Chance is recovering physically but not mentally from the web of death and deceit spun by extortionist Davy King and opportunist Frank White, who’s identity he has now co-opted indefinitely. But the center cannot hold and Chance faces some awful truths about himself. It also seems that at the end of the chapter Chance and Bruno, his former aide have made a reconciliation—but how that came about remains untouched and will hopefully be expanded on in future stories.
Chapters two and three take place in New York—it is 2003 and 9/11 is still weighing heavily on the soul of the city. Chance assumes the identity of a mid level brokerage manager who faked his own death on September 11 to avoid facing investigations from several government agencies and whose life is now in danger from his former bosses.
Chapters 4 and 5 round out Chance’s New York adventures and centers around another NY obsession: Baseball. An owner for a certain NY based team calls on Chance to infiltrate the team to investigate the apparent sudden suicide of one of their rising stars. In a Law & Order ripped-from-the-headlines style story we delve into the seamy side of sports, touching subjects ranging from steroid abuse to sports betting and the influence of organized crime.
Chapters two and three take place in New York—it is 2003 and 9/11 is still weighing heavily on the soul of the city. Chance assumes the identity of a mid level brokerage manager who faked his own death on September 11 to avoid facing investigations from several government agencies and whose life is now in danger from his former bosses.
Chapters 4 and 5 round out Chance’s New York adventures and centers around another NY obsession: Baseball. An owner for a certain NY based team calls on Chance to infiltrate the team to investigate the apparent sudden suicide of one of their rising stars. In a Law & Order ripped-from-the-headlines style story we delve into the seamy side of sports, touching subjects ranging from steroid abuse to sports betting and the influence of organized crime.
January 27, 2024
I'm not sure if I just let go of my expectations along the way, or if Milligan upped his game, but I'm really starting to enjoy this series. Javier Pulido's art certainly helps. It reminds me a lot of Marcos Martin's stuff. Not the best technical line but it's so kinetic. The paneling is incredibly fun and fluid and it just looks and read great. It's not deep or anything, and there's definitely some lost potential as far as the concept goes, but Milligan writes some fun little two or three issue mysteries for Christopher Chance to solve
January 6, 2020
This is a very fine series...
With crisp and entertaining storylines that mildly overlap each other...
Definitely recommended...
With crisp and entertaining storylines that mildly overlap each other...
Definitely recommended...
October 29, 2021
Very men's adventure in genre and writing style.
June 15, 2024
Reread
3 stories. First one is a great continuation/follow up to Final Cut (previous) volume. Then two strong (albeit more standard) stories. Perfect art by Pulido.
3 stories. First one is a great continuation/follow up to Final Cut (previous) volume. Then two strong (albeit more standard) stories. Perfect art by Pulido.
Read
February 2, 2011I read this thinking I had already read it, but I'd really only read the first issue. I read it now because I kind of enjoy the TV series, and the series is so different from the book it should almost have a different title. But that's a whole other story.
In brief, this is more than pretty solid. In fact, the way Milligan plays with point of view and notions of identity is often impressive. You'd think a comic, in which things are firmly drawn on the page, would not lend itself (in a very general-audience-oriented pop-noir like this) to ambiguity, but in the hands of Milligan and artist Javier Pulido not only do you get nicely teased as to who is saying what, the characters themselves often have to wrestle with similar issues. (At its best, especially in the early issues, the art reminds me of work by Tim Sale, Matt Madden, and R. Kikuo Johnson.)
The reason for all this teasing is that the main character (named Christopher Chance, as in the TV show) is something of a cipher, a mercenary bodyguard capable of taking on the appearances of others, and often going so deep into character that he looses track of his own identity. The characters themselves get thrown off in the process -- for example, a baseball player needs help, but in order to help him, Chance must become not the player today, but the player years ago, when he was still a remarkable athlete. The divide between who the player is today and who he once was is as much a concern to the story as is the divide between the player and the man who has signed on to impersonate him.
To be clear, this isn't The Sound and the Fury; there are easy cues as to who's saying what, especially if you look at the color/shading of the word balloons (more like "thought boxes," so much of the book is interior monologe).
In brief, this is more than pretty solid. In fact, the way Milligan plays with point of view and notions of identity is often impressive. You'd think a comic, in which things are firmly drawn on the page, would not lend itself (in a very general-audience-oriented pop-noir like this) to ambiguity, but in the hands of Milligan and artist Javier Pulido not only do you get nicely teased as to who is saying what, the characters themselves often have to wrestle with similar issues. (At its best, especially in the early issues, the art reminds me of work by Tim Sale, Matt Madden, and R. Kikuo Johnson.)
The reason for all this teasing is that the main character (named Christopher Chance, as in the TV show) is something of a cipher, a mercenary bodyguard capable of taking on the appearances of others, and often going so deep into character that he looses track of his own identity. The characters themselves get thrown off in the process -- for example, a baseball player needs help, but in order to help him, Chance must become not the player today, but the player years ago, when he was still a remarkable athlete. The divide between who the player is today and who he once was is as much a concern to the story as is the divide between the player and the man who has signed on to impersonate him.
To be clear, this isn't The Sound and the Fury; there are easy cues as to who's saying what, especially if you look at the color/shading of the word balloons (more like "thought boxes," so much of the book is interior monologe).
March 16, 2010
This five-issue collection includes three short stories – all of which presumably take place chronologically after Human Target: The Final Cut. (Or at least the first of these three stories, for that matter.) Luckily for me, the artist for this entire collection is none other than Javier Pulido – whose art I fell in love with back with Robin: Year One. His style is refreshingly clean with a retro-feel that reminds me of Darwyn Cooke and Rick Burnett – two of my other all-time favorites; although I would argue just a touch with his much too thin inks on the last of the three story-arcs, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” (What was the man thinking? I do understand if he feels a need to experiment from time-to-time. But really now. His usual inks are much more stylish by far.)
If you’ve ever come away from a Human Target storyline utterly confused by the identity deception, Strike Zones manages to bedazzle yet again with Milligan’s brilliantly clever and twisting plot-threads. None of which can be taken at face value – no pun intended. Here’s hoping Milligan and Pulido join forces again in the near future to pen and ink yet another astonishing Human Target storyline.
If you’ve ever come away from a Human Target storyline utterly confused by the identity deception, Strike Zones manages to bedazzle yet again with Milligan’s brilliantly clever and twisting plot-threads. None of which can be taken at face value – no pun intended. Here’s hoping Milligan and Pulido join forces again in the near future to pen and ink yet another astonishing Human Target storyline.
May 24, 2023
Enjoyable story and interesting art. I’ve only recently become familiar with the character of Human Target via the modern reimagining. Intriguing premise. Worth a read.
July 2, 2013
I wasn't too impressed the first time I read this, but that may be because I hadn't read the previous graphic album, and the first issue of this volume is almost incomprehsible without it. This time around I found the first issue a very nice coda, and the next two, two-issue storylines are each very strong on their own as well.
April 25, 2008
Totes awesome, just like everything Peter Milligan does. Not the very best Human Target stories, but still fershure The Chronic. This irish dude, P.M., is obsessed with American culture in a really gnarly way. I guess I learned that, well, when things get tough, try to laugh a little?
March 9, 2010
Muy pero muy bueno. Casi tanto como la primera serie. Supongo que después de terminarme la serie se ganará una relectura en algún momento.
July 24, 2010
More please!
May 24, 2018
Tomo con los primeros cinco capítulos de la serie regular de Blanco Humano. Colección Vertigo #283.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews