/1.jpg "Human Target #1")
Christopher Chance has made a living out of being a human target-a man hired to disguise himself as his client to invite would-be assassins to attempt his murder. He’s had a remarkable career until his latest case protecting Lex Luthor when things go sideways. An assassination attempt Chance didn’t see coming leaves him vulnerable and left trying to solve his own murder...as he has 12 days to discover just who in the DCU hated Luthor enough to want him dead. Human Target is a hard-boiled, gritty story in the vein of classic detective noirs told by bestselling and critically acclaimed creators Tom King and Greg Smallwood!
Again, I have to reiterate what I said on the Dark Knights of Steel review: why are some people so defensive of the writers they like? And why does that ALWAYS, always happen just with the Two Toms: King and Taylor? Bendis is getting all types of awful reactions (and deservedly so!), people don't jump to his defense though I'm pretty sure Bendis also has a lot of fans from his better days. I don't jump to the defense of Hickman even though I think he's probably the best writer in the industry. But whenever someone dares to not like something King or Taylor, people are screeching like hell. My theory is twitter plays a big part on that, the way these two radicalize their fans there is insane.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand, I can say that I liked the art, though I think this type of story doesn't suit Smallwood very much, it's the same as with the Rorschach book and Fornes. I feel like this type of story isn't playing to Smallwood's best attributes. And I liked the story, too, up until that penultimate page. If there was ONE team that didn't deserve the classic Tom King treatment, it was Justice League International. At this point I'm starting to think King does this on purpose, he deliberately tries to stain all the bright spots of the DCU to turn it into the Depresoverse. I hope it's a false lead, though, and it turns out one of the JLI didn't try to kill Luthor.
So overall for a first issue it's good. Problem is, with King the first issue is good a lot of the times. It's what comes after that it's horrifying. I have no doubt it's going to happen here, too, but for now I liked this.
© 2025
Seems to be the new prog reaction here * I wanted to review this early because some people upset me".
There are those that defend Bendis all over the place North American Michael Bendis literary apologist are all over the place.
I haven't seen them here very much, Bendis is getting trashed here and there isn't this kind of visceral reaction I see from the Two Toms apologists, where they go out of their way to insult people who don't like their idols' writings. Why is the message "I don't like it and I want to say it" so difficult for these people to grasp?
Even when I rate their comics highly and I just have the audacity to add a bit of critique in my reviews, they always screech like maniacs. It's not happening with any other writer besides these two.
Bendis has almost buried JL as he did Superman. I've tried reading his current output and it's almost painful to read. The dialogue the poor characterization the utterly forgettable villains. His sole purpose on JL seems to to push Naomi as a property and that's it. As much as I detest the writing of king Ridley Tynion and Taylor Bendis is almost unreadable.
Oh Bendis is unreadable, I'm not saying otherwise. I'm just saying that his fans aren't that rabid, at least not here. His run on Superman was awful, his Young Justice was awful, his Legion was terrible and he made me drop Justice League. His career at DC is a shipwreck.
The only comic Ive ever hated was Rob Liefields, Hawk and Dove from new 52, and it wasnt because of his art. Only trade paperback Ive ever ripped up, couldnt stand to keep it in my collection. This was when I first started reading comics, I hadnt even known he was famous in the 90s.
Even Bendis is a God compared to that idiot.