Human Target: Final Cut

Human Target #2

by Peter Milligan, Javier Pulido (Illustrator), Dave Stewart

In the psychological thriller HUMAN TARGET: FINAL CUT, Christopher Chance, a unique bodyguard that assumes the identity of the person that he is protecting, finds himself caught in a tangled web of Hollywood deceit, drugs and duplicity. While posing as an elderly film actor, the Human Target successfully takes down and kills the man who has been extorting aging thespians. But when Chance learns that the extortionist has also kidnapped a child actor, the master of disguise must impersonate his dead victim in order to find the boy before he dies of starvation. Entering into a world of veiled loyalties and shattered dreams, Chance looks to have taken on his final role as he slips dangerously deep into his fake identity and begins to lose his own sense of self. SUGGESTED FOR MATURE READERS.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Dc Comics, Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian 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

Reviews

[Rodolfo Santullo · Rating 4 out of 5]

El británico Peter Milligan -uno cuyo nombre no suele entrar de primera en la lista de “ingleses que rompieron todo en el mainstream estadounidense” pero bien que debería- retomó en 1999 la creación de Len Wein y Carmine Infantino en una violenta miniserie que desafiaba las raíces mismas del personaje. Este no era otro más que Christopher Chance, un experto en disfraces y actuaciones -además de armas y combate- con la capacidad casi sobrenatural de sustituír a posibles víctimas de atentados o intentos de asesinato y detener a sus posibles asesinos in situ. Milligan toma al personaje y lo da vuelta cómo una media, lo pone al límite de su propio psique y lo traslada de cabeza a un cómic de Vertigo, uno donde de pronto no se podía adivinar quién era quién, qué estaba pasando y porqué, todo al ritmo una trepidante aventura que, además, era dibujada cómo los dioses por el croata Edvin Biukovic, quien falleciera muy prematuramente. El éxito de esta primera miniserie habilitaría otra, la que hoy nos ocupa, ahora dibujada cómo los dioses por el inmenso artista español Javier Pulido.
Chance todavía se recupera de las consecuencias de la aventura anterior que ocupa el lugar de un actorzuelo de Hollywood, uno de los tantos que está siendo chantajeado a cambio de su vida por un misterioso atacante. Chance logra librarse de ese atacante sin despeinarse, pero entonces surge el problema: otra de las víctimas de ese acosador de artistas era un niño actor secuestrado. Y no hay forma de encontrarlo, salvo que Chance ocupe el lugar de nada menos que el chantajista. Pero con su mente cada vez más al límite ¿podrá hacerlo sin volverse definitivamente loco?
Milligan apela a una historia inmersa en Hollywood y el mundo del cine, pero lo cierto es que repite -pasos más acá, pasos más allá- el mismo esquema de la miniserie anterior (final incluído) con pocas variables. Sí destaca -y mucho- la labor de Pulido (con color del maestro Dave Stewart) logrando unas páginas increíbles, dueñas de tremenda dinámica y narrativa. Mal no les fue a este nuevo combo y a Christopher Chance, ya que de aquí se fueron todos a una serie regular del personaje que duraría unos 21 números (y que, según he leído, es estupenda y cierra en sí misma). Nota: el personaje de Christopher Chance tendría su oportunidad en TV no una, sino tres veces: en 1992 interpretado por Rick Springfield, en 2010 por Mark Valley y hasta una aparición a cargo de Wil Traval en Arrow en 2017.

[J.G. Keely · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characterization was weaker in Milligan's second outing in this series. There was more narration and exposition, but not a greater psychological depth requiring it. We were told too much and shown too little. The themes explored in Chance's character didn't cover any new ground when compared with the first series, though the dialogue and pacing were strong and there were moments where Milligan's flair for honest little moments and realizations showed through.

Pulida's art did not impress. Its simplistic, cartoony style was a poor match for the violence and drama of the story. Sometimes, an artist can get away with simple art through stylized action and a focus on color, layout, and chiaroscuro, as shown in Powers or Hellboy, but Pulida didn't have the idiomatic strength to pull it off.

All in all, a solid book, but with little to set it apart. But perhaps I do Milligan a disservice by comparing him to himself, he did set a rather high bar of expectation.

My Suggested Reading In Comics

[Britton]

Sadly this one wasn't as strong as the first. It felt more like a standard Hollywood noir than the last entry, which I didn't mind as much but I did want the more odd style and political edge of the previous comic.

The constant issue I had was with Pulido's art, it felt too much like a lesser Darwyn Cooke. His style can be solid and enjoyable, but then it can look way too bouncy and inhumanly thin, his characters can sometimes look like pencils not unlike Mr. Higgins Comes Home. His style just made me pine for Cooke to draw this series, which I'm sure would have been far better than Pulido's weird, pencil like anatomy.

Yet Milligan's writing is still lively and full of energy, his satire of the superficiality of Hollywood was a bit obvious, but it works. The general mystery and pacing of the story was still well handled, with an ending and twist that surprised me, though sadly the characterization felt a bit more uneven than in the last arc.

Full review here.

[David Palazzolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Human Target: Final Cut picks up some time after the mini series ends, with the mystery of who hired the now dead assassin Emerald still weighing heavily upon the mind of our Human Target, Christopher Chance. But life goes on and Chance starts what should have been a simple job of standing in for aging actor Dai Thomas, the latest target of an extortionist who’s already killed two other members of the Hollywood elite. Chance manages to seemingly dispatch the extortionist with extreme prejudice, and all’s well that ends well. At least until producer Frank White gets in touch with Chance to tell him of an awful wrinkle—White’s son was kidnapped by the extortionist before his death, and now he needs help finding the child while he’s still alive.

Peter Milligan writes an engrossing tale layered with twists and secrets upon secrets, and as one can expect no one is as they seem, and to complicate things, the extortionist might not be as dead after all. Illustrator Javier Pulido’s pacing and composition mesh organically with the story and is simply just a pleasure to look at. There’s an aspect to his work that reminds me of Steve Ditko, but the work is clearly all Pulido’s own.

I would have given this five stars except for the revelation of who hired Emerald. The plot point felt tacked on and there was no real time to play out the impact. I assume this is because Milligan had no guarantee of returning to the character at the time of writing. However a year or so later, an ongoing series would be released.

[Jean-Pierre Vidrine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting exploration of the classic character in a setting far different and maybe less grand than I'm used to. The story is quite low key. Chance's getting lost in his latest role against the backdrop of Hollywood is fitting and does lead to some intriguing examination of other people and the roles they play. At times the "mature readers" content, the four-letter words and crass sexual statements, feel a bit forced. It almost seems like the writer remembers at times that he's writing a book under the Vertigo imprint and feels he need to justify it. This mars the reading experience a bit, but only a bit.

[Camilo Guerra · Rating 2 out of 5]

C.Chase se hace pasar por ti, se mete en tu piel ,copia cosas de tu actuar y descubre quien te quiere hacer daño o quien te quiere matar y aca, se ve involucrado en una trama de un asesino de celebridades , vueltas de asesinos, secuestros...una trama bien armada por Peter Milligan y con UN ARTE BESTIAL de Javier Pulido, que deja la vida en cada pagina y te quedas fundido.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read
A forgotten gem of Vertigo era comics. And with Javier Pulido on art it looks great too.
Christopher Chance loses all sense of identity and everyone has secrets underneath, even if Chance is the only one wearing a literal mask.
Don’t need to read the previous mini to enjoy this, but this meads very well into the ongoing.

[Fernando Gálvez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo atractivo de Montaje Final está Christopher Chance y lo que sufre cuando debe asumir una nueva identidad. Es un personaje complejo y obsesivo que Milligan toma su tiempo en llevarnos por un viaje hacia las frágiles capas de su psique.

Javier Pulido se luce en el arte de esta historia.

[E B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely overwritten and could have been edited down from a copy perspective. Its an interesting idea using disguises to portray your clients, but it leaves a lot to be desired. I tend not to be much of a graphic novel reader, but this is a hard pass in my opinion.

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, hope to write a full review later.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

2nd volume of Peter Milligan’s Human Target. Great art from Javier Pulido.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I saw the pilot of the TV adaptation of Human Target at Comic-Con this last year, I couldn’t say that I was exactly wowed about it. Sure, it has the hunky Mark Valley from Fringe and the babelicious Tricia Helfer from Battlestar Galactica. But the premise seemed too schticky to me. But once I heard that it was actually based upon a Vertigo comic, I decided to give it a second go. But this time on the four-color page, in lieu of the pixilated colors of light of my 42” flat screen HDTV.


Entertainment Weekly is right on the mark when they declare it to be “A cold-blooded thriller that’s like an Elmore Leonard novel with pictures.” Between the curve-ball ending, and Pulido’s brilliantly clean pencil and inks – reminiscent of Darwyn Cooke, who is one of my all-time favorite comic book artists – Human Target: Final Cut makes for an amazing work of modern crime noir.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 4 out of 5]

Igual de bueno que el tomo anterior, que leídos juntos suman más todavía que cada uno por su lado.

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

To listen to my review go to http://vforvertigo.blogspot.com and download Episode 56.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Milligan is absolutely at his best in this novel-length story which deals with issues of identity and crime in a very noirish and fairly deep manner.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuación de la miniserie original de Human Target. Publicado como Colección Vertigo #252.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the first Human Target. It's nice to see Milligan trying new things, like the episodic form, but I prefer the short story form of the first.