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Human Target #4
Human Target: Living in Amerika
The second collection of VERTIGO's gripping, Harvey-nominated series (reprinting #6-10) follows Christoper Chance across America. From the wages of sin and redemption in Boston; to the remnants of '60s radicalism in the mid-West; to a favor to a friend in Los Angeles, Chance comes face-to-shifting-face with the religion, politics, and anything-but-casual sex.
128 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2004
73 people want to read
About the author
Peter Milligan
1,311 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 8, 2011
Another solid story by Milligan, and a bit more unpredictable than the last two volumes, though it ends on a rather silly note. More than anything, I was glad to have a new artist on the series. While Chiang's style was simplistic and blocky, like Pulido's, Chiang had a less cartoony style, with a greater focus on anatomy and dimension.
Though I was just as appreciative of the switch in colorists, going from rather light, predictable color to a lot of depth, and chiaroscuro. It's nice to see a comic that isn't afraid to paint people in colors other than light pink.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
Though I was just as appreciative of the switch in colorists, going from rather light, predictable color to a lot of depth, and chiaroscuro. It's nice to see a comic that isn't afraid to paint people in colors other than light pink.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
March 9, 2010
Peter Milligan lo logró de nuevo. Le puso ganas al guion, pensó en unas cuantas premisas interesantes con la famosa vuelta de tuerca en el medio (y no necesariamente al final) y se largó con tres historias más que -como siempre- combinan lo mejor del thriller psicológico (casi diría psiquiátrico) con tiros, líos y minas goldas. Curas, ex-revolucionarios, prófugos con los días contados. Chance asume estos y otros rostros con la caradurez de siempre y sale airoso de los dilemas más variopintos, logrando que como lector siempre le tenga simpatía. El dibujo de Chiang no es una maravilla de por sí, pero cumple con creces casi todas las exigencias del guion; y las que no, las compensa de alguna forma con los divertidísimos extras. Espero poder leerme los dos tomos que me faltan pronto. Y si la calidad es más o menos lo mismo, sin duda me encuentro ante una joya absoluta de Vertigo. Lástima que no muchos hayan sabido apreciar su brillo.
April 7, 2020
Human Target: Living in Amerika
More Law & Order ripped from the headlines style stories, with a special emphasis on the masks everyone wears to hide dark truths about themselves. Chapter 1 deals with a man trying to murder a priest for all the reasons you might expect from something written around 2004. It’s a good enough story but really all too much by-the-numbers. Bruno makes an appearance here, but still no clues about their reconciliation. I still hope there is a story behind that.
Chapters 2-4 deal with domestic terrorism. And by that I mean not dealt by middle eastern insurgents in America, but by white people born in the country from various classes and walks of life. In the story, the lead antagonist makes the claim that now is the time them to strike as “...everyone is looking the other way for Al-Qaeda. Islamic fundamentalists. Not for good old home grown American terrorists.” Which is a topic that not even the news agencies would cover for more than a decade later. This is also the most complex story to date where a lot of people pretending to be other people mistake incorrectly guess who is really who and hilarity ensues.
Chapter 5 deals with Chance masquerading as a criminal who has just escaped from jail and was once an old friend. Really can’t say much more about it without giving too much away.
The series is beginning to pick up speed, but unfortunately all that’s left of it are uncollected issues. Maybe one day someone will get their head out of their nether regions and fix that.
More Law & Order ripped from the headlines style stories, with a special emphasis on the masks everyone wears to hide dark truths about themselves. Chapter 1 deals with a man trying to murder a priest for all the reasons you might expect from something written around 2004. It’s a good enough story but really all too much by-the-numbers. Bruno makes an appearance here, but still no clues about their reconciliation. I still hope there is a story behind that.
Chapters 2-4 deal with domestic terrorism. And by that I mean not dealt by middle eastern insurgents in America, but by white people born in the country from various classes and walks of life. In the story, the lead antagonist makes the claim that now is the time them to strike as “...everyone is looking the other way for Al-Qaeda. Islamic fundamentalists. Not for good old home grown American terrorists.” Which is a topic that not even the news agencies would cover for more than a decade later. This is also the most complex story to date where a lot of people pretending to be other people mistake incorrectly guess who is really who and hilarity ensues.
Chapter 5 deals with Chance masquerading as a criminal who has just escaped from jail and was once an old friend. Really can’t say much more about it without giving too much away.
The series is beginning to pick up speed, but unfortunately all that’s left of it are uncollected issues. Maybe one day someone will get their head out of their nether regions and fix that.
June 15, 2024
Reread.
Also read the rest of the ongoing (12-21) never collected. 3 stories in this volume. Great Chiang art. More fun with identity and masks amongst everyone.the one involving the former terrorist/activist group is great. It’d never followed up despite having some dangling character plots.
This is good but I’m left sad that the rest isn’t collected.
Also read the rest of the ongoing (12-21) never collected. 3 stories in this volume. Great Chiang art. More fun with identity and masks amongst everyone.the one involving the former terrorist/activist group is great. It’d never followed up despite having some dangling character plots.
This is good but I’m left sad that the rest isn’t collected.
April 17, 2023
I’m really fascinated by this character, and Milligan and Chiang bring him to life with unique believable stories with nice twists. This is a great volume. Nice follow-up to the previous one with three new stories.
January 29, 2024
I'm still on the verge whether I like this or not. It's mostly fun, and there's some tortured stuff in there. It's Vertigo at its finest. But it just feels like it's missing something. Just short of being great. And Chiang's good, but man I miss Pulido..
Read
September 10, 2019Fun, short stories based on a cool concept (Chris Chance takes on the identity of someone who fears being the target of violence as he solves the crime). Plus Cliff Chiang art.
January 15, 2020
These are a bunch of similar themes stories..fast paced and interesting enough to keep you going..
The conclusion was poor though...
The conclusion was poor though...
September 21, 2021
As usual, Peter Milligan spins great crime tales. His run on "Human Target" was outstanding. He did more with the character than many who had come before him.
March 1, 2014
Reseña de Toni Boix para Zona Negativa:
http://www.zonanegativa.com/blanco-hu...
Christopher Chance, el Blanco Humano, fue creado por Len Wein y Carmine Infantino para la DC. Era alguien capaz de hacerse pasar por cualquier otro hombre, gracias a sus dotes interpretativas y al maquillaje, y utilizaba ese don para tomar el lugar de personas amenazadas de muerte hasta conseguir así esclarecer quién los estaba amenazando al tiempo que salvaguardaba su vida. Tuvo sus historias, sus lectores fieles, sus apariciones como estrella invitada en las colecciones de otros personajes DC… Llegó a tener hasta una película. Pero, en el fondo, eran muchos los que le consideraban un don nadie.
Fue muchos años más tarde, cuando Peter Milligan se hizo cargo de él, que convirtiéndolo verdaderamente en “nadie”, consiguió hacer “alguien” de él; un personaje a tener en cuenta.
Milligan, introduciendo muy pequeños cambios en Christopher Chance, nos presenta su esencia más pura. Ahora Chance se pone hasta tal punto en la piel de las personas a las que suplanta que llega a saberlo todo de ellas, adivinando casi empáticamente aquellos secretos que no le han contado. Por el contrario, su verdadera personalidad deriva hacia el vacío, la apatía y una cierta indiferencia nihilista que es más una defensa ante su desorientación que una verdadera opción de vida.
Y con estos bretes, en una de sus obras más formalmente ordenadas, desde unas historias en las que el sentido del ritmo y la emoción nunca decaen, Milligan da rienda suelta a uno de sus discursos predilectos: la falsedad de lo convencional y lo modélico.
A partir de este continuo juego de apariencias y verdades que es la serie de “Blanco Humano”, Milligan reflexiona sobre las mentiras que apuntalan nuestras vidas.
A lo largo de la serie, empezada en nuestro país por Norma y continuada con el presente recopilatorio por Planeta, desfilan toda una serie de referentes sociales que son sometidos por Milligan al más absoluto despojamiento de sus máscaras para confrontarnos con sus miserias pero, también, con su pizca de humilde y pobre humanidad. A veces miserable, a veces conmovedora.
Hasta ahora a Milligan le habían dado la rèplica en la parte gráfica dos excelentes dibujantes: el tristemente fallecido Edwin Biukovic y nuestro compatriota Javier Pulido. En “Vivir en amérika” es el dibujante Cliff Chiang, mucho más maduro que en “Beware The Creeper!”, quien resuelve con una digna profesionalidad este apartado. Simplicidad y expresividad de trazo, buenos encuadres y una acertada distribución de blancos y negros son sus señas de identidad para un recopilatorio en el que son pasados por la picota un sacerdote católico, lo que queda de la ultraizquierda de los 60 en el mundo de hoy y, para acabar con una sonrisa, lo “sagrado” de tener cierta reputación sexual.
(Reseña completa en http://www.zonanegativa.com/blanco-hu... )
http://www.zonanegativa.com/blanco-hu...
Christopher Chance, el Blanco Humano, fue creado por Len Wein y Carmine Infantino para la DC. Era alguien capaz de hacerse pasar por cualquier otro hombre, gracias a sus dotes interpretativas y al maquillaje, y utilizaba ese don para tomar el lugar de personas amenazadas de muerte hasta conseguir así esclarecer quién los estaba amenazando al tiempo que salvaguardaba su vida. Tuvo sus historias, sus lectores fieles, sus apariciones como estrella invitada en las colecciones de otros personajes DC… Llegó a tener hasta una película. Pero, en el fondo, eran muchos los que le consideraban un don nadie.
Fue muchos años más tarde, cuando Peter Milligan se hizo cargo de él, que convirtiéndolo verdaderamente en “nadie”, consiguió hacer “alguien” de él; un personaje a tener en cuenta.
Milligan, introduciendo muy pequeños cambios en Christopher Chance, nos presenta su esencia más pura. Ahora Chance se pone hasta tal punto en la piel de las personas a las que suplanta que llega a saberlo todo de ellas, adivinando casi empáticamente aquellos secretos que no le han contado. Por el contrario, su verdadera personalidad deriva hacia el vacío, la apatía y una cierta indiferencia nihilista que es más una defensa ante su desorientación que una verdadera opción de vida.
Y con estos bretes, en una de sus obras más formalmente ordenadas, desde unas historias en las que el sentido del ritmo y la emoción nunca decaen, Milligan da rienda suelta a uno de sus discursos predilectos: la falsedad de lo convencional y lo modélico.
A partir de este continuo juego de apariencias y verdades que es la serie de “Blanco Humano”, Milligan reflexiona sobre las mentiras que apuntalan nuestras vidas.
A lo largo de la serie, empezada en nuestro país por Norma y continuada con el presente recopilatorio por Planeta, desfilan toda una serie de referentes sociales que son sometidos por Milligan al más absoluto despojamiento de sus máscaras para confrontarnos con sus miserias pero, también, con su pizca de humilde y pobre humanidad. A veces miserable, a veces conmovedora.
Hasta ahora a Milligan le habían dado la rèplica en la parte gráfica dos excelentes dibujantes: el tristemente fallecido Edwin Biukovic y nuestro compatriota Javier Pulido. En “Vivir en amérika” es el dibujante Cliff Chiang, mucho más maduro que en “Beware The Creeper!”, quien resuelve con una digna profesionalidad este apartado. Simplicidad y expresividad de trazo, buenos encuadres y una acertada distribución de blancos y negros son sus señas de identidad para un recopilatorio en el que son pasados por la picota un sacerdote católico, lo que queda de la ultraizquierda de los 60 en el mundo de hoy y, para acabar con una sonrisa, lo “sagrado” de tener cierta reputación sexual.
(Reseña completa en http://www.zonanegativa.com/blanco-hu... )
August 12, 2011
In the three tales in Human Target: Living in Amerika, Peter Milligan uses character Christopher Chance, master of disguise, to examine the idea of justice. In all three tales, there are surprises for both the reader and for Chance. Even a master of identity like Chance can find himself duped by people’s ability to conceal themselves.
The first story, “For I Have Sinned” contrasts the deeds of a Catholic priest with those of a common hoodlum, and Chance, not G-d, ends the story with his judgment. In the next story, Chance impersonates a former terrorist and in the end does a kindness for the terrorist’s brother that is unnecessary to the plot but necessary to the reader’s sense of righting unfair wrongs. The final story, in which Chance gives a goodhearted criminal a second chance at his life outside is almost cute, if it didn’t have such a misogynist twist, but that’s just the bias of this reader, who does not appreciate seeing women portrayed as interchangeable or objects to collect. Still, there is humor in the double figure of the criminal, one loving the women and the other wreaking havoc.
An entertaining noir collection, with an inventive play on the hardboiled detective with a touch of humanity.
The first story, “For I Have Sinned” contrasts the deeds of a Catholic priest with those of a common hoodlum, and Chance, not G-d, ends the story with his judgment. In the next story, Chance impersonates a former terrorist and in the end does a kindness for the terrorist’s brother that is unnecessary to the plot but necessary to the reader’s sense of righting unfair wrongs. The final story, in which Chance gives a goodhearted criminal a second chance at his life outside is almost cute, if it didn’t have such a misogynist twist, but that’s just the bias of this reader, who does not appreciate seeing women portrayed as interchangeable or objects to collect. Still, there is humor in the double figure of the criminal, one loving the women and the other wreaking havoc.
An entertaining noir collection, with an inventive play on the hardboiled detective with a touch of humanity.
July 2, 2013
The priest's story (#6) is a cliched mistake. Everything else, however, is up Milligan's usual high standards of characterization, historical interest, and identity confusion.
May 24, 2018
Cuarto tomo de Human Target en general, y segundo volumen de la serie regular en particular.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews