The Human Target by King & Smallwood vol. 1

Christopher Chance makes a living by impersonating people who’ve been targeted for murder.  His latest job has him taking the identity of someone who a lot of people in the DC Universe would like to see dead:  Lex Luthor.  While he has no problem foiling the main assassination plot, the backup plan to get Luthor has made it so that Chance has only twelve days to live.  That may seem like a tight timeframe, but the Human Target knows where to start looking thanks to a small mistake made by the culprit.  You see, they left behind a unique radiation signature that’s distinct to the Ringbrak Dimension and only one group of heroes has been there recently:  The Justice League International.

It’s a real sign-of-the-economic times where all of writer Tom King’s previous maxi-series for DC have been published in one volume that this one is split up into two.  That means we’re only getting half of the story here, and it even leaves off on a potentially continuity-breaking cliffhanger to boot.  Even so, there’s still a satisfying chunk of story here as Chance works his way through the JLI in stories that serve both to illustrate the personalities of each of its members/suspects while venturing further into the rabbit hole that is the title’s central mystery at the same time.

The character work is as skillfully executed as you’d expect from King, with the issue featuring Martian Manhunter being a standout in the way it makes leading the reader around by the nose before revealing everything a satisfying read.  Artist Greg Smallwood also gives everything a stylish 60’s look that makes everything feel timeless rather than old, and makes a very talky series very fun to simply look at.  There are those who may prefer the Peter Milligan version of the character (like me) or those who object to seeing the JLI wheeled out to suffer again in a dark story at odds with their legacy (not me), but the level of craft here on display is enough for me to get past my issues and enjoy the story for the character-driven whodunit it’s striving to be.