The Human Target #8 has to be the most brutal installment of this series so far. We’ve seen Chance get knocked around, like his fight with Guy Gardner, who happens to be a Green Lantern, but Chance found a way to get back up and stick up for himself. Yet as you can see from this preview, the action comes fast and furious – it doesn’t matter if you’re still in bed. How does Chance survive this? Will it matter to a guy with only five days to live?
SPOILERS AHEAD for The Human Target #8!
Major shout out to Greg Smallwood for this issue. It looks like he got to cut loose here and find new ways to torture Christopher Chance. I’m sure Tom King had some input via the script, but the way Greg brings it to life is stunning. Rocket Red is not a dumb man, and the creative team showcases his darker side with this issue. The character is usually portrayed as comic relief, but you’ll see a different side to this man in armor after this issue.
Keeping in with Greg Smallwood’s art, I appreciate how the character outlines were tools playing with temperature and movement. The last page with Christopher Chance and Ice being together felt cold by way of colors, and the chills came when you saw the outlines across their bodies; it was a lovely touch. Even from the opening, when shots are flying at the characters, you can see the outlines help to amplify the idea of vibration and blast effects. I liked that it didn’t take up the whole panel but would add to the area where the shot took place. Smallwood plays the colors very nicely here to add to it being so early in the day and how dangerous the weapons are.
Tom King also hammers home the fact that Christopher Chance is dying here by adding some anger to the character. I liked that Chance would be rendered unconscious by all the beating and pain he is taking in, but Chance was collected enough to keep his mind and play the situation by asking for the time when he would wake and recover. Chance’s strategy plays nicely to the inner-monologue history of Russia against France. I enjoyed the parallels, which helped add some layers to Chance’s lifestyle and current situation.
The best part of the reaction is when Christopher Chance does find a way to survive, which is pretty clever. This maxi-series will play to the fact that Chance has twelve days, and one of his days will be wasted being beaten to a pulp. Two panels play amazingly to the fighters getting the upper hand and showcase that character’s anger. The emotions were high and justifiably so.
Tom King also found an excellent explanation for why the Justice League International members are the way they are. They didn’t have to be as serious as the “Big Seven”; they just had to survive, and sometimes that would put them at a low point or compromise them. I like that relationship between needing forgiveness and a family’s ability to accept. That part helps to justify why that version of the League was the best choice to play as a gallery of suspects.
Christopher Chance versus Rocket Red, what a fight! You will see what the Russian will do to someone who hurts his friend via Tom King and Greg Smallwood’s imaginations, and trust me – it’ll hurt! It all leads to the big question: what does time mean when it is running out?
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