I was blown away by the first Human Target, by Milligan and Edvin Biukovic, and remember thinking that there was plenty of potential for an ongoing series featuring that version of the character. The first issue of the ongoing series confirms for me that the potential is there, but it also stumbles a bit, tying this new series far too closely into the events of the second Human Target graphic novel. Anyone who hasn't read that graphic novel is going to be a bit lost, and anyone who has read it but not recently might also be a bit confused on a few matters. However, while I have my complaints about the accessibility of the book, I like the somewhat trippy identity questions that are the driving force of Milligan's take on the character, and I find myself intrigued by what might be coming next.
Even in the first two Human Target stories, there was potential for confusion, as Milligan's big hook with Christopher Chance has been that no one, not even the reader, can necessarily know who he is until he reveals himself. So while it's often the case that anyone narrating the book is in fact Chance, the way the character goes so deep into his assumed identities and the fact that he's more than a little crazy makes for some confusing and erratic behavior on the part of the character, which sometimes makes it hard to keep up. This pays off, however, by being a pretty effective window into the brilliance and insanity of the lead character, so that we can see what makes him such an effective mimic. It also pays off because Milligan is allowed to do some clever reversals of expectations about who someone really is, which he does not once but twice in this issue alone.
Where the trouble comes, at least as far as this issue is concerned, is when the complex nature of identity is blended with a complex level of continuity from an original graphic novel that every new reader may not have picked up. Human Target #1 picks up right from Human Target: Final Cut, and doesn't really explain what actually happened in that graphic novel very well, so that anyone coming in cold may wonder just what the hell is going on for most of the issue. It eventually becomes clear, at least in broad strokes, but I couldn't help but feel that Milligan might have made this a little impenetrable for a first issue.
Fortunately, the book has plenty of what I liked about the Human Target graphic novels, including a healthy dose of character interaction, a little implied and actual violence and some solid pacing. The nature of an insane stalker is portrayed exceptionally well in Mr. Smith, and the depiction of a couple in decline, fighting amongst themselves over real and imagined slights, is also painfully clear. And the two-page epilogue points toward an interesting plot for the next arc, one that is more focused on new characters and a new target rather than hold-overs from previous stories.
As most will know, Edvin Biukovic died, far too young, shortly after his work on The Human Target was completed. That meant a new artist had to step up to the plate, and while Javier Pulido's style was quite different, he did a pretty good job on his work on Final Cut. However, I still find myself wishing that the editor and writer had gone for a more realistic artist, rather than for someone with Pulido's more "animated" style. This style can work on dark material, as proven in Catwoman, but some of the most arresting moments in the first Human Target mini-series came from the action, and Pulido tends to move his action off-panel, or to make it look a little too lively, not quite ugly and violent enough. The work here is well-done, of that there can be no doubt, and Lee Loughridge's colors look great, but it didn't quite fit the tone of the script for me.
