A few years back, right after the Human Target mini-series came out, I was very excited by the possibility of a Human Target ongoing by the same writer. Now that it's here, I find that it hasn't quite caught my attention the way I would like, which may have something to do with a change in artists, or the fact that several years have passed and Human Target isn't the only action comic on the market (or even the only one from Vertigo) or who knows what else. Although the new series hasn't clicked with me the way the first mini-series did, though, I'm still finding it very entertaining, and Milligan and Pulido are crafting some interesting stories around the gimmick of a man who impersonates others to serve as a target.
There is a little bit of a weekly television series feel to Human Target, now that things have gotten rolling and Milligan has cut loose a little from the backstory in the second graphic novel. Chance wanders into the life of unusual people (a stockbroker who "died" in 9-11, a major league ballplayer) and lets the reader see into their world while dealing with the crime/action consequences that required them to get a human target in the first place. It's not exactly formulaic, but it does have a sort of no strings, no continuity approach which makes it a pretty good pick-up book for those who don't want to commit to an entire series, but who would just like to pick the book up whenever they're in the mood for this kind of story.
This serial style means that Milligan has to work extra hard on his arcs. He has to build a new supporting cast around each story, rather than pulling in familiar characters from previous arcs. He has to come up with ideas that are unusual and interesting, rather than feeling repetitive, since the structure of infiltrate-investigate-exfiltrate is going to be a little repetitive by its nature anyway. This new arc is pretty good in those respects, tying in to all the interesting sports stories, including corruption and betting, a washed-up player trying to get his last shot and the notion of just how highly paid these athletes are.
In addition, because Chance is something of a cipher, defined mostly by his dysfunctional personality when he's not impersonating someone, the characterization mostly comes from whichever character Chance is impersonating. Larry McGee is a more likable client than Chance's previous client, which makes it easy to get caught up in the seemingly unimportant gimmick of Chance having to play like a major league baseball player in order to help out Larry's career and family. Despite the murder investigation going on, it's easy to care about what happens to McGee as much as what happens to the people who murdered Ruben.
I'm still not quite as happy with Pulido on this book as I was with Biukovic, but the artwork is definitely well done. Milligan's story calls for a lot of fairly subtle beats, such as Larry breaking his ankle or any variety of small reaction shots, and Pulido handles those exceptionally well. He also does a good job with what I had thought was his weaker aspect, an action shootout scene, in this issue, although I still feel like he's making the action a bit too abstract. That's probably the missing element of the series for me, actually. The psychological examination and twisted plotting is still there, but the physical side of it, the action element, is very much downplayed.
