William Claypool
Apr 5, 2004, 04:02 am
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/htsz.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/htszt.jpg" align=left alt="Human Target Strike Zones"></a>Reviewer: William Claypool billgatesisatool@hotmail.com
Quick Rating: Good
Story Titles: Various (To be Frank; Unshredded Man; Take Me Out to the Ballgame)
Suggested For Mature Readers
So does this trade hit a homerun or strike out? I’m going to hate myself in the morning for that one.
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist & Cover: Javier Pulido
Color/Seps: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Clem Robins
Assistant Editors: Zachary Rau, and Pornsak Pichetshote
Editor: Karen Berger
Strike Zones collects the three stories which compose the first five issues of the series. Wait, did I just say that this five issue mini contains more than 5/6 of a story? Yup, and you know what, Peter Milligan and Javier Pulido indirectly show how unnecessary consistent story padding can be.
To be Frank starts off the whole shebang. Milligan further develops his examination of recent Hollywood trends started in Human Target: Final Cut. The subtle irony of an outraged “fan” being the heart of this issue, and the appalling acts both in this and following issues is, to quote Carl Sagan, “a delight.”
As fun as this irony may be, it doesn’t save the first issue from being the weakest of the lot. I’m not sure what audience this issue is going for since it has two contradictory bases going on. On the one hand, it sets out to resolve the events of the Final Cut graphic novel, in turn, not serving up as welcoming of a first issue for newcomers a comic should. Contrarily, the themes and deep relationship Chance has with his targets this issue are just a restatement of the 1999 Human Target mini. As you can tell, this doesn't make it very welcoming to returning readers either. So what audience are they shooting for exactly? I haven’t a clue, but luckily this time readers are immediately hit by a stronger story.
Issues #2 & #3 comprise The Unshredded Man story arc, the best story in the trade. Imagine you work for a company with questionable morals that is willing to let you burn in front of the S.E.C (Securities Exchange Commission) for matters that weren’t completely under your control. They have asked you to do crooked thing after crooked thing. For fear of losing your job and means of supporting your wife and children, you are helpless but to go along. You shredded documents, falsified accounts, and have done anything else to cover up your employers’ dirty dealings. You were supposed to die in the Twin Towers attack on September 11th, 2001, but as luck would have it, you managed to escape. This left you with a choice: do you go about you life as normal and face the consequences of your actions, or will you sucker out, fake your death, let your family collect on your life insurance policy, and travel the country as an identityless vagabond? John Matthews chose the second option.
Peter Milligan crafts a delicious story in Unshredded Man that hits some interesting buttons. By being “killed” in the 9/11 attacks, Matthews has become a martyr. Though if you look at the whole story, Matthews, like our story’s protagonist Christopher Chance, couldn’t be less virtuous. It’s a far cry from the media’s usual portrayal of the events. Fear not, although it has a story “stripped from the headlines,” it doesn’t mean it’s relevant for the sake of relevance. 9/11 serves as a backdrop to discuss corporate corruption and shed more light on Christopher Chance.
Matthews and Chance are similar creatures. They both have their own interests to heart more than anything else. We don’t necessarily feel for these characters; something that could be death for any other title, but becomes Human Target’s breathe of life. This story is more impressive than To be Frank and forms a sturdier foundation for the rest of the series to build on. We learn more about Christopher Chance's modus operandi, and get a taste of the type of social awareness that appears throughout the rest of the series.
Like Milligan, Javier Pulido gives a better showing here than he did in the debut issue. His art becomes more detailed and emotional heavy than it was in Issue #1. Issue #1’s art wasn’t terrible, but is was stiff and empty. Issue #2 does a nice job of turning things around, but it isn't until Issue #3 where the ball really gets rolling. Pulido gives the story a sense of urgency and more emotional bearings such as Issue #2’s opening where John Matthews emerges from the ashes of the fallen towers, and the impending danger of the last page's split screen cliffhanger. One thing can be said about the art, its swiftness and variety not only lead to a visually stimulating story, but compliment the ambiguous nature of Christopher Chance.
Through a simple twist of fate, Issue #2 originally came out the week following the second anniversary of 9/11. A time conscious story has the possiblity of becoming bland patriotic "propaganda," but Human Target’s creative team avoids those the pitfalls. This is primarily thanks to the atypical view on the matter. The story really sets up the exploration of America’s supposed virtues that is further expanded in the next story. Though this time it's done in a more subtle fashion.
Issues #4 & #5 make up the Take Me Out to the Ballgame arc. A story that examines the corruptness that is at the heart of America by way of showing the dark side of America’s pastime: baseball. Ruben Valdez left his native country of Puerto Rico to come to America and achieve a level of success his homeland could not offer. It's the American dream condensed to its core. What Ruben got was the disillusionment that springs from sugarcoating American life and professional athletics. Think Moscow on the Hudson; on second thought don't. As the saying goes, “if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” (referring to New
York City), but to make it, Ruben Valdez must compromise his character. Like John Matthews last issue, Ruben is faced with an unfortunate turn of events that threaten to ruin his life.
Milligan pens a dark tale centered around a topic that gets less friendly with each passing day. With the possibility of standardized drug testing of baseball players becoming a bigger possibility, and a certain someone's State of the Union Address, steroid use is becoming more of the fun, yet heated discussion it was back in the 80's and 90's. With the threat of their characters being defaced, players like Barry Bonds are up in arms against such test for obvious reasons. I'm not saying he's on steroids, but it could be bad for his career if say he was found guilty. But in the interest of the whole "innocent until proven guilty" right, I'll leave it at that. The point is that Ruben faces a similar career ending allegation. This story is a nice parable of the past coming back to bite you in the, uh, poop factory. Ruben is at a crossroads very reminiscent of John Matthews. The choice he makes is in the same vein as Matthews and mirrors Chance. This starts yet more development of the Christopher Chance character and his own personal demons.
Pulido creates moments of iconic imagery that don’t come at the expense of the story’s coherency. My only real problem is that his action sequence are not very fluid. Hopefully his leave of duties between Issue #5 and #10 will invigorate Pulido.
Though To Be Frank may be a weak showing, the subsequent Unshredded Man arc serves as a strong introduction to Christopher Chance and his world. Take Me Out to the Ballgame helps to further establish the Chance character. His ambiguous nature prevents him from direct analysis, thus the use of fast, engrossing story arcs. This may explore Chance quickly and establish the guidelines the series will follow, but when read together, we aren’t really given much reason to care. These secondary characters are not too important so you aren't given much reason to put stock in them especially with the one-sitting reading the trade allows.
To boil it all down, in a way this has similar feelings to Silver Age collections. There isn’t really an underlying plot or method to the madness. Strike Zones just exists. The Human Target series is great, but it just doesn’t lead itself well to trade like most other series today. Its odd to think that there is a title that suffers from collection, but Human Target loses much of its action and excitement in the translation.
All in all, Strike Zones isn’t bad; in fact it holds some very potent stories of post 9/11 America. It just doesn’t possess the type of flow one expects when reading a trade. I still recommend this to new readers seeing as how good the stories and price are, but would then suggest picking up the singles if this trade piques your interest instead of waiting for a second volume.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htnone.jpg
WRITING:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/hthalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htnone.jpg
Buy the “Strike Zones” trade and other issues of Human Target online now at X-World Comics and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=773&cat=HUMAN+TARGET)
Quick Rating: Good
Story Titles: Various (To be Frank; Unshredded Man; Take Me Out to the Ballgame)
Suggested For Mature Readers
So does this trade hit a homerun or strike out? I’m going to hate myself in the morning for that one.
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist & Cover: Javier Pulido
Color/Seps: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Clem Robins
Assistant Editors: Zachary Rau, and Pornsak Pichetshote
Editor: Karen Berger
Strike Zones collects the three stories which compose the first five issues of the series. Wait, did I just say that this five issue mini contains more than 5/6 of a story? Yup, and you know what, Peter Milligan and Javier Pulido indirectly show how unnecessary consistent story padding can be.
To be Frank starts off the whole shebang. Milligan further develops his examination of recent Hollywood trends started in Human Target: Final Cut. The subtle irony of an outraged “fan” being the heart of this issue, and the appalling acts both in this and following issues is, to quote Carl Sagan, “a delight.”
As fun as this irony may be, it doesn’t save the first issue from being the weakest of the lot. I’m not sure what audience this issue is going for since it has two contradictory bases going on. On the one hand, it sets out to resolve the events of the Final Cut graphic novel, in turn, not serving up as welcoming of a first issue for newcomers a comic should. Contrarily, the themes and deep relationship Chance has with his targets this issue are just a restatement of the 1999 Human Target mini. As you can tell, this doesn't make it very welcoming to returning readers either. So what audience are they shooting for exactly? I haven’t a clue, but luckily this time readers are immediately hit by a stronger story.
Issues #2 & #3 comprise The Unshredded Man story arc, the best story in the trade. Imagine you work for a company with questionable morals that is willing to let you burn in front of the S.E.C (Securities Exchange Commission) for matters that weren’t completely under your control. They have asked you to do crooked thing after crooked thing. For fear of losing your job and means of supporting your wife and children, you are helpless but to go along. You shredded documents, falsified accounts, and have done anything else to cover up your employers’ dirty dealings. You were supposed to die in the Twin Towers attack on September 11th, 2001, but as luck would have it, you managed to escape. This left you with a choice: do you go about you life as normal and face the consequences of your actions, or will you sucker out, fake your death, let your family collect on your life insurance policy, and travel the country as an identityless vagabond? John Matthews chose the second option.
Peter Milligan crafts a delicious story in Unshredded Man that hits some interesting buttons. By being “killed” in the 9/11 attacks, Matthews has become a martyr. Though if you look at the whole story, Matthews, like our story’s protagonist Christopher Chance, couldn’t be less virtuous. It’s a far cry from the media’s usual portrayal of the events. Fear not, although it has a story “stripped from the headlines,” it doesn’t mean it’s relevant for the sake of relevance. 9/11 serves as a backdrop to discuss corporate corruption and shed more light on Christopher Chance.
Matthews and Chance are similar creatures. They both have their own interests to heart more than anything else. We don’t necessarily feel for these characters; something that could be death for any other title, but becomes Human Target’s breathe of life. This story is more impressive than To be Frank and forms a sturdier foundation for the rest of the series to build on. We learn more about Christopher Chance's modus operandi, and get a taste of the type of social awareness that appears throughout the rest of the series.
Like Milligan, Javier Pulido gives a better showing here than he did in the debut issue. His art becomes more detailed and emotional heavy than it was in Issue #1. Issue #1’s art wasn’t terrible, but is was stiff and empty. Issue #2 does a nice job of turning things around, but it isn't until Issue #3 where the ball really gets rolling. Pulido gives the story a sense of urgency and more emotional bearings such as Issue #2’s opening where John Matthews emerges from the ashes of the fallen towers, and the impending danger of the last page's split screen cliffhanger. One thing can be said about the art, its swiftness and variety not only lead to a visually stimulating story, but compliment the ambiguous nature of Christopher Chance.
Through a simple twist of fate, Issue #2 originally came out the week following the second anniversary of 9/11. A time conscious story has the possiblity of becoming bland patriotic "propaganda," but Human Target’s creative team avoids those the pitfalls. This is primarily thanks to the atypical view on the matter. The story really sets up the exploration of America’s supposed virtues that is further expanded in the next story. Though this time it's done in a more subtle fashion.
Issues #4 & #5 make up the Take Me Out to the Ballgame arc. A story that examines the corruptness that is at the heart of America by way of showing the dark side of America’s pastime: baseball. Ruben Valdez left his native country of Puerto Rico to come to America and achieve a level of success his homeland could not offer. It's the American dream condensed to its core. What Ruben got was the disillusionment that springs from sugarcoating American life and professional athletics. Think Moscow on the Hudson; on second thought don't. As the saying goes, “if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” (referring to New
York City), but to make it, Ruben Valdez must compromise his character. Like John Matthews last issue, Ruben is faced with an unfortunate turn of events that threaten to ruin his life.
Milligan pens a dark tale centered around a topic that gets less friendly with each passing day. With the possibility of standardized drug testing of baseball players becoming a bigger possibility, and a certain someone's State of the Union Address, steroid use is becoming more of the fun, yet heated discussion it was back in the 80's and 90's. With the threat of their characters being defaced, players like Barry Bonds are up in arms against such test for obvious reasons. I'm not saying he's on steroids, but it could be bad for his career if say he was found guilty. But in the interest of the whole "innocent until proven guilty" right, I'll leave it at that. The point is that Ruben faces a similar career ending allegation. This story is a nice parable of the past coming back to bite you in the, uh, poop factory. Ruben is at a crossroads very reminiscent of John Matthews. The choice he makes is in the same vein as Matthews and mirrors Chance. This starts yet more development of the Christopher Chance character and his own personal demons.
Pulido creates moments of iconic imagery that don’t come at the expense of the story’s coherency. My only real problem is that his action sequence are not very fluid. Hopefully his leave of duties between Issue #5 and #10 will invigorate Pulido.
Though To Be Frank may be a weak showing, the subsequent Unshredded Man arc serves as a strong introduction to Christopher Chance and his world. Take Me Out to the Ballgame helps to further establish the Chance character. His ambiguous nature prevents him from direct analysis, thus the use of fast, engrossing story arcs. This may explore Chance quickly and establish the guidelines the series will follow, but when read together, we aren’t really given much reason to care. These secondary characters are not too important so you aren't given much reason to put stock in them especially with the one-sitting reading the trade allows.
To boil it all down, in a way this has similar feelings to Silver Age collections. There isn’t really an underlying plot or method to the madness. Strike Zones just exists. The Human Target series is great, but it just doesn’t lead itself well to trade like most other series today. Its odd to think that there is a title that suffers from collection, but Human Target loses much of its action and excitement in the translation.
All in all, Strike Zones isn’t bad; in fact it holds some very potent stories of post 9/11 America. It just doesn’t possess the type of flow one expects when reading a trade. I still recommend this to new readers seeing as how good the stories and price are, but would then suggest picking up the singles if this trade piques your interest instead of waiting for a second volume.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htnone.jpg
WRITING:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/hthalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/htnone.jpg
Buy the “Strike Zones” trade and other issues of Human Target online now at X-World Comics and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=773&cat=HUMAN+TARGET)