Who is Christopher Chance?
Anyone he wants to be, anyone at all.
But the lead character of Human Target is more than just a master impersonator. Chris becomes his clients - in face, personality and body language - in order to attract the bad guys.
It makes for a hell of an identity crisis. Chris engrosses himself so deep in his act, he literally becomes the other person - even to the point where he can professionally play a sport he hasn't played since grade school.
While it makes him the ultimate human target, Chris loses a little more of himself every time he assumes someone's life. It doesn't help that he spends the first five issues running from who he is, only to assume the identities of people who have the same problems.
His struggle with identity is what makes Human Target more than just an action comic. It's a psychological study of a man who doesn't know who he really is.
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Chris has been so many people, he can slip into other characters as easily as breathing. With the help of some synthetic skin, prosthetics and a little study time, he can become another person, feeling their emotions and reacting to events just as the other person would.
He also happens to be someone who gets into an inordinate amount of gunfights. Chris can dodge bullets, and he knows how to kill people - it's all part of the job.
In the first five issues, he confronts vicious thugs, hired killers and mobsters in three different stories. But even with the short story lengths, Human Target still manages to delve into complexity.
The first tale, with its clever twist, provides a good introduction to Chris Chance and his identity issues.
As he tries to run from them, Chris gets mixed up with a man who cheated death - and his insurance company - during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and also embarks on an undercover job in pro baseball.
The art, with its focus on the people and their expressions, works well with the character-driven approach. It's a little less successful with some of the action sequences, but beautifully portrays the book's urban locales.
At its heart, Human Target examines individuality and looks at how people define themselves. Chris can become whomever he wants - except himself.
The first five issues of the regular series are collected in Human Target: Strike Zones, published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics. It is written by Peter Milligan, and the first five issues are drawn by Javier Pulido.
Human Target comes out monthly, and Vertigo will release issue 16 this month.
