The Human Target, Vol 2

Christopher Chance solves the mystery of who killed him. Posing as Lex Luthor, the Human Target ingested a slow acting poison. His fate is sealed. Chance is literally a member of the walking dead. With only 12 days left, he spends his remaining time trying to solve his murder while enjoying some fantastic scotch and time by the beach, his favorite place. But as his life comes to an end, Chance must confront his own demons.

This Tom King maxi-series from 2022-23 is very much a noir mystery with the Human Target providing the internal dialogue, heroes who are secretly villains and forbidden romance. As with just about any noir whodunnit, the solution is crystal clear while the motivations are the real enigma. For some reason, when the murderer confesses, they have no problem admitting their guilt and yet you need a thesaurus to understand what drove them to kill. 

That's okay however. I'm still a big fan of crime noir.

When I reviewed volume 1, I stated that Greg Smallwood's art looked familiar. I just couldn't put my finger on what it reminded me of. I managed to solve that mystery about a third into this book. With the sharp pencil angles and soft charcoal shading of the subjects, Smallwood's artwork reminds me of that set of Childcraft Encyclopedia books my mom ordered me sometime in the late70s. Published originally in the 1930s by W.F. Quarrie & Co, the volumes of 'the How and Why Library' I had had shiny modern covers. But the internal artwork hadn't been updated since the Kennedy administration. The artwork here gave the story the look of a more innocent time and yet there are no saints to be found.

A fantastic mystery with a great ending. It was awesome visiting some characters that I hadn't thought about in years. Thankfully, being a Black Label imprint work, this is not a canonical book. Yet I would not be surprised in the least to find out DC decided to make this story the official swan song of the Human Target.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.