Customer Reviews

Human Target: Strike Zones

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This first trade of Human Targets is what the Vertigo line is made for, short little stories with a twist in them. You get three stories in this trade dealing with everything from baseball and steroids to 9/11 to violent movies all with intelligence and interest to match. This is what a Vertigo/ mature comic book should be.

The last book I read by Peter Milligan was Bronx Kill HC (Vertigo Crime) and in one book, I completely lost all respect I once had for Milligan. I was losing interest in Shade the Changing Man since he seemed to be spinning his wheels by the end with only some meaningless character deaths to justify the continuation of the series. However, I still thought of him as a decent writer that I could read at any time and still enjoy. Only he's changed. Unlike Warren Ellis who is putting out the same cool nihilist stories that fail to excite me the way they did when I was a teenager, Milligan has left all that was good and talented in his writing behind for some ponderous navel gazing.

THis book cemented my bad opinion of Milligan. THe stories are unsatisfactory and the main characters are rather lifeless. The only follow through in the book is the main character being scared that he's losing his soul by imitating these other people. It's a pretty boring way to revive a character that relies on Scooby masks to look completley the same. The problem is more angst than believable. THe fact that he forgets that he's the human target is preposterous. The way the story has him thinking with the thoughts while stopping to go "oh no, who am I" is just tedious.

Overall, this is a sad little exercise in teen angst disguised as a mystery series with not much to show for itself.

This is really good quality psycho-tainment, and by that I mean psychological entertainment. Characters are really intriguing and make for serious page turning enjoyment. Deals creatively with the "veneer-eal" nature of modern society with it's hero on the run from himself. He takes on one different identity after another to save himself from confronting himself. Similar in theme to the book/movie "American Psycho" but with decidedly less horrific outcomes. Blazed through this and ordered the next in the series.

The art is this TPB is so-so. You can tell what you're looking at but it could have been much better. Then there's the stories... I was expecting something along the lines of John Sable FreeLance, but instead got 3 stories that would have made so-so episodes of Law & Order.
Save your money and buy something else. If you're still tempted to buy this TPB, check it out at your local comic book store first.