Human Target

Human Target (4-issue mini; w Peter Milligan; a Edvin Biukovic). [From DC Comics: Christopher Chance has made a living off of making himself a human target. A master of disguise, he cunningly takes on the appearance and persona of men and women with contracts out against them. But when a routine assignment to impersonate an African-American minister with a bounty on his head goes south, Chance is soon caught between a lethal assassin and a vicious gang war. As this psychological thriller takes the reader through a roller coaster of unexpected twists and turns, it is soon discovered that it is Chance himself with price on his head and the only way he can survive is to solve this deadly mystery.]

Final Cut (OGN; w Peter Milligan; a Javier Pulido). [From DC Comics: Peter Milligan, writer of the acclaimed HUMAN TARGET miniseries (with art by the late, great Edvin Biukovic) returns to VERTIGO with HUMAN TARGET: FINAL CUT, a riveting, action-packed modern noir with a psychological undercurrent. For this 96-page original hardcover, Milligan—one of the writers who defined VERTIGO with his groundbreaking work on SHADE THE CHANGING MAN, ENIGMA, THE EXTREMIST and many others (as well as currently penning the fan favorite X-Force)—teams with sensational European illustrator Javier Pulido (ROBIN: YEAR ONE). Christopher Chance's profession is an unusual one: for a price, he will impersonate the intended target of a possible assassination. His skills at mimicking his clients verge on the uncanny, and Chance sometimes finds himself slipping disturbingly far into character. When Chance is hired to impersonate an aging film actor marked for death by an extortionist who preys upon the Hollywood glitteratti, what seems like an open and shut case soon spirals down a path of danger and deceit into the seamy underbelly of the Hollywood dream factory; a fetid flipside to the everyday excesses of the City of Angels. Chance's investigation into the kidnapping of a child actor brings Chance face-to-face with a cast of characters whose motives are fuelled by a diverse array of personal demons. The cast includes: a grief-stricken father desperate for the return of his missing son, his mysterious younger wife, an aspiring screenwriter with an obsessive lust for stardom, and a narcotics- addicted stripper who puts up with repeated abuse from her lover. In this world of glamour and glitz lurks shattered dreams, illicit drugs, destructive love, and the hope of salvation in someone else's skin. As Chance slips further into his cover identity, will he ever find the way back to his true self?]

1 Strike Zones (1-5; w Peter Milligan; a Javier Pulido). [From DC Comics: Who is Christopher Chance? The truth is that he could be anyone - even you. As the world's greatest impersonator, Chance makes his living by not being himself. Putting on his clients' faces and slipping into their lives, Chane is the ultimate decoy, luring out threats and then neutralizing them in near-perfect surprise. But the price for this uncanny ability is a steady eroding of his own identity - and with it a growing disconnection from reality. Written by acclaimed comics innovator Peter Milligan and dynamically illustrated by Javier Pulido, Human Target: Strike Zones kicks off in Hollywood - the Motherland of shifting identities - and follows Chance through three reality-bending cases in three very different worlds. After surfacing from his total immersion in film producer Frank White's life, Chance heads to New York City and becomes involved with a living ghost of the 9/11 attack before taking an undercover job that puts him in the middle of a steroid sydnicate's baseball operation. Thoroughout each assignment, as he continally transforms himself, Chance's strange profession blurs the boundaries between truth and fiction, leaving him ever more uncertain about who he really is - and how much that really matters.]

2 Living in Amerika (6-10; w Peter Milligan; a Cliff Chiang). [From DC Comics: Religion. Sex. Politics. The nation's most sacred topics take some startling twists for the world's greatest impersonator, Christopher Chance - The Human Target. Two of the cases are favors, one is an accident, and none of them go as planned: A promise to a dying man in "For I Have Sinned" leads Chance to an unexpected confrontation with the wages of sin and redemption; buried secrets from three decades past come back to haunt the remants of '60s idealism in "Which Way the Wind Blows"; and an aging con gets one last chance of freedom - among other things - in "Five Days Grace."]