| The Human Target | |
|---|---|
Advertisement repurposed from Action Comics #432. Art by Dick Giordano.
| |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | (Fred Venable) Detective Comics #201 (November 1953) (Christopher Chance) Action Comics #419 (December 1972) |
| Created by | (Fred Venable) Edmond Hamilton Sheldon Moldoff (Christopher Chance) Len Wein Carmine Infantino |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Fred Venable Christopher Chance |
| Notable aliases | Numerous identities Impersonates his clients to protect them |
| Abilities |
|
The Human Target is the name of two fictional charactersinAmerican comic books published by DC Comics. The first is Fred Venable, while the second is private investigator and bodyguard Christopher Chance who assumes the identities of clients targeted by assassins and other dangerous criminals.[1] The character has appeared in numerous books published throughout the decades and has appeared in television adaptations.
Human Target made his first live appearance in the 1992 television series Human Target played by Rick Springfield and then in the 2010 television series Human Target played by Mark Valley. In the fifth and sixth seasons of the Arrowverse series Arrow, Human Target was played by Wil Traval.
The first character to use the "Human Target" title (Fred Venable) appeared in Detective Comics #201 (November 1953), and was created by Edmond Hamilton and Sheldon Moldoff.[2]
The second character to use the "Human Target" title (Christopher Chance) first appeared in Action Comics #419 (December 1972) and was created by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino.[3] His early appearances came in back-up stories in Action Comics, a title better known for featuring Superman tales published by DC Comics. He first appeared in "The Assassin-Express Contract", a backup story written by Wein and illustrated by Infantino. Later, the feature appeared in Batman titles such as The Brave and the Bold and Detective Comics.[4] He starred in a limited series, a one-shot, and then an ongoing Human Target series written by Peter Milligan and published under DC's Vertigo imprint. In 2022, Tom King and Greg Smallwood began a 12-issue limited series for DC's Black Label imprint.
| Date | Issue | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1953 November | Detective Comics #201 | "The Human Target" |
| 1958 January | Gangbusters #61 | "The Human Target" |
| 1972 December | Action Comics #419 | "The Assassin-Express Contract" |
| 1973 January | Action Comics #420 | "The King of the Jungle Contract" |
| 1973 March | Action Comics #422 | "The Shadows-of-Yesterday Contract" |
| 1973 April | Action Comics #423 | "The Deadly Dancer Contract" |
| 1973 July | Action Comics #425 | "The Short-Walk-to-Disaster Contract -- Clause 1: I Have a Cousin in the Business" |
| 1973 August | Action Comics #426 | "The Short-Walk-to-Disaster Contract -- Clause 2: The Shortest Distance Between Two Points" |
| 1973 November | Action Comics #429 | "The Rodeo Riddle Contract" |
| 1974 February | Action Comics #432 | "The Million Dollar Methuselah Contract" |
| 1978 September–October | DC The Brave and the Bold #143 | "The Cat and the Canary Contract" |
| 1978 October–November | DC The Brave and the Bold #144 | "The Symphony For The Devil Contract" |
| 1979 April–May | Detective Comics #483 | "The Lights! Camera! Murder! Contract" |
| 1979 June–July | Detective Comics #484 | "The Who Is Floyd Fenderman Anyway? Contract" |
| 1979 October–November | Detective Comics #486 | "The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Contract" |
| 1980 August | Detective Comics #493 | "The 18-Wheel War Contract" |
| 1981 March | Detective Comics #500 | "The 'Too Many Crooks...' Caper" |
| 1982 June | Detective Comics #515 | "College for Killers" |
| 1982 July | Batman #349 | "Blood Sport" |
| 1982 September | Batman #351 | "What Stalks the Gotham Night?" |
| 1982 September | Detective Comics #518 | "The Millionaire Contract" |
| 1982 October | Batman #352 | "The Killer Sky" |
| 1982 November | DC The Best of Blue Ribbon Digest #30 | "The Assassin-Express Contract" (reprint) |
| 1989 March | Action Comics #641 | "The Pow! Wap! Zam! Contract" |
| 1991 November | DC special (TV tie-in) | "The Human Target: The Mack Attack Contract" |
| 1999 April | Vertigo Human Target (1999) #1 | "Human Target, Part 1" |
| 1999 May | Vertigo Human Target (1999) #2 | "Human Target, Part 2" |
| 1999 June | Vertigo Human Target (1999) #3 | "Human Target, Part 3" |
| 1999 July | Vertigo Human Target (1999) #4 | "Human Target, Part 4" |
| 2002 May | Vertigo Human Target (2002) OGN | "Final Cut" |
| 2003 October | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #1 | '"To Be Frank" |
| 2003 November | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #2 | "The Unshredded Man, Part 1: Ground Zero" |
| 2003 December | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #3 | "The Unshredded Man, Part 2: Ready to Die" |
| 2004 January | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #4 | "Take Me Out To The Ballgame, Part One: The Set-Up Man" |
| 2004 February | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #5 | "Take Me Out To The Ballgame, Part Two: The Strike Zone" |
| 2004 March | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #6 | "For I Have Sinned" |
| 2004 April | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #7 | "Which Way The Wind Blows, Part One: Living In Amerika" |
| 2004 May | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #8 | "Which Way The Wind Blows, Part Two: American Terrorists" |
| 2004 June | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #9 | "Which Way The Wind Blows, Part Three: Bringing It All Back Home" |
| 2004 July | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #10 | "Five Days Grace" |
| 2004 August | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #11 | "Games of Chance" |
| 2004 September | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #12 | "Crossing The Border, Part One: Suffer the Children" |
| 2004 October | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #13 | "Crossing The Border, Part Two: Hey, Jude" |
| 2004 November | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #14 | "The Second Coming, Part One: In the Name of the Father" |
| 2004 December | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #15 | "The Second Coming, Part Two: The Temptation of Christopher Chance" |
| 2005 January | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #16 | "The Second Coming, Conclusion: Pieces of Lead" |
| 2005 February | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #17 | "You Made Me Love You" |
| 2005 March | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #18 | "Letters From the Front Line" |
| 2005 April | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #19 | "The Stealer, Part One" |
| 2005 May | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #20 | "The Stealer, Part Two" |
| 2005 June | Vertigo Human Target (2003) #21 | "The Stealer, Part Three" |
| 2010 June | Vertigo Human Target Special Edition #1 | "Human Target, Part 1" (1999/reprint) |
| 2010 April | DC Human Target (2010) #1 (TV tie-in) | "Human Target #1" |
| 2010 May | DC Human Target (2010) #2 (TV tie-in) | "Human Target #2" |
| 2010 June | DC Human Target (2010) #3 (TV tie-in) | "Human Target #3" |
| 2010 July | DC Human Target (2010) #4 (TV tie-in) | "Human Target #4" |
| 2010 August | DC Human Target (2010) #5 (TV tie-in) | "Human Target #5" |
| 2010 September | DC Human Target (2010) #6 (TV tie-in) | "Human Target #6" |
| 2022 January | Black Label Human Target (2022) #1 | "When We Are Born" |
| 2022 January | Black Label Human Target (2022) #2 | "We Cry" |
| 2022 February | Black Label Human Target (2022) #3 | "That We Are Come" |
| 2022 March | Black Label Human Target (2022) #4 | "To This Great Stage of Fools!" |
| 2022 April | Black Label Human Target (2022) #5 | "This is a Good Block" |
| 2022 May | Black Label Human Target (2022) #6 | "It Were a Delicate Stratagem" |
| 2022 October | Tales of the Human Target #1 | "Oh, Here He Is" |
| 2022 November | Black Label Human Target (2022) #7 | "To Shoe a Troop of Horse with Felt" |
| 2022 December | Black Label Human Target (2022) #8 | |
| 2023 January | Black Label Human Target (2022) #9 | "And When I Have Stol'n Upon These Sons-In-Law" |
| 2023 March | Black Label Human Target (2022) #10 | "Then Kill" |
Writer Peter Milligan and Edvin Biukovic revived Christopher Chance in 1999, moving the character to DC Comics' Vertigo imprint for a four-issue limited series. The mini-series was followed by the graphic novel Human Target: Final Cut, as well as a series lasting 21 issues until its cancellation in 2005.
The Human Target story "The Unshredded Man" was analyzed as an example of depictions of the September 11 attacks in American popular culture.[6]
Starting as a back-up feature in the pages of Action Comics, scribe Len Wein and artist Carmine Infantino introduced Christopher Chance, a master of disguise who would turn himself into a human target - provided you could meet his price.
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(1992 television adaptation) (2010 television adaptation)
