Human Target #5

Yes, this is a fantastic comic book issue. But it's also a textbook example of how to communicate exposition in all the right ways. Read Full Review

The Human Target #5 is a unique issue of this series, but in a way that makes perfect sense within the terms of the story. A telepathic battle is rather tricky to convey properly in a visual medium, but Tom King and Greg Smallwood have pulled it off beautifully. If the rest of this series maintains the quality evident in the first few issues, The Human Target will surely prove to be another Tom King classic title. Read Full Review

Smallwood delivers some beautiful visuals throughout the issue. The style is so perfect for the detective style of the plot and the art serves those character moments beautifully. Read Full Review

It can be a little hard to tell just how this all dovetails into the rest of the story, but it all comes together nicely in the finish as we get a huge clue towards the identity of the culprit"except that we're less than halfway through the story. As always, it's challenging to even hazard a guess of where King is leading us. Read Full Review

What's obvious here is how quickly Chance and Ice have fallen for each other, as his few remaining days continue to slip away. However, that hasn't stopped him from pursuing one last mystery as the clues seem to be leading back to Ice's best-friend who may have used her feminine wiles on J'onn to help with her plan. Before the end we can see a reckoning for Chance and Ice adding another bittersweet layer to events. Read Full Review

The Human Target #5 is a solid issue that dives into the mind and origins of our main character to update them for the modern audience. While looking at the past, a scandal was introduced that might change your mind about the JLI and its connection to this case. Good setup for the fallout! Read Full Review

Tom King, Greg Smallwood and Clayton Cowles continue to tell and engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable story! However, it may be slightly difficult to follow on a first read, but after a second or third, all of the pieces will fit nicely together into a nice, fun and heartbreaking story. Read Full Review

How Chance can withstand a psychic assault is slowly revealed throughout the issue, with a convenient flashback. I enjoyed the jarring shifts in focus throughout the issue and how well the comic slowly reveals what's going on. The artwork remains gorgeous. Read Full Review

The Human Target #5 is a mixed bag of interesting training to defend against mind readers and salacious details about Martian Manhunter's sex life. Surprisingly, this issue makes considerable progress towards finding out the identity of Chance's killer but you may feel like you need to take a bath afterward. If nothing else, Smallwood's art is top-notch. Read Full Review

This issue could be the turning point in a bad way for whats been with one exception, a series that has been a pleasant surprise. If this is the direction going forward, my interest in staying on The Human Target will be waning. Read Full Review

Comics instrucciones de uso

Feb 22, 2022

You have to read it twice, but maybe be the best issue so far.

Linkush

Feb 22, 2022

Holy shit! This is how you do it! This how you deliver exposition while progressing the story in a meaningful way. The way the issue unravels itself is brilliant. It might be a bit confusing at the start but by the end when you start to understand what is going on, it’s so satisfying. What a banger!

Toonstrack

Feb 24, 2022

Another nearly perfect issue gets yet another 10. It will have you questioning yourself and in a state of confusion up until the very end. When you get there it all comes together beautifully. Smallwoods are plays both a narrative and visual role in this aspect of the story, in the best way. This series has no right being as good as it is. This has continued to exceed my expectations even for Tom King.

Batman Jones

Feb 25, 2022

Just fantastic. Bummed about the long delay at the halfway mark but in a way it reminds me of having to wait for a second season of a TV show I love to air. I find this series so satisfying in so many ways. Like masterworks Mister Miracle and The Vision before it, this series represents everything I want out of comics.

The Rumble

May 16, 2022

Loved it.

cumgurglinrhino

Feb 22, 2022

This book has been great, but for some reason, people just don’t seem to realize it’s a Black Label book, which means this shit just isn’t in continuity. This has loose connections to JLI, but that’s it, and it’s not like you have to even read JLI to enjoy this. And no, King did not "ruin" Martian Manhunter this issue. Human Target is an-out-of continuity Noir detective story. Characters are going to be framed in certain roles when you do a story like this, and these roles are to get the story where it needs to be. Human Target is the Hard-Boiled Detective, Ice is the femme fatale, and Guy Gardner is the jealous ex-lover, etc. Whether you are fine with these character reworks is 100% up to you, but it shouldn't make you genuine ly angry or upset. Like coupling together two characters out of continuity isn’t “disrespectful", and it really isn’t a big deal if characters are acting slightly different than how they usually would, or some side character that pops up in one issue has their character development during some dumb crisis/mega-event ignored, as this book is NOT in continuity. If it does genuinely make you upset or angry how King treats these characters, then maybe just try dropping the fucking book? I didn’t like Strange Adventures or Rorschach, so guess what? I stopped pissing away money, time, and energy on something I didn’t even like. I dropped them both by the second issue and just read something that I liked. King & Smallwood are doing their own thing, and this book does it mostly perfectly. The art is amazing, King’s dialogue is sharper than usual, and his captions thankfully don’t slow the book's pace down as they did in Supergirl. Amazing read and probably King’s most consistent work so far. Hopefully, he can stick the landing at the end, because that’s usually where his stories fall apart for me. more

+ Like • Comments (1)

• Likes (8)

• WhistleBlower
• daspidaboy
• Hex
• Comics instrucciones de uso
• Linkush
• Swanktub
• Toonstrack
• Batman Jones

Toonstrack - Feb 24, 2022

Correct. And even beyond that, these are dynamic characters you can do many things with. Continuity gets rebooted every once in a while anyway. These characters can fit this role beautifully. I dont even feel MM was ruined here or disrespected. They just added a wrinkle in his narrative is all.

Jawsh

Feb 28, 2022

It's just so good, the artwork, the pace, the reveals. I never thought I'd care about these characters in this way, it is fantastic.

Kalaoui

Aug 27, 2023

Wow! I had to read this one over and over to get the full spectrum of what's happening and who's using who and how the future mimics the past so kudos to Tom King for that setup. Greg Smallwood's art and his coloring is beyond phenomenal! The guy is insanely locked in.

Avanvolk

Jun 14, 2024

This issue was a little harder to follow so it took me a bit longer to get through, but it was worth it. We get a glimpse into Cristopher's past and how he came to be the Human Target, as well as a juicy revelation in our attempted-murder mystery. King's writing prowess is on full display here and Smallwood's art is as strong as ever.

Ryan

Mar 21, 2025

Confusing at first but great payoff

KittyNone

Feb 22, 2022

I'm torn between criticizing the fact that King really only has one trick that he uses over and over again and acknowledging that the non-linear pileup is well used here and serves an actual narrative function for once. Given how strong this series has been so far, I suppose I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and go with the latter

RamblingOutlaw

Mar 07, 2022

This was a confusing one, but was a very intersting structure. I loved how we slowly came to understand that Chris is having his mind read and he's trying to simultaneously hold on to his thoughts and let J'onn's in. I didn't like how they portrayed J'onn and Fire, but it's Black Label so I won't harp on it. I also didn't quite understand the parts with the girl from Titan, but I appreciated the experimentation in this issue, even if I think it might be the "worst" issue so far.

daspidaboy

Feb 22, 2022

for me, while this series seems very interesting I think your mileage may vary given your feelings for Tom King. It's not bad, but I am less intrigued right now

DDJamesB

Feb 28, 2022

Really solid entry. Cool idea of how to play out the issue. Love the art.

Psycamorean

Mar 01, 2022

This one didn't work for me. The reveal at the end doesn't make up for a read that isn't enjoyable in and of itself. There are some cases where a confusing narrative works like a puzzle, and you as the audience derives joy from figuring it out at the end, or maybe even before the end. This is not one of those cases. It felt repetitive and annoying. Literally the only reason the score is as high as it is, is because the first four issues are really good, and the reveal is interesting and may lead to a better issue six.