Broken Frontier

Christopher Chance’s new mission is to protect a high profile mafia boss as he turns state’s evidence.  Of course, the mission has more to it than Chance thought.

My first experience with this character came through the recent collection Chance Meetings.  DC released this in anticipation of the show.  It is the first miniseries that Peter Milligan wrote about Mr. Chance and the following graphic novel which is more than a mere sequel.

In Milligan’s book, Chance is a man who protects people by becoming that person.  If the client is an African American preacher who is married, Chance must become that person and must live the illusion regardless of any kind of moral questions it might pose.  In other words, he must attend to his client’s husbandly duties.  Much of it seems focused on the nature of identity.  As is often the case with a Milligan work, the philosophical implications are just as important as the story.

The television show is a high octane version of The Equalizer.  Chance is a bodyguard, he helps people get through a tough (read violent) situation, and accepts a token as payment.  Often times, he takes on a role in the person’s life, maybe even filling in for a character, but gone is the make up and special effects.

Many of the show’s critics are quick to compare it to Wanted.  Certainly from the most shallow scrutiny it would seem that the show’s producers paid DC a chunk of change to produce a show with very little to do with the original concept of the comic.  One could have called it this, that, or the other, renamed the characters and it is very unlikely that Warner Brothers would have noticed that one of their properties had been the inspiration for the show.

On its surface, that’s not a bad take on the show.  However, like this comic book adaptation of the show, it is as wrong as, well... that adaptation of Millar’s comic.  The show seems to be the same guy.  They just lost the chameleon gimmick.  Chance still has issues with women, he has a past that isn’t entirely clear, there are even hints at others who do his job.  However, it isn’t just the mechanics that are the same.  There is the role of identity.  In one episode, everyone who is in on the deception becomes alarmed when Chance dressed as a priest must preach.  Suddenly, he provides this eloquent testimony to faith and a powerful sermon.  Exactly who Christopher is is what the show and Milligan’s take on the character are about.

I haven’t read a take on the character by Wein before, but as co-creator, I can imagine he had much the same aspect in his comics.  This is the guy who created Swamp Thing after all and that theme of identity is just as important in his inaugural run as it is in Moore’s more lauded run.  Which is curious, because in this comic, Wein doesn’t spend too much time on those layers of the character.  Nope, he just has Chance racing to save a client he is not entirely convinced should be saved.  All the action tropes are there - exotic locations, starting in the heat of battle to flash back for set up, etc.  In fact, it’s a solid entry in the vein of what the show’s critics would have it be.  (Although there are hints of a depth to Chance here, as evidenced when he explains opening a vault by reading a book by Sutton, one presumes this is a nod to the autobiography of Willie “The Actor” Sutton, which has its own meta implications that would even make Milligan quake in fear.)

Johnson in the back up takes up the identity theme as we get "Scars," which appears to be Chance explaining to a beautiful woman where his various fleshy mementoes came from.  Even the narration in this short story is aware of Chance’s inner turmoil in creating the facade he shows the public.  It is heady stuff and worthy of the character’s pedigree.

The art is serviceable.  There is ample time spent making the characters look like their television counterparts.  This adds to the moments where the script is catering to the program’s characterizations.  Rench’s colors even unify the various styles together making it seem like locale and cinematography are all that separate the various segments of story or the distinct stories themselves.

Human Target is an interesting comic.  It is certainly not what the fans have been clamoring for for years; but like the show, it may have layers that will need time to develop.  If nothing else, it is interesting enough for this reader to check out the next issue.  But then, I like the show it is based on.