Human Target by Tom King and Greg Smallwood

[lefthanded]

I thought that King might at least put together some entertaining stories in the "Tales of the Human Target," at least something to justify where he was coming from with his series. Instead, it felt really hard to read (with the constant jumping from story to story with no transition) and very odd.
I don't think he really improved on his take of Guy or Booster, and Fire's was just kind of odd. I get what he was going for, but I think he missed the mark with the storytelling aspect. There are better ways to show Fire's loyalty than having her hang out around somebody's dead body.

And Booster is not an idiot... seriously wish he'd stop characterizing him like that. And Guy... well, it seemed that Guy was more or less authentic to his 1980s personality. But it didn't match up with how he acted, really, in King's Human Target series so far. So I'm not sure what to make of it.

I decided to read Tales of the Human Target (not having read King's Human Target series). Man, was it horrible. Similar to why I bounced hard off of Bat/Cat, King now seems to be using this weird storytelling technique of multiple/parallel stories with no transitions. A lot of the characters sound alike speaking in the King style of dialogue, to it is hard to parse out which text boxes correlate to which character.

Someone will probably clap back saying it makes sense if I read the main series, but I am not liking this storytelling technique that King has leaned into.

[CaptCleghorn]

I decided to read Tales of the Human Target (not having read King's Human Target series). Man, was it horrible. Similar to why I bounced hard off of Bat/Cat, King now seems to be using this weird storytelling technique of multiple/parallel stories with no transitions. A lot of the characters sound alike speaking in the King style of dialogue, to it is hard to parse out which text boxes correlate to which character.

Someone will probably clap back saying it makes sense if I read the main series, but I am not liking this storytelling technique that King has leaned into.

No, the story progression and shifts are just as awkward and difficult if you had read the main series. The parallel stories were necessary to keep the surprise until the end. Had the three tales been separated, the gimmick would be spoiled. What you have are three very similar tales with different flavors for Guy, Booster, and Fire. Being able to easily tell one from the other would have helped, but the real impact is all on the last page. Everything else are just disposable "untold" tales. I'm also assuming the art was meant as a guide, but it really didn't differ enough from story to story to be enough in that regard. It was nice looking, though. The text boxes could easily have been colored differently for each part. Even if Guy gets a darker green than Bea, that's far easier to pick up on than white, white, and white.

[Hypo]

Another process thread from Smallwood: https://twitter.com/SavageSmallwood/...81108301250567

[Hypo]

The Human Target #7 Preview
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Greg Smallwood

[Frontier]

Fire looks nice .

[Robanker]

I'm sorry but that top cover looks like an episode of Bewitched.

Kind of the point.

[Marvel Wars]

I'm sick of seeing a woman smoking in every single comic of Tom King, the man has a real fetishism...

[icefour33]

Possessively I think comics should have more hot people smoking in them

[Hol]

I keep saying this but I am loving this book. Up to issue 6 now. The only issue that confused me was the Manhunter issue. That was easy to get mixed up. I love the JLI and maybe I enjoy this more because I know it is an Elseworld book. And the art sure helps. I have never liked anything from King until this series.

[bossofbam]

I keep saying this but I am loving this book. Up to issue 6 now. The only issue that confused me was the Manhunter issue. That was easy to get mixed up. I love the JLI and maybe I enjoy this more because I know it is an Elseworld book. And the art sure helps. I have never liked anything from King until this series.

I'm the opposite, I think it's absolute garbage. I look at King the same way I look at Bendis. It was interesting at first because it was different...then I realized they were one trick ponies and lost interest.

The book sure it pretty, though.

[phonogram12]

I keep saying this but I am loving this book.

Me, too! It's one of the books I look forward to every month! Admittedly, I don't like everything King puts out, but the stuff that I do I absolutely love!

[CaptCleghorn]

This is the first King book that I'm rather OK with. There's nothing that's exceptionally good or bad about it. Assuming you know it's non-canonical, of course. Even Strange Adventures' good and bad points were parts that got me excited. I love, or I hate. The fitting of characters into roles in an independently written story is extremely obvious here for me. I like it well enough to stick with it, but nothing here brings up a lot of emotion for me.

[Hol]

I'm the opposite, I think it's absolute garbage. I look at King the same way I look at Bendis. It was interesting at first because it was different...then I realized they were one trick ponies and lost interest.

The book sure it pretty, though.

DC Bendis work is awful but his Marvel stuff is fantastic! Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-man, Avengers, All New X. Incredible IMO.

[adamishere1]

I not interested in this... but they killed GG... why... why

[Zagre]

This is the first King book that I'm rather OK with. There's nothing that's exceptionally good or bad about it. Assuming you know it's non-canonical, of course. Even Strange Adventures' good and bad points were parts that got me excited. I love, or I hate. The fitting of characters into roles in an independently written story is extremely obvious here for me. I like it well enough to stick with it, but nothing here brings up a lot of emotion for me.

I somewhat agree. There's stuff in here I like, and I've loved some individual issues on their own (like the MM one, that kind of experimentation is what King excels at). But the story in general feels a bit off, like it's improvising and/or bored with its own mystery. Plus Christopher Chance is probably King's most "he's there I guess" protagonsit (and not for lack of trying on King's part) and his relationship with Ice feels like its jsut kinda there.