Human Target

The Human Target is the name of two fictional characters appearing in

The Human Target
American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version is Fred
Venable while the second version is private investigator and bodyguard
Christopher Chance who assumes the identities of clients targeted by assassins
and other dangerous criminals,[1] has appeared in numerous books published
throughout the decades, and has appeared in television adaptations.

Contents
Publication history
Vertigo
In other media
References
Publication information
External links
Publisher DC Comics
First (Venable)
Publication history appearance Detective Comics #201
(November 1953)
The first character to use the "Human Target" title (Fred Venable) appeared in
(Chance)
Detective Comics #201 (November 1953), and was created by Edmond
Action Comics #419
Hamilton and Sheldon Moldoff.[2]
(December 1972)
The second character to use the "Human Target" title (Christopher Chance) first Created by (Venable)
appeared in Action Comics #419 (December 1972) and was created by Len Wein Edmond Hamilton and
and Carmine Infantino. His early appearances came in back-up stories in Action Sheldon Moldoff
Comics, a title better known for featuring Superman tales published by DC (Chance)
Comics. He first appeared in "The Assassin-Express Contract", a backup story Len Wein
written by Len Wein and illustrated by Carmine Infantino that ran in Action Carmine Infantino
Comics #419 (December 1972). Later, the feature appeared inBatman titles such
In-story information
as The Brave and the Bold and Detective Comics. He starred in a limited series,
Alter ego Fred Venable
a one-shot, and then an ongoing Human Target series written by Peter Milligan
Christopher Chance
and published under DC's Vertigo imprint. The Human Target has been adapted
in two television series: once briefly on ABC in 1992 starring Rick Springfield Notable Numerous identities
and again on Fox starring Mark Valley for two seasons in 2010–2011.[3] aliases Impersonates his clients
Another version of Christopher Chance appears in two episodes Arrow, to protect them
portrayed by Wil Traval. Abilities
Master impersonator
Exceptional athlete
Skilled detective,
marksman, and
martial artist
 Comic book appearances[4]
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"
"The Short-Walk-to-Disaster Contract -- Clause 1: I Have a Cousin
1973 July Action Comics #425
in the Business"
"The Short-Walk-to-Disaster Contract -- Clause 2: The Shortest
1973 August Action Comics #426
Distance Between Two Points"
1973 November Action Comics #429 "The Rodeo Riddle Contract"
1974 February Action Comics #432 "The Million Dollar Methuselah Contract"
1978
DC The Brave and the Bold
September– "The Cat and the Canary Contract"
#143
October
1978 October– DC The Brave and the Bold
"The Symphony For The Devil Contract"
November #144
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–
Detective Comics #486 "The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Contract"
November
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"
DC The Best of Blue
1982 November "The Assassin-Express Contract" (reprint)
Ribbon Digest #30
1989 March Action Comics #641 "The Pow! Wap! Zam! Contract"
1991 November DC special (TV tie-in) "The Human Target: The Mack Attack Contract"
Vertigo Human Target
1999 April "Human Target, Part 1"
(1999) #1
Vertigo Human Target
1999 May "Human Target, Part 2"
(1999) #2
Vertigo Human Target
1999 June "Human Target, Part 3"
(1999) #3
Vertigo Human Target
1999 July "Human Target, Part 4"
(1999) #4
Vertigo Human Target
2002 May "Final Cut"
(2002) OGN
2003 October Vertigo Human Target '"To Be Frank"
 (2003) #1
Vertigo Human Target
2003 November "The Unshredded Man, Part 1: Ground Zero"
(2003) #2
Vertigo Human Target
2003 December "The Unshredded Man, Part 2: Ready to Die"
(2003) #3
Vertigo Human Target
2004 January "Take Me Out To The Ballgame, Part One: The Set-Up Man"
(2003) #4
Vertigo Human Target
2004 February "Take Me Out To The Ballgame, Part Two: The Strike Zone"
(2003) #5
Vertigo Human Target
2004 March "For I Have Sinned"
(2003) #6
Vertigo Human Target
2004 April "Which Way The Wind Blows, Part One: Living In Amerika"
(2003) #7
Vertigo Human Target
2004 May "Which Way The Wind Blows, Part Two: American Terrorists"
(2003) #8
Vertigo Human Target "Which Way The Wind Blows, Part Three: Bringing It All Back
2004 June
(2003) #9 Home"
Vertigo Human Target
2004 July "Five Days Grace"
(2003) #10
Vertigo Human Target
2004 August "Games of Chance"
(2003) #11
Vertigo Human Target
2004 September "Suffer the Children"
(2003) #12
Vertigo Human Target
2004 October "Hey, Jude"
(2003) #13
Vertigo Human Target
2004 November "The Second Coming, Part One: In the Name of the Father"
(2003) #14
Vertigo Human Target "The Second Coming, Part Two: The Temptation of Christopher
2004 December
(2003) #15 Chance"
Vertigo Human Target
2005 January "The Second Coming, Conclusion: Pieces of Lead"
(2003) #16
Vertigo Human Target
2005 February "You Made Me Love You"
(2003) #17
Vertigo Human Target
2005 March "Letters From the Front Line"
(2003) #18
Vertigo Human Target
2005 April "The Stealer, Part One"
(2003) #19
Vertigo Human Target
2005 May "The Stealer, Part Two"
(2003) #20
Vertigo Human Target
2005 June "The Stealer, Part Three"
(2003) #21
Vertigo Human Target
2010 June "Human Target, Part 1" (1999/reprint)
Special Edition #1
DC Human Target (2010)
2010 April "Human Target #1"
#1 (TV tie-in)
DC Human Target (2010)
2010 May "Human Target #2"
#2 (TV tie-in)
DC Human Target (2010)
2010 June "Human Target #3"
#3 (TV tie-in)
DC Human Target (2010)
2010 July "Human Target #4"
#4 (TV tie-in)
 2010 August DC Human Target (2010) "Human Target #5"
#5 (TV tie-in)
DC Human Target (2010)
2010 September "Human Target #6"
#6 (TV tie-in)

Vertigo
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 an ongoing
series lasting 21 issues until its cancellation in 2003.

In other media
A television pilot, starring Rick Springfield, was produced in 1990. Springfield starred as Chance, who was now a
Vietnam vet as well as a private investigator/bodyguard. In this version, for ten percent of a client's annual income
("whether you're a busboy or the king of England"), Chance would take the client's place and protect his or her life.
Philo Marsden (Kirk Baltz) was an eccentric computer genius who helped Chance by designing high-tech masks,
and Jeff Carlyle (Sami Chester) was the chauffeur, cook and pilot for Chance's mobile base of operations, the
Blackwing (designed byMike Kaluta). Lilly Page (Signy Coleman) was an ex-CIA agent who helped coordinate
Chance's missions. The show was created byWarner Brothers and Pet Fly Productions (producers ofThe Flash,
Viper and The Sentinel), and aired on ABC.[5] Though produced in 1990, the show aired only briefly in 1992 (7
episodes aired in the summer of 1992 although the pilot itself was never aired). The version of the show which aired
in 1992 had a slightly different cast from that of the unaired pilot episode. Guest stars included David Carradine in
the episode entitled "Second Chance".[6] In November 1991, prior to the show's debut, Chance appeared in his own
book, a 48-page one-shot titled The Human Target Special #1, an ostensible tie-in to the television show (the cover
advertised that it was "Coming soon to ABC-TV!"), in which Chance and his cohorts protected a DEA agent from
harm. It was written byMark Verheiden, with pencils by Rick Burchett and inks by Dick Giordano.
In February 2009, FOX announced that anew FOX television serieswas in the works starringMark Valley, Jackie
Earle Haley,[7] and Chi McBride.[8] In May 2009, it was confirmed that FOX had placed an episode order and it
would be on their 2009-2010 schedule.[9] The series deviates from the comics version in that the character assumes
nondescript cover identities that keep him close to the "target", rather than taking on the target's identity himself.[10]
The first season debuted on CTV and FOX in January 2010. Fox renewed the show for a second season in May
2010. The show was officially canceled on May 10, 2011 after two seasons.
Christopher Chance / Human Target appears in live-action series Arrow, portrayed by Wil Traval. An old friend of
John Diggle, Christopher first appears in the fifth season episode Human
" Target" as a disguised body decoy of
Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell). In flashback of the same episode, he was hired byAnatoli Knyazev to protect him
from Bratva member Viktor and his thugs.[11] Chance reappears in the sixth season episode Docket " No. 11-19-41-
73" to masquerade as Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell) dressed as Green Arrow during Oliver's trial. With help from
Diggle and Wild Dog, Human Target poses Judge C. McGarvey during the verdict. When Oliver is found guilty ,
Human Target had Queen seek probation and then Oliver is free to go. After the trial is over , he insists that Oliver's
allies do not seek his help for another year .[12]

References
1. McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1970s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling
Kindersley. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. "Starting as a back-up feature in the pages ofAction 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.
"
2. "Detective Comics Vol 1 #201" (http://humantargetonline.com/original-comic/)
. Human Target Online.
humantargetonline.com. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
3. Sullivan, Brian Ford. "FOX TO FLIP "TARGET," "IDOL" ON WEDNESDAYS" (http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.asp
x?id=8433). TVGuide.com.
4. humantargetonline.com(http://humantargetonline.com/original-comic/)
5. : ABC Series. "Humantargetonline: About: ABC Series"(https://web.archive.org/web/20100624181027/http://humant
argetonline.com/abc-series/). humantargetonline.com. Archived fromthe original (http://humantargetonline.com/abc-
series/) on 2010-06-24. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
 6. "Remembering David Carradine"(https://web.archive.org/web/20101102230043/http://humantargetonline.com/2009/
06/remembering-david-carradine.php). humantargetonline.com. 2009-06-07. Archived fromthe original (http://human
targetonline.com/2009/06/remembering-david-carradine.php)on 2010-11-02. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
7. Goldman, Eric (2009-04-22)."IGN: Flash Forward, Human Target Among Hot Pilots" (http://tv.ign.com/articles/975/97
5306p1.html). Tv.ign.com. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
8. "Fox press release reveals official synopsis of Human Target" (http://humantargetonline.com/2009/05/fox-press-relea
se-reveals-official-synopsis-of-human-target.php). Humantargetonline.com. 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
9. "Human Target Television Series Pilot" (http://www.target419.com/). Target419. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
10. "TV Networks 'Upfront' About Their 2009-10 'Genre' Plans"(http://www.newsarama.com/tv/090522-tv-network-upfron
ts.html). Newsarama.com. 2009-05-22. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
11. Ausiello, Michael (August 18, 2016)."Arrow Takes Aim at Jessica Jones Cop Wil Traval for Human Target Role" (htt
p://tvline.com/2016/08/18/arrow-human-target-season-5-wil-traval-cast/)
. TV Line.
12. Francisco, Eric (May 4, 2018)." 'Arrow' Has a Rare Comics Easter Egg in T
ommy's Return Episode" (https://www.inv
erse.com/article/44504-arrow-recap-tommy-chance-docket-no-11-19-41-73-jnov-explained) . Inverse.

External links
Christopher Chance at the Comic Book DB
Human Target on IMDb (1992 television adaptation)
Human Target on IMDb (2010 television adaptation)
Chance's publication history at "Thrilling Detective"
HumanTarget at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.

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arget&oldid=872001758"

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