Tom King said that his upcoming The Human Target Black Label series will feature sparks between lead protagonist Christopher Chance and Ice, a member of the Justice League International.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, King explained that the book revolved around the Human Target investigating members of the JLI, falling for Ice in the process.
"Her and Human Target have a spark is the way to put it," King said. "It's just a gorgeous story between two people... There's a scene where Ice and Chance are in the ocean together and it was just my chance to write, I don't know, like 'high sexy noir.' This was Bogart and Bacall, and it was incredibly fun and rewarding to see it come to life."
King's desire to include Ice and other lesser known JLI heroes like Fire, Booster Gold and Rocket Red, came from an unlikely source -- his son.
"My youngest son, who's 7 now, his favorite superhero is Ice," King reflected. "I don't know why he settled on that, but that was just from watching the cartoons. Every night at dinner, I talk about my stupid job and my stupid job is playing with toys. My son's like, 'Well, when are you going to play with Ice?' So literally I was like, 'Okay, Human Target…'"
King noted that despite pitching the series "to get my son to stop nagging me at the table," ultimately the story he had penned was "for adults about adult relationships," and not something he'd give a 7-year-old to peruse.
Aside from romance, The Human Target will also feature a dash of existential deliberation. King previously described the 12-issue series as "about a man learning to live just in time to die," which fits nicely with Christopher Chance's character. Chance, renowned for a unique bodyguard job that requires him to assume the identity of his clients, has frequently grappled with losing his self of self in the past, most notably in the various Vertigo series penned by writer Peter Milligan in the mid-2000s. King added that he didn't plan to repeat Milligan's work, and instead focused on Chance's psyche -- which was irrevocably changed when he saw his father protect him from a loan shark by dying in his place.
"And so he literally sees his father do what he's doing -- get killed on behalf of somebody else," King said. "Once you have a guy who chooses to relive the worst moment of his life as his profession, you've got something deep, psychological to work with."
The Human Target #1, written by King with artwork by Greg Smallwood and variant covers by Trevor Hairsine, Danny Miki and Jenny Frison, goes on sale Nov. 2.
Source: Entertainment Weekly