History Sandbox / Number9Robotic

* HeroicSacrifice: Issue 4 sees an unnamed alien healer attempting to revive an unconscious, unresponsive Superman [[CastFromLifespan by sacrificing his life force]], but after much investment, he's told to stop as doing too much will kill him. However, this process allowed the healer to experience many of Superman's memories, and after seeing just how much Superman's fought and sacrificed in saving the world time and time again, he makes the decision to trade his life to bring Superman back and continue fighting the good fight even after he's gone.

* {{Reconstruction}}: Taking a page from ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', ''Up in the Sky'' is a re-evaluation on just how challenging yet rewarding it would be to be the Man of Steel. This version of Superman is [[BrokenAce a powerful, but fallible man]] who wants to do the right thing, but is faced with increasingly dark and complex problems from SamaritanSyndrome, isolation, even assisted suicide, all weighting heavily on [[TheCape Clark's moral code]]. However, said moral code ends up being just as unwavering and virtuous as it's always been, and the story is an unambiguously hopeful one where [[AllLovingHero Clark's greatest strength is his compassion]], reminding readers why he's such [[TheParagon a beloved and inspiring icon]] inside and out of universe.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Clark finds himself dealing with this in chapter 1, amidst [[SamaritanSyndrome the broader conflict of his constant worries that even he can be outstretched in his ability to save everyone]]. On one hand, he wants to keep Earth safe and worries that the moment he leaves, the planet will be vulnerable, while the missing girl is something that could be investigated by [[ComicBook/GreenLantern the Lantern Corps]]. On the other hand, Clark absolutely wants to save her, and even with the slimmest available chance, it's something he feels he ''has'' to do.

* ExpositionBeam: Superman's first step in locating the missing girl's location is stopping at Rann and using their technology to beam in all the documented information they have about all usage of [[{{Teleportation}} the zeta beam]] used to kidnap her. Sardath warns Superman that this is a ''terrible'' idea because an active zeta exists ''everywhere'' all at once, meaning that not only would sorting through all interactions to find where one girl was taken would be an impossible task, [[MySkullRunnethOver the sheer amount of information would crush Superman's mind]], with Sardath treating Superman's [[{{Determinator}} insistence on trying it anyway]] as inviting certain death. Fortunately, Supes isn't built like most mortal minds, and after experiencing several trippy and variously traumatic dreams, he ends up managing to guess the girl's location, as well as identify her name: Alice.

[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

''Superman: Up in the Sky'' is a ComicBook/{{Superman}} miniseries written by Creator/TomKing and illustrated by Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope, and Brad Anderson. The miniseries was released originally as part of ''Superman Giant'', a Walmart-exclusive monthly series of 100-page anthology books featuring new stories about the Man of Steel, with ''Up in the Sky'' beginning appearances in ''Superman Giant #3'' in November 2018, concluding in ''Superman Giant #16'' in December 2019. It would later be reprinted individually as a 6-issue limited series, released between September 2019 and February 2020, as well as a complete trade in April 2020.

!!Tropes include:

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/human_target_2021.png]]

''The Human Target'' is a 12-issue [[FantasticNoir superhero detective noir]] miniseries by writer Creator/TomKing and artist Greg Smallwood, based on the Creator/DCComics character [[ComicBook/HumanTarget of the same title]], made as part of the Creator/DCBlackLabel imprint.

Christopher Chance is a private investigator and bodyguard who has made a living out of inviting death, specializing in disguising himself as his employers to invite would-be assassins and thwarting their murder. However, while on the job of disguising himself as his latest client, [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]], Chance finds himself being poisoned and told he has only twelve days to live. Evidence points to the poisoner being one of the members of the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational, leading Chance on the path to solve his own murder before he dies.

The series began in September 2021 and concluded in February 2023, with the series being compiled in two trades, ''The Human Target Volume 1'' and ''Volume 2''.

!!Tropes include:
* AdaptationalJerkass: [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Guy Gardner]] has always been known to be quite abrasive, but this incarnation lacks [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold the gentle camaraderie he has with his friends]] -- in fact, he and Ice have long broken up, and [[GreenEyedMonster is still more than a little bit possessive of her]].
* TheAlcoholic: Chance is rather fond of his booze, frequenting a QuickNip whenever his IncurableCoughOfDeath kicks up. Issue #4 shows him going out for drinks with Ted Kord, and Chance remains perfectly lucid even as Kord gets royally plastered.
* AnIcePerson: [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational Tora Olafsdotter, aka "Ice"]], as per usual. Given that this is largely a down-to-earth detective story, she doesn't use her powers frequently (at least in the ways she would against supervillains), but Chance makes repeated mentions in his monologues that he feels literally cold around her, and that [[PsychoactivePowers her icy aura tends to passively and unconsciously fluctuate depending on her mood]] -- a necessary reminder that [[FemmeFatale as charming as she is, she has incredibly deadly potential and is not to be fully trusted]].
* ArcNumber: 12. Chance has 12 days to live and the photo of the JLI members with radiation from the Ringbak system (i.e. the suspects of who poisoned him) are 12 overall.
* AssholeVictim:
** Chance's poisoning was intended for Lex Luthor. When Chance asks who would want him dead, Luthor simply responds "Everyone." When the list of suspects narrow down to the JLI, it's noted a possible motive might be Lex's secret role in convincing the Overmaster to attack Earth which led to Ice temporarily dying.
** [[spoiler:Guy Gardner is [[{{Jerkass}} a real piece of work in this story]], [[GreenEyedMonster repeatedly antagonizing Chance for getting close to Ice despite Ice having broken up with him and insisting he leave the both of them alone]], so it ends up coming across as karmic justice when Chance and Ice [[LiterallyShatteredLives seemingly shatter him to pieces]] in issue #6, and it's especially vindicated where by Fire's confession in issue #7, she implicates him as being the one who attempted to kill Lex Luthor. [[DeconstructedTrope This unfortunately gets swerved away in issue #8]] when Rocket Red kidnaps Chance and Ice and subjects the former to brutal interrogations to find out what happened to him -- as much of an ass Gardner was, he was still family to the Justice League, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome and there was no way his disappearance was going to be ignored]]. [[ShaggyDogStory It ends up being all for naught]] when it's discovered that Gardner [[FakingTheDead is in fact still alive]].]]
* AtLeastIAdmitIt: Chance notes to the reader he finds Booster somewhat more of a hero than most, despite his constant mistakes, because Booster doesn't try to ''hide'' his mistakes.
* BatmanGambit: Chance uses the one thing that spooks Guy Gardner to get the upper hand: [[spoiler:Hal Jordan. Chance has his friend Luigi disguise himself as Hal to convince Guy to give up the ring so Chance can deck him without the ring protecting Guy]].
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: Issue #5 follows [[MindScrew a rather trippy example of this]] between Chance and [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter J'onn J'onzz]]. On the surface, the two are simply enjoying a casual dinner along with Ice, but J'onn is using his {{telepathy}} to attack Chance's mind in an effort to make him back off, causing him to invoke various traumatic memories, [[DarkAndTroubledPast including the death of his father]]. However, we also learn from those memories that Chance had been previously trained by a mentor (a telepathic woman from Titan named Emra) [[PsychicBlockDefense to resist such attacks]], [[PokeInTheThirdEye and this ends up backfiring on J'onn as Chance manages to read]] ''[[PokeInTheThirdEye his]]'' [[PokeInTheThirdEye memories]], including that [[spoiler:he gave a loan to Booster Gold (who was involved in supplying the poison used against Lex Luthor) at the behest of Fire, who he was having an affair with, making her the new prime suspect.]]
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dmitri Pushkin, aka "Rocket Red", has been known to be [[ChummyCommies a particularly chummy guy in the JLI]], and while he tries to be as affable as possible about it (including offering him an honest glass of vodka), he ends up giving Chance [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique a hell of a beatdown]] throughout issue #8 as he tries to force him to confess to [[spoiler:what happened to Guy Gardner, who had been missing for two days. Chance never spills the beans, and it's only when Dmitri receives a transmission explaining that he's still alive (actually a doctored recording by Chance presented by Ice) that he backs down and apologizes to Chance.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:[[TheHeroDies Chance succumbs to his poisoning]], with his final days spent learning that [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong the person behind it was Ice, the woman he had fallen in love with]]. Ice spends Chance's last day alive expressing her sincere remorse at how horribly wrong things went and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone her regret for both leading to his death]] and [[LoveHurts falling in love with him]], with her begging him to kill her as penance, only for Chance to forgive her and thank her for her companionship in his final hours, [[GoOutWithASmile allowing him to pass peacefully]]. Ice is left to mourn and steadily move past Chance's death, with the final pages showing her in a meeting with Lex Luthor mourning the death of their shared partner, with it strongly implied ([[UncertainDoom but not outright showing]]) that Ice is about to successfully claim vengeance on Luthor this time.]]
* {{Blackmail}}: [[spoiler:In the final issue, J'onn approaches Ice with the news of Chance's death and informs her that she's going to be investigated as a suspicious element surrounding the events leading up to it. Ice gets his involvement in the investigation squashed by threatening him with knowledge of his private affair with Fire.]]
* BrickJoke:
** Issue #2 has Chance and Ice taking a swim in the waters around a beach, with Ice repeatedly offering him [[MundaneUtility to create an island out of ice for the both of them to relax on]], which he declines. In issue #11, the two return to the same beach for what is seemingly Chance's last day alive, and this time, she properly makes it.
** A RunningGag in issue #3 is Booster Gold believing that not "pre-toasting" his bagels at his new bagel shop is a worthy selling point despite Skeets pointing out that that's not really a thing. In issue #12, [[spoiler:with the news that the bagel shop failed because of bad bread making people sick, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Booster laments that he should have gone through with the pre-toasting idea]].]]
* ButtMonkey:
** ComicBook/BoosterGold gets interrogated in issue #3 as a potential suspect, but Booster is simply [[TheDitz Booster]] -- he's introduced in grandiose fashion holding a grand opening [[SmallNameBigEgo for his bagel shop at a modest plaza]], forgetting scissors to cut the ceremonial ribbon and instead using a laser [[LethallyStupid that leads to a window getting broken]], and when pressed about where he was three days prior, he and [[RobotBuddy Skeets]] fumble their way through a story of how they'd been [[TimeTravel travelling through ancient times to get their bagel recipes and ingredients]], [[ProducePelting getting stuff pelted at them in the process]]. Chance and Ice quickly rule him out in part for being too ridiculous to have tried to assassinate Luthor. [[spoiler:The final issue has Booster reveal less than 3 weeks later that the bagel shop folded as something in the bread kept making everyone sick.]]
** Oh, [[ComicBook/GreenLantern G'nort]]. Issue #10 features him being approached by Chance to help him reach the Green Lantern Corps' archives on Oa (possessing the ability to create an instant portal to it, given to him by the Guardians [[NoSenseOfDirection after he somehow got lost in space a few years ago]]), [[SuperGullible and he complies almost immediately and without hesitation]], severely underestimating the potential trouble that comes from it. Chance lets G'nort have some of his flask to distract him, [[CantHoldHisLiquor and the poor guy simply can't handle it]]. When he finally sobers up and accompanies Chance back to Earth, [[spoiler:their reunion with [[NotQuiteDead a still-alive Guy Gardner]] involves him [[TapOnTheHead getting slapped away and knocked down for the count]].]] Perhaps the only victory he achieves during the encounter is [[spoiler:after a Guardian approached the two in the archives wondering what the hell G'nort was doing allowing Chance inside, [[BlackComedy G'nort drunkenly kicked him and also knocked him out]].]]
* TheCameo: ComicBook/MisterMiracle, ComicBook/BlackCanary, and ComicBook/CaptainAtom appear in the photo of JLI members that Chance considers suspects in issue #1, but none of them end up appearing in the rest of the comic (Mister Miracle's appearance is more than likely a nod to [[ComicBook/MisterMiracle2017 King's miniseries on the character in 2017]]).
* CloseOnTitle: The title of each chapter/issue doesn't appear until the final page for issues #1, #2, #11, and #12.
* ComicalCoffeeCup: [[CreatorThumbprint Another Tom King thumbprint]] that appears in issue #8, where Rocket Red lends Chance a mug that reads "Life's a beach".
* TheConfidant: Chance's only consistently reliable ally is Luigi, the owner of an Italian restaurant that Chance lives above. Chance makes a note that Luigi [[{{Fauxreigner}} is neither Italian]] nor [[WithholdingTheirName really named Luigi]], and that he's hired Chance for enough jobs [[NoodleIncident for whatever reason]] that they trust each other with their secrets.
* DarkAndTroubledPast:
** Chance frequently alludes to his dark past in monologue, and it gets a proper flashback in issue #5: [[HarmfulToMinors when he was a young boy]], he watched his father getting gunned down by a loan shark he was unable to pay off, hearing his final words begging his son to not grow up to be like him, and instead make something of himself that he'd never be able to.
** This miniseries uses [[{{Retcon}} the revised backstory]] of Ice introduced in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueGenerationLost'', where Nora was born to an ordinary rural town in Norway, happening to develop [[AnIcePerson her ice powers]] by chance. When her grandfather attempted to make use of her abilities for criminal purposes, she ended up retaliating in a way that resulted in her [[AccidentalMurder accidentally killing him]] ''[[AccidentalMurder and]]'' [[AccidentalMurder her loving father]], an event so traumatic that it led to her coming up with her more well-known backstory of being a princess to an isolated tribe of Norsemen, which became largely accepted as truth, [[TraumaInducedAmnesia even by herself]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Almost everyone in the series is quite serious and stern, especially [[HardboiledDetective Chance]], but not above giving a sly remark towards the goings-ons, especially [[FantasticallyIndifferent some of the odder aspects that come with living in a world of superheroes]].
-->'''Chance:''' We got someone behind us, following, trying to get closer.\\
'''Ice:''' Do you know who?\\
'''Chance:''' Well, [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight it's a car made of green energy]], so I think we can rule out ComicBook/{{Batman}}.
* DirtyCop: Similar to how Ice fills out the FemmeFatale role in this superhero noir story, Guy Gardner fills out this role, being fully willing to use his authority as a Green Lantern of Earth to antagonize Chance [[GreenEyedMonster for getting too comfy with his ex]].
* EvolvingCredits: The closing shot of Chance's calendar adjusts with each issue to reflect the events each issue portrays: crossed-out dates, blood stains, snowflakes.
* FakeAssassination: Lex Luthor hires Chance to stand in for him at a press event where an assassin tries to kill him. Turns out the attempt was at least partially enabled by Luthor himself -- riling up a member of an extremist group who already hated him -- to get some good PR.
-->'''Luthor:''' Yes, [[CouldSayItBut I]] ''[[CouldSayItBut might]]'' [[CouldSayItBut have encouraged one of the more]] ''[[CouldSayItBut visceral]]'' [[CouldSayItBut young members of this group to take some actions. I]] ''[[CouldSayItBut possibly]]'' [[CouldSayItBut could have presented an opportunity to an]] ''[[CouldSayItBut already]]'' [[CouldSayItBut disloyal employee]]. But it was ''all'' to better illustrate to the community at large the intentions behind these peoples' hateful words. Frankly, I don't see the problem in it. At the end of the day, everyone is on the same page, and no one gets hurt.\\
'''Chance:''' [[DeadpanSnarker You ever taken a bullet to the chest?]] ''[[DeadpanSnarker First]]'' [[DeadpanSnarker thing it does is hurt.]]\\
'''Luthor:''' [[KickTheDog Better you than I]].
* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:Chance and Ice seemingly murder Guy Gardner in issue #6, but several days later, Chance deduces based on the fact that the Justice League stopped chasing him that he must actually be still alive somewhere, and by issue #10, with the help of G'nort and the Green Lantern archives on Oa, he finds he's right -- what he and Ice [[LiterallyShatteredLives shattered]] was just a projection of his Green Lantern ring. The most shocking revelation from this isn't itself the fact that Guy is alive, but rather that Ice was in on the plan all along.]]
* FemmeFatale:
** Ice plays the role of one in the typical noir narrative -- the confidant with key ties to the suspects who joins Chance on his murder investigation -- but lacks the manipulative demeanor of one. In fact, Chance appears to be manipulating her, tricking her into joining him on his investigation by imitating Dr. Mid-Nite on the phone. [[spoiler:[[DoubleSubversion This ends up coming full circle]] when it's revealed at issue #10 that she was the one behind the murder attempt, with the revelation that she's responsible for the inevitable death of the man she fell in love with [[LoveHurts wounding the both of them before the end]].]]
** Fire, funnily enough, also slots in as one during her major appearance in issue #7, accompanying Chance on a night on the town as [[spoiler:he attempts to get a confession out of her as being Lex Luthor's would-be-assassin]]. Her [[TheTease flirtatious attitude]] as well as habitual references to [[MsFanservice her many admirers thanks to her modelling career]] collides with her conspicuously keeping her secrets in the investigation close, creating a thick vein of erotically-tinged tension.
* FerrisWheelDateMoment: For a certain value of a "date" -- issue #7 sees Chance spending a night with Beatriz da Costa, aka "Fire", which involves taking a ride in a ferris wheel (paid for by Lex Luthor, [[MasterActor voiced by Chance himself]]). The night is rife with sexual tension, but is undercut by the fact that [[spoiler:Chance is there with the assumption that Fire is the prime suspect in the case and is trying to get her to confess. When the ferris wheel stops with the two at the top, Chance deduces that she quietly used [[PlayingWithFire her powers]] to short out the power box to leave them stuck during the interrogation. Chance takes the opportunity to ''jump out'', forcing her to save him, in an attempt to get her to fess up, though the most it leads to is her revealing that while she indeed handled the poison used in the attempt to kill Luthor, it was for the one with the ''actual'' murderous intent: Guy Gardner.]]
* FightUnscene: Issue #4 sees Chance and Ice hitching a ride with [[ComicBook/BlueBeetle Ted Kord]] to take care of several incidents, but as this is [[NonActionGuy Chance's]] story, we don't see a ton of the action. Their first stop at a bank robbery features him waiting behind police lines as Kord and Ice take care of things, which is only denoted by the off-screen sound effects and the aftermath, featuring freed hostages and several knocked-out and frozen goons. They end up stopping by other locations and doing the usual superhero things (subduing a bear monster, fighting off Samuroids, stopping a "super kid" from hacking submarine fleet computers, etc.), but as they all blur together for Chance, they get less and less visual representation.
* FilmNoir: Of the neo-noir variety. The series oozes the aesthetics of 1960s crime novels like the ''{{Literature/Parker}}'' series. The art especially evokes crime paperback covers of the era. The fact that it takes place within Franchise/TheDCU and involves interaction with several characters with superpowers does surprisingly little to detract from the plot, which is ultimately a mundane murder mystery.
* GloryDays: Both Ice and Booster Gold hold their time in the JLI in high regard as a time of excitement and fun.
* TheGhost: ComicBook/{{Batman}} is frequently mentioned, and Chance seems to see him as a rival figure. Chance refuses to even share data with Batman about the mystery. An entire issue is Chance paranoid that Batman is hunting him down, though Batman himself never physically appears.
* GreenEyedMonster: Guy plays the part of a brutish and jealous ex-boyfriend angry that Ice is spending so much time with Chance.
* GrievousHarmWithABody: Or with cremated remains. [[spoiler:After his death and cremation, Ice has to figure how Chance would've wanted his ashes scattered.]] Ice smashes the container with the ashes against Guy's head, figuring it to be what [[spoiler:Chance]] would've liked, along with enjoying that herself.
* GuileHero: Chance's MasterOfDisguise abilities extend into some major league manipulation abilities that he uses on multiple people through the series including [[spoiler: Ice and Guy Gardner]].
* HardboiledDetective: Despite taking place in the DC universe with superheroics abound, Chance is very thoroughly a FilmNoir detective in look and spirit: weary yet tough, cynical but sharp-witted, [[AntiHero not quite a hero but also not quite a bad guy]], very heavy on [[TheAlcoholic the booze]] and [[PrivateEyeMonologue internal monologues]], and most importantly, a very skilled and observant detective who insists he figure out his own murder case before the inevitable claims him.
* TheHeroDies: For a given value of "hero," anyway. [[spoiler:Chance does indeed die when his twelve days are up.]]
* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Throughout issue #8, Chance is subject to this by Rocket Red as part of his intense interrogations to find out [[spoiler:what happened to Guy Gardner]].
* HowWeGotHere: The story opens at the end of Chance's 12 days. The series goes back to the beginning and carries through with what happened in those 12 days.
* HuskyRusskie: Dmitri Pushkin (Rocket Red) gets played up with this traits in his appearance in issue #8, being rather [[ChummyCommies affable]], but also [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique mean in a fight in trying to beat the truth of]] [[spoiler:what happened to Guy Gardner]] out of Chance. When [[spoiler:he gets (false) word back that Guy is actually still alive]], he sincerely apologizes to Chance with the classic Russian peace offering: a fine bottle of [[VodkaDrunkenski vodka]].
* ImpliedDeathThreat: [[spoiler:Ice]] threatens to have [[spoiler:Fire]] attack Martian Manhunter if he doesn't back off from investigating Chance's poisoning.
* InJoke: When Ice and Booster catch up on old times, Chance notes they reference so many in-jokes that they might as well be speaking in code.
* InVinoVeritas: Issue #4 is spent with Chance attempting to extract information from Ted Kord on who tried to kill Luthor, and it's not until the very end as the two are out for drinks that he gets a useful clue: as Kord gets royally shitfaced, he lets slip that he declined giving ComicBook/BoosterGold a loan to start up his bagel shop, and shortly afterwards, he was approached by [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter J'onn J'onzz]] for a loan of the exact same amount to pay off "a friend" he helped out.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Chance regularly feels the effects of the deadly poison throughout the story and coughs on the regular.
* ItWasWithYouAllAlong: [[spoiler:The true culprit behind the assassination attempt on Lex Luthor's life, and consequently the one responsible for Chance's fatal poisoning, was Chance's first suspect and partner throughout the investigation: Ice. During her [[TheSummation summation]], she confesses that she was aware that she was fully responsible for Chance's inevitable doom and secretly conspired with those involved in the hit to keep her protected until he died, [[LoveHurts conflicting massively with the fact that she sincerely fell in love with him over the last several days]]. [[{{Forgiveness}} Chance doesn't hold it against her]], with his last message before dying in his sleep being "I love you too."]]
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Ice]], who manages to get the case behind Chance's poisoning buried. She might even have killed [[spoiler:Lex]] like she intended at the end of the comic.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Guy is frozen solid by Ice and Chance, furious by everything, shatters his head with one punch. Ice finishes it off by tipping his body over, shattering it completely.]] [[spoiler:Except [[FakingTheDead not really]]. Instead, the only person who's absolutely, definitely dead by the end of the book is Christopher Chance himself.]]
* LatexPerfection: Crops up in this series, but Chance doesn't actually use it. Instead, [[spoiler:his friend Luigi disguises himself as Hal Jordan, and does a good enough job to fool his longtime comrade Guy Gardner]].
* LethallyStupid: Booster cuts the ribbon for the opening of his bagel shop with a laser, over Skeets' objections. When said laser breaks a window, Booster notes that using scissors instead would have led to the same result. Skeets begrudgingly agrees.
* LoveHurts: A subtle thread throughout the series is Chance's lack of family or loved ones to take care of him even with [[YourDaysAreNumbered his fatal poisoning]], which he perceives as being what allows him to do his job -- his lack of ties to anyone means [[NotAfraidToDie he has no real reason to fear death]]. However, as the days go by and he forms an increasingly intimate relationship with Ice, Chance has to reconcile with his mortality and the assumption that, if he's not going to make it, what is he really accomplishing other than making himself finally afraid of the end? [[spoiler:It isn't much better on the other end, as Ice is revealed to be the one who attempted to murder Lex Luthor, in turn being responsible for Chance's poisoning. She was aware of her complicity in his fate, and yet despite manipulating her way around the investigation, she still ended up sincerely bonding with him, becoming furious at herself by falling for the man that she knows will die because of her actions. Even though Chance ultimately forgives her before he dies and she ends up being able to get off scot-free, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she's the furthest from happy that anyone could ask to be]].]]
* MasterActor: While Chance doesn't don many disguises throughout the series (he only appears as Luthor in issue #1), he does periodically demonstrate his ability to mimic others to throw them off. He manages to goad Ice into working with him by impersonating Dr. Mid-Nite on a phone call to let him know of his situation, and while going out with Fire in issue #7, he makes a call pretending to be Lex Luthor again and arranges an employee a rendezvous on a ferris wheel.
* MythologyGag: While summarizing Ice's background, Chance mentions her original superhero backstory of being a princess from an isolated tribe of magic-wielding Norsemen, but identifies it as something she made up with to suppress memories of her ''actual'', [[DarkAndTroubledPast more troubled backstory]], which is based off the {{retcon}} introduced in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueGenerationLost'' where Ice was born with a metahuman gene in a normal Norwegian town, having accidentally killed her father and grandfather with her ice powers as a child. The fact that Ice ''died'' [[BackFromTheDead and came back to life]] also gets brought up as part of her backstory.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Guy might act rash and violent, but his mastery over his ring is deep enough that he can [[spoiler:create a fake dead version of himself with it.]]
* TheParanoiac: Chance ends up devolving into this mindset in issue #9, where -- [[spoiler:having barely skirted his way out of death over the murder of Guy Gardner by forging a transmission to Rocket Red that he was perfectly fine]] -- he drives with Ice out to a desert in the middle of nowhere out of fears that Batman is on his tail. It gets so bad that when the two stop by at a [[GreasySpoon roadside diner]], he beats up an innocent man who he believes is Batman in disguise, and once he ends up unresponsive while behind the wheel, Ice can only stop him by forcing them into a crash. [[spoiler:[[ImproperlyParanoid Bats never shows up]], which leads Chance to deduce that Guy ''really is'' still alive.]]
* PillowPistol: Issue #3 reveals that Chance sleeps with a revolver under his pillow, which he whips out when Guy Gardner makes an unpleasant visit in his room. Being a Green Lantern and all, [[NoSell he shrugs off Chance's shot with no effort]]. Issue #8 ramps it up by showing him getting ''a shotgun'' from underneath his bed.
* RealMenLoveJesus: Dr. Mid-Nite's idea of comforting Chance once he hears Chance has no family to help him through his terminal diagnosis is to invite Chance to church with him. Chance declines.
* RedHerring: Of the twelve members of the Justice League International photo revealed in issue #1 that Chance considers suspects, [[spoiler:only six of them are ever actually treated as such (Ice, Fire, Guy Gardner, Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle II, and Booster Gold). G'nort is only encountered as a brief ally for Chance in issue #10, Rocket Red's appearance in issue #8 consists of him giving Chance the run-around over Guy's disappearance, and Batman -- [[TheDreaded while his presence looms over Chance in issue #9]] -- never shows up at all in the rest of the series. Mister Miracle, Black Canary, and Captain Adam are also never addressed, nor do they have any reason to be.]]
* RiddleForTheAges: How the poison was put in Luthor's coffee is left unrevealed, [[spoiler:though ''who'' put it is answered]].
* SecretlyDying: Chance hides the fact that he's dying from Ice. She knows he was poisoned and almost died. She doesn't know that, despite most of the poison being extracted when he vomited, it did enough damage to kill him in 12 days. [[spoiler:After growing suspicion over a week of his [[IncurableCoughOfDeath increasingly worsening coughs]], culminating in him being clinically dead at the start of day 9 and requiring CPR and medical revival by the Justice League, Chance finally tells her the truth.]]
* TheSummation: Chance properly has the mystery solved with the correct culprit by [[spoiler:the end of issue #10, and the following issue is said culprit, Ice, explaining it from her POV.]]
* TakingTheBullet: Played with considering the nature of Chance's job, demonstrated in the first issue: he disguises himself as his employer (in this case, Lex Luthor) and becomes [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a human target]] ready to take whatever offense they'll be on the receiving end of, and retaliating when necessary. Chance ends up taking a literal bullet by an extremist attempting to gun Luthor down at a Lexcorp press event before getting up and clocking the man to the ground.
* ThouShaltNotKill: A recurring point that makes the investigation on who attempted to kill Lex Luthor even more difficult is the fact that most of the suspects -- who are superheroes within the Justice League -- opt to this principle. Many of them are fully aware that Luthor is a bad man, and virtually all of them have been slighted by him in ways that would lead to an easy potential motive, [[EveryoneHasStandards but most would simply prefer he be behind bars or otherwise punished by justice systems, not kill him]].
-->'''[[ComicBook/BlueBeetle Ted Kord]]:''' I'd kill him, if it was the right thing to do. I'd do it in half a second. Like slapping a bug on your arm. Just like, bam, I'd do it. But sadly, I think for the better -- it's not the right thing. It's really wrong. [[TheFettered You can't kill people. That's the rule. So I don't.]]
* VomitDiscretionShot: The bullet Chance takes for Luthor in issue #1 causes him to vomit up the poisoned coffee (meaning he'll die in 12 days instead of immediately). He describes it, but we never see it.
* WeaksauceWeakness: [[spoiler:When Chance confronts Guy Gardner for the third and final time, Chance manages to get the upper hand by invoking a weakness that he could only find hidden in the Green Lantern archives: ''a peanut allergy''. Chance ultimately gets him to cooperate by slamming peanuts into Gardner's mouth and sending him into anaphylactic shock, offering in an [=EpiPen=] only if he talks.]]
* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Played with. Chance was the one who was poisoned, but Lex was the target, and the list of who might want him dead is a long one.
* WhodunnitToMe: Chance is investigating who tried to murder Lex Luthor (and got him instead).
* YourDaysAreNumbered: Chance has 12 days to find out who poisoned him before he dies from said poisoning.
----

YMMV tropes:

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Greg Smallwood's artwork is nothing short of phenomenal, earning him a well-deserved Eisner award for Best Penciller/Inker, and no doubt a big reason for the whole book receiving the Eisner for Best Limited Series. Heavily evocative of artwork found with classic 60's-70's detective novels, the visuals of the comic are stylish but never distracting, colorful but never campy, expressive yet never exaggerated, being a pitch-perfect mix of warmth and grit to complement the superhero-noir atmosphere of the story.
* BrokenBase: Once again, Creator/TomKing's [[DependingOnTheWriter loose approach to characterization of preexisting characters]] proved immensely divisive, where you'll either love the series for how it recontextualizes and adapts popular characters for the stylish FilmNoir story being told, or you'll hate it for its lack of faithfulness to how they "should" be represented. The approach to Guy Gardner [[AdaptationalJerkass as making him an out-and-out asshole]] has especially been controversial, tying into the age-old conversation on whether him being a jerk is itself the point of the character or not.
* CharacterRerailment: Creator/TomKing has had a notoriously fraught history with writing ComicBook/BoosterGold, having been criticized in [[ComicBook/BatmanTomKing his run of]] ''[[ComicBook/BatmanTomKing Batman]]'' and ''especially'' in ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' as [[{{Flanderization}} flanderizing him into being a lethally and frustratingly incompetent idiot]]. Fortunately, the version of Booster that appears in this comic has been much better-received for being more in line with the expectation of him as an ''endearingly'' incompetent idiot, with his antics of [[SmallNameBigEgo running a bagel shop named after himself]] being [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments properly funny]] and something he'd cook up in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction''.

** A RunningGag in issue #3 is Booster Gold believing that he should "pre-toast" his bagels at his new bagel shop out of a belief that it will give him a competitive edge (despite Skeets pointing out that that's not really a thing). In issue #12, [[spoiler:with the news that the bagel shop failed because of bad bread making people sick, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Booster laments that he should have gone through on the pre-toasting idea]].]]

%%* SirSwearsALot: Ice near the end.

* BrokenBase: Once again, Creator/TomKing's [[DependingOnTheWriter loose approach to characterization of preexisting characters]] proved immensely divisive, where you'll either love the series for how it recontextualizes and adapts popular characters for the stylish FilmNoir story being told, or you'll hate it for its lack of faithfulness to how they "should" be represented. The approach to Guy Gardner [[AdaptationalJerkass as making him an out-and-out asshole]] has especially been controversial, tying into the age-old conversation on whether him being a jerk is itself the point of the character or not.

----

* ButtMonkey: ComicBook/BoosterGold gets interrogated in issue #3 as a potential suspect, but Booster is simply [[TheDitz Booster]] -- he's introduced in grandiose fashion holding a grand opening [[SmallNameBigEgo for his bagel shop at a modest plaza]], forgetting scissors to cut the ceremonial ribbon and instead using a laser [[LethallyStupid that leads to a window getting broken]], and when pressed about where he was three days prior, he and [[RobotBuddy Skeets]] fumble their way through a story of how they'd been [[TimeTravel travelling through ancient times to get their bagel recipes and ingredients]], [[ProducePelting getting stuff pelted at them in the process]]. Chance and Ice quickly rule him out in part for being too ridiculous to have tried to assassinate Luthor. [[spoiler:The final issue has Booster reveal less than 3 weeks later that the bagel shop folded as something in the bread kept making everyone sick.]]
* TheCameo: The series makes no bones about being set in the DCU. Lex Luthor is Chance's employer in the first issue. Dr. Mid-Nite diagnoses Chance's terminal condition. The JLI are the suspects.

* BrickJoke: Issue #2 has Chance and Ice taking a swim in the waters around a beach, with Ice repeatedly offering him [[MundaneUtility to create an island out of ice for the both of them to relax on]], which he declines. In issue #11, the two return to the same beach for what is seemingly Chance's last day alive, and this time, she properly makes it.

* LoveHurts: A subtle thread throughout the series is Chance's lack of family or loved ones to take care of him even with [[YourDaysAreNumbered his fatal poisoning]], which he perceives as being what allows him to do his job -- his lack of ties to anyone means [[NotAfraidToDie he has no real reason to fear death]]. However, as the days go by and he forms an increasingly intimate relationship with Ice, Chance has to reconcile with his mortality and the assumption that if he's not going to make it, what is he really accomplishing other than making himself finally afraid of the end? [[spoiler:It isn't much better on the other end, as Ice is revealed to be the one who attempted to murder Lex Luthor, in turn being responsible for Chance's poisoning. She was aware of her complicity in his fate, and yet despite manipulating her way around the investigation, she still ended up sincerely bonding with him, becoming furious at herself by falling for the man that she knows will die because of her actions. Even though Chance ultimately forgives her before he dies and she ends up being able to get off scot-free, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she's the furthest from happy that anyone could ask to be]].]]

* ItWasWithYouAllAlong: [[spoiler:The true culprit behind the assassination attempt on Lex Luthor's life, and consequently the one responsible for Chance's fatal poisoning, was Chance's first suspect and partner throughout the investigation: Ice. During her [[TheSummation summation]], she confesses that she was aware that she was fully responsible for Chance's inevitable doom and secretly conspired with those involved in the hit to keep her protected until he died, [[LoveHurts conflicting massively with the fact that she sincerely fell in love with him over the last several days]]. [[{{Forgiveness}} Chance doesn't hold it against her]], with his last message before dying in his sleep being "I love you too."]

* ButtMonkey: ComicBook/BoosterGold gets interrogated in issue #3 as a potential suspect, but Booster is simply [[TheDitz Booster]] -- he's introduced in grandiose fashion holding a grand opening [[SmallNameBigEgo for his bagel shop at a modest plaza]], forgetting scissors to cut the ceremonial ribbon and instead using a laser [[LethallyStupid that leads to a window getting broken]], and when pressed about where he was three days prior, he and [[RobotBuddy Skeets]] fumble their way through a story of how they'd been [[TimeTravel travelling through ancient times to get their bagel recipes and ingredients]], [[ProducePelting getting stuff pelted at them in the process]]. Chance and Ice quickly rule him out in part for being too ridiculous]] to have tried to assassinate Luthor. [[spoiler:The final issue has Booster reveal less than 3 weeks later that the bagel shop folded as something in the bread kept making everyone sick.]]

* CloseOnTitle:
** (The title of each chapter/issue doesn't appear until the final page.)
( only chapter 1-2 so far)

* TheCameo: The series makes no bones about being set in the DCU. Lex Luthor is Chance's employer in the first issue. Dr. Mid-Nite diagnoses Chance’s terminal condition. The JLI are the suspects.

* TheConfidant: Chance's only consistently reliable ally is Luigi, the owner of an Italian restaurant that Chance lives above. Chance makes a note that Luigi is neither Italian nor really named Luigi, and that he's hired Chance for enough jobs [[NoodleIncident for whatever reason]] that they trust each other with their secrets.

%%* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:Guy Gardner.]]

** Ice plays the role of one in the typical noir narrative -- the confidant with key ties to the suspects who joins Chance on his murder investigation -- but lacks the manipulative demeanor of one. In fact, Chance appears to be manipulating her, tricking her into joining him on his investigation by imitating Dr. Mid-Nite on the phone.

* PluckyComicRelief: ComicBook/BoosterGold gets interrogated in issue #3 as a potential suspect, but Booster is simply [[TheDitz Booster]] -- he's introduced in grandiose fashion holding a grand opening [[SmallNameBigEgo for his bagel shop at a modest plaza]], forgetting scissors to cut the ceremonial ribbon and instead using a laser [[ButtMonkey that leads to a window getting broken]], and when pressed about where he was three days prior, he and [[RobotBuddy Skeets]] fumble their way through a story of how they'd been [[TimeTravel travelling through ancient times to get their bagel recipes and ingredients]], [[ProducePelting getting stuff pelted at them in the process]]. Chance and Ice quickly rule him out in part for being [[ButtMonkey too ridiculous]] to have tried to assassinate Luthor.

** [[spoiler:Guy Gardner is [[{{Jerkass}} a real piece of work in this story]], [[GreenEyedMonster repeatedly antagonizing Chance for getting close to Ice despite Ice having broken up with him and insisting he leave the both of them alone]], so it ends up coming across as karmic justice when Chance and Ice [[LiterallyShatteredLives seemingly shatter him to pieces]] in issue #6, and it's especially vindicated where by Fire's confession in issue #7, she implicates him as being the one who attempted to kill Lex Luthor. [[DeconstructedTrope This unfortunately gets swerved away in issue #8]] when Rocket Red kidnaps Chance and Ice and subjects the former to brutal interrogations to find out what happened to him -- as much of an ass Gardner was, he was still family to the Justice League, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome and there was no way his disappearance was going to be ignored]]. [[ShaggyDogStory It ends up being all for naught]] when by the end of the day after several beatings, it's discovered that Gardner [[FakingTheDead is in fact still alive]].]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dmitri Pushkin, aka "Rocket Red", has been known to be [[ChummyCommies a particularly chummy guy in the JLI]], and while he tries to be as affable as possible about it (including offering him an honest glass of vodka), he ends up giving Chance [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique a hell of a beatdown]] throughout issue #8 as he tries to force him to confess to [[spoiler:what happened to Guy Gardner, who had been missing for two days. Chance never spills the beans, and it's only when Dmitri receives a transmission from Guy himself explaining [[NotQuiteDead that he's still alive]] that he backs down and apologizes to Chance.]]

* HuskyRusskie: Dmitri Pushkin (Rocket Red) gets played up with this traits in his appearance in issue #8, being rather [[ChummyCommies affable]], but also [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique mean in a fight in trying to beat the truth of]] [[spoiler:what happened to Guy Gardner]] out of Chance. When [[spoiler:he gets word back that Guy is actually still alive]], he sincerely apologizes to Chance with the classic Russian peace offering: a fine bottle of [[VodkaDrunkenski vodka]].

* SecretlyDying: Chance hides the fact that he's dying from Ice. She knows he was poisoned and almost died. She doesn't know that, despite most of the poison being extracted when he vomited, it did enough damage to kill him in 12 days.

** Fire, funnily enough, also slots in as one during her major appearance in issue #8, accompanying Chance on a night on the town as [[spoiler:he attempts to get a confession out of her as being Lex Luthor's would-be-assassin]]. Her [[TheTease flirtatious attitude]] as well as habitual references to [[MsFanservice her many admirers thanks to her modelling career]] collides with her conspicuously keeping her secrets in the investigation close, creating a thick vein of erotically-tinged tension.
* FerrisWheelDateMoment: For a certain value of a "date" -- issue #8 sees Chance spending a night with Beatriz da Costa, aka "Fire", which involves taking a ride in a ferris wheel (paid for by Lex Luthor, [[MasterActor voiced by Chance himself]]). The night is rife with sexual tension, but is undercut by the fact that [[spoiler:Chance is there with the assumption that Fire is the prime suspect in the case and is trying to get her to confess. When the ferris wheel stops with the two at the top, Chance deduces that she quietly used [[PlayingWithFire her powers]] to short out the power box to leave them stuck during the interrogation. Chance takes the opportunity to ''jump out'', forcing her to save him, in an attempt to get her to fess up, though the most it leads to is her revealing that while she indeed handled the poison used in the attempt to kill Luthor, it was for the one with the ''actual'' murderous intent: Guy Gardner.]]

* MasterActor: While Chance doesn't don many disguises throughout the series (he only appears as Luthor in issue #1), he does periodically demonstrate his ability to mimic others to throw them off. He manages to goad Ice into working with him by impersonating Dr. Mid-Nite on a phone call to let him know of his situation, and while going out with Fire in issue #8, he makes a call pretending to be Lex Luthor again and arranges an employee a rendezvous on a ferris wheel.

* AssholeVictim: Chance's poisoning was intended for Lex Luthor. When Chance asks who would want him dead, Luthor simply responds "Everyone." When the list of suspects narrow down to the JLI, it's noted a possible motive might be Lex's secret role in convincing the Overmaster to attack Earth which led to Ice temporarily dying.

( only chapter 1-3 so far)

* FerrisWheelDateMoment: For a certain value of a "date" -- issue #8 sees Chance spending a night with Beatriz da Costa, aka "Fire", which involves taking a ride in a ferris wheel (paid for by Lex Luthor, [[MasterActor voiced by Chance himself]]). The night is rife with sexual tension, but is undercut by the fact that [[spoiler:Chance is there with the assumption that Fire is the prime suspect in the case and is trying to get her to confess. When the ferris wheel stops with the two at the top, Chance deduces that she quietly used [[PlayingWithFire her powers]] to short out the power box to leave them stuck during the interrogation. Chance takes the opportunity to ''jump out'', forcing her to save him, in an attempt to get her to fess up, though the most it leads to is her revealing that while she indeed handled the poison used in the attempt to kill Luthor, it was for the one with the ''actual'' murderous intent: Guy Gardner.]]

* FemmeFatale: Ice plays the role of one in the typical noir narrative but lacks the manipulative demeanor of one. [[spoiler:In fact, Chance appears to be manipulating her, tricking her into joining him on his investigation by imitating Dr. Mid-Nite on the phone.]]

* PillowPistol: Issue #3 reveals that Chance sleeps with a revolver under his pillow, which he whips out when Guy Gardner makes an unpleasant visit in his room. Being a Green Lantern and all, [[NoSell he shrugs off Chance's shot with no effort]].

* CloseOnTitle: The title of each chapter/issue doesn't appear until the final page.

* TheAlcoholic: Chance is rather fond of his booze, frequenting a QuickNip when his IncurableCoughOfDeath kicks up. Issue #4 shows him going out for drinks with Ted Kord, and Chance remains perfectly lucid even as Kord gets royally plastered.

* TheAlcoholic: Chance is rather fond of his booze.