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"The TV Show That Menaced Metropolis!": Woodrow Nescott is a 16 year old boy that is born with a mysterious blood disease and must remain indoors for life. He frequently watches TV and follows a show called The Runaway. Nescott is unable to tell the difference between fiction and reality. He rea

Quote1 I swear, dad -- that as long as I live, nobody will ever have to live with the kind of fear you knew -- or face that humiliation. I tried to be a target for you, dad -- and failed. I swear I'll never fail again. Quote2
Christopher Chance

Action Comics #422 is an issue of the series Action Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1973.

Synopsis for "The TV Show That Menaced Metropolis!"

Woodrow Nescott is a 16 year old boy that is born with a mysterious blood disease and must remain indoors for life. He frequently watches TV and follows a show called The Runaway. Nescott is unable to tell the difference between fiction and reality. He readily believes the Runaway show to be real and is determined to help the shows main character escape capture. He escapes from his room despite the seriousness of his condition to look for the character in his Tv show.

In real life, the shows main character is played by an actor named Mac Nelson. Nelson's character is about to be written off the show because of another characters growing popularity. Nelson attempts to kill his rival Dan Marz but Marz is rescued by Superman when he is deliberately pushed into the path of an oncoming train. Nelson encounters Woodrow Nescott and decides to use him to murder his rival. He gives Nescott a prop telling him to shoot Marz with it to send him to the future. In reality the prop is a real gun. While he is out and about, Nescott cuts himself and his droplets of blood turn into huge white blood cell blobs that devour everything in site. Superman is briefed on Nescott's condition and sets out to look for him. In the meantime Nescott finds Marz recovering in a hospitality bed but Superman stops him before he is able to shoot Marz. Superman then collects the white blobs and hurls them into space unaware that one of the blobs has devoured would be killer Mac Nelson.

Appearing in "The TV Show That Menaced Metropolis!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Woodrow Nescott

Antagonists:

  • Mac Nelson (Single appearance; dies)

Other Characters:

  • Dan Marz
  • Herbert Nescott
  • Kerry Nescott

Locations:

Items:


Vehicles:




Synopsis for "The Shadows-of-Yesterday Contract"

Christopher Chance takes on Hyram Walsh as his client, a man who is being pursued by a ruthless killer with ties to Chance's past. The assassin is the same man who killed his father. He takes on the case for nothing because the man can't pay, and reflects on his origins.

Many years ago, when Christopher was a young child, his father Philip Chance struggled to provide for his family. In his desperation, he took out a loan from local gangster Amos Sharkey to invest in the stock market, but lost it all and was unable to pay. To send a message to others who couldn't settle their debts, Sharkey sent a hitman named Dancer to kill him. One night while the two were walking home from school, they were cornered by Dancer in an alleyway. Chris leapt to defend his father, but was swept aside. His father sobbed and begged for his life, but was shot without hesitation. Strengthened by his own rage, Christopher tackled the murderer to the ground and nearly choked him to death before police sirens came. On his deathbed, Philip Chance told his son that he had to make something of himself, and be successful, like his dad never could. Christopher Chance watched his father die before his own eyes, and felt terrible that he couldn't save him. He swore that as long as he could prevent it, nobody would ever have to suffer that kind of fear and humiliation again. That night, something changed inside of him, and he found himself completely unable to experience fear. He spent the rest of his life training himself to the peak of physical perfection, preparing himself for the dangerous path that lay ahead. Christopher Chance would become the Human Target.

Appearing in "The Shadows-of-Yesterday Contract"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Hyram Walsh

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • '37 Cord Automobile

Notes

Trivia

The Runaway TV show in this issue mimics the 1963 Tv series “The Fugitive”. In this series, a doctor is wrongly accused of murdering his wife. He escapes the authorities to pursue the real killer but the doctor is pursued by a detective that is determined to bring him to justice.


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