Fittingly, the character of Christopher Chance has had a number of different incarnations both in comics and on television in its nearly forty-year history.
Chance first appeared in Action Comics #419 (December 1972). Created by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino (co-creator of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl), Chance appeared as a dapper hero, in the mode of pre-superhero comics sleuths.
In Human Target's "Action-Plus" segments following the main Superman story, Christopher Chance would disguise himself as people whose lives were threatened. Chance appeared regularly in Action Comics until 1974.
In the late 1970s, Human Target moved to The Brave and The Bold and Detective Comics, titles which predominantly featured Batman. This was appropriate, as Christopher Chance's quick wits and skills at mimicry more resembled those of the Dark Knight than the Man of Steel. Chance even impersonated Bruce Wayne in a 1982 Batman story arc.
The Human Target limited series was followed by the graphic novel Human Target: Final Cut (2003). Now joined by artist Javier Pulido, Milligan wrote a tale of Christopher Chance failing in his mission to protect a Hollywood producer and his son. Surgically altered to look like his dead client, Chance becomes subsumed in the role, and finds some measure of happiness.
Human Target became a regular series later in 2003, lasting for twenty-one issues. Javier Pulido and Cliff Chiang alternated artwork duties, with Peter Milligan scripting again. As before, Milligan's version of Christopher Chance was notable for undergoing existential crises and plastic surgery extremes.
Human Target was adapted into a short-lived TV series which aired in the summer of 1992 on ABC. It starred Rick Springfield as Christopher Chance, with supporting roles played by Kirk Baltz, Sami Chester, and Signy Coleman.
In 2009, Fox announced the development of a second Human Target TV show. In the new version, Christopher Chance (Boston Legal's Mark Valley) doesn't impersonate his clients, but takes on a variety of disguises to stay close to them.
In a number of ways, Fox's Human Target marks a return to the Action Comics conception of Christopher Chance. The Verigo series's bleakness and meditations on identity have so far been eschewed in favor of a more lighthearted, action-adventure tone. Ironically, the series pilot, set on a passenger train, recalls the very first appearance of Christopher Chance from Action Comics #419.