Sunday, September 12, 2010

Taskmaster #1




Written by Fred Van Lente
Art by Jefte Palo

Comic Book Review by Dan Tres Omi

I have always felt that Taskmaster was an underutilized villain. I was glad that he was hired by Tony Stark to train new super heroes under the Initiative program. He an integral part of that story and actually began to see the usefulness of working for the right side. When Norman Osborn took over H.A.M.M.E.R. And the Avengers, Taskmaster stayed on the roster. He relunctantly followed Osborn to the siege of Asgard. When he saw that Osborn was losing, Taskmaster took off. I actually searched for the Siege crossover issues in the Thunderbolts looking for more information on the Taskmasters fate. Not much was told. I was at a loss until Joey Stacks gave me the good news. The Taskmaster was getting his own limited series.

We find the Taskmaster in a diner trying to remember a particularly important yet tiny detail in his past not knowing that someone has put a $1 billion dollar bounty on his head. Rumor has it that the Taskmaster has turned States evidence and is also helping Steve Rogers maintain law and order. So everyone from A.I.M. The cyberninjas are gunning for him.

With groups falling all over each other to get the Taskmaster and the Taskmaster skill at knocking heads, it leads to pages of fun. Jefte Palo's artwork works. He covers the chaos well as well as the flashbacks. The best part is when the Taskmaster fights, you can see whose style he uses by the frame ins of certain heroes and villains. Taskmaster has always been bounty hunter speak so Fred Van Lente doesn't have to do much dialogue. Most of it is funny. There are even disses about Deadpool.

The backdrop to the story is that Taskmaster is trying to find out who he is. Because of his power, he has bits and pieces of everyone else and honestly doesn't know who he is. Tracking down those who what him dead might help him solve that piece of the puzzle. I hope that this limited series does not spell the end for this Marvel character. Hopefully, we will see more of the Taskmaster.

3 comments:

Jdid said...

As a kid the first Marvel comic I ever bought was the Avengers issue where Taskmaster was introduced at the end. Think its issue 193 or something like that. Since then I've had a bit of a soft spot for the guy. Was nice seeing him in the Avengers Initiative books teaching the kiddies and now well like you said I hope this isnt the end for him.

Was also interesting during Siege cause Taskmaster was like the one character who was like umm I think we've bitten off more than we can chew here and I really dont want to be involved here. His motives were clearly self preservation but they rang true.

Unknown said...

I agree Jdid.
and in the Siege crossovers, there wasn't alot of info as to what his fate was.

i was hoping Rogers would keep him around. NOw I am wondering if Rogers has him under deep cover since Rogers is starting to realize that Osborn did some unsavory things that actually worked for national security.

we shall see

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