In spring of 2002, Taskmaster got his own mini-series, and a Casual Friday costume redesign to go with it. The Udon team handled writing and art chores as Taskmaster gets stiffed on a job by Machine Man of 2020 enemy Sunset Bain. In response, Taskmaster tries to use the Triads to steal his payment for him. Which will also start a war between them and Bain, keeping her too busy to finish tying off the tracksuit-wearing loose end. Things, of course, do not go according to plan.
This version of Taskmaster will learn just about anything, whether it has practical work applications or not. He'll study the mannerisms of a Triad boss down to how he holds a cigarette for a job, but he'll also learn to cook or cut a radish into a flower to impress a lady. He'll take a high-paying, high risk job to wreck semiconductor specs Stark's cooking up, but also help a pal who owns a casino with a guy that's cheating somehow. He'll use a holographic disguise to make himself look classier, and learn a new accent to help convince clients he's more than some guy from the Bronx.
Curiously, he has perfect recall of all his memories, but it still takes seeing something a few times before he can copy it. But the total recall might help explain his unwillingness to let the double-cross go. Taskmaster says he thinks it would set a bad precedent, letting someone stiff him successfully, but I wonder if it's the fact he'd never forget it. Literally, he would never be able to forget she played him for a patsy. So he has to do something in response.
This mini-series also, introduces Sandi, a young woman Taskmaster meets after the casino job and asks out. Sandi and Taskmaster would both go on to appear in the Gail Simone and Udon's brief stint on the first volume of Deadpool, and then on Agent X. Sandi hung around in Deadpool's orbit, at least through Cable/Deadpool, although Outlaw definitely surpassed her in use and popularity. Taskmaster himself could almost be considered part of Deadpool's supporting cast, although he went back to the cloak and pirate boots look pretty much as soon as Agent X ended.
No comments:
Post a Comment