Random Back Issues #162 - Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11 #5

We looked at the first issue over 5 years ago, but today we're looking at the conclusion. And frankly, MODOK's plan to steal the Hypernova from a group of advanced entities seems to be circling the drain.

Of the crew he hired, Mentallo was disposed of by the Chameleon, actually an "Ultra-Adaptoid" controlled by the current head of AIM (and one-night stand of MODOK's back when he was just some dweeb), Monica Rappaccini. Spot turned out to be working for the current Mandarin (son of the old Mandarin), but wound up sucked into his own spot. Rocket Racer's the one holding the hot potato, and he's taking it to SHIELD.

Rappacini brings down Racer short of the finish line with some hex bolts, but it turns out he's been carrying a hologram all along. Back at the wreckage of Mandarin's spaceship, he's minus a hand, but game to kill three of the crew - Puma, Nightshade, Living Laser - for standing in his way. Once the Ultra-Adaptoid crashes the party, the 4 unite, but seem sorely outclassed until Living Laser realizes it's being controlled remotely from a satellite in orbit. The core of the Mandarin's ship is made of material that can block any radiation.

Rappacini's in the middle of a big speech about how MODOK had no money, but she'll let them live, when she's cut off by Puma pushing that core down the slope onto the robot. Then Armadillo shows up and crushes the inactive android.

One problem solved but, where's the Hypernova? Well, Living Laser had it cloaked all along, because he intends to use it. He can convert all that stored energy into mass, getting a real physical body back. Which he figures will be worth it, even if the others kill him a second later. There's a flash of light, and he's gone.

4 days later, MODOK's getting this report from what's left of the crew - Nightshade, Puma, Armadillo - but it turns out he has the Hypernova. He calculated a 78% chance one of his crew would betray him, so when Puma passed it through one of Spot's err, spots, MODOK swapped it with a fake in the Dark Dimension (looking very Escher-ish here.) Well, AIM's probably going to figure that out, right? Certainly, especially since MODOK contacted them.

A Dreadnaught busts in, Rappacini controlling it remotely, but she offers one billion dollars, and a truce, for the Hypernova. MODOK, seemingly wistful for lost love, says once he'd have given it to her for nothing. Isn't she sorry she broke up with him? Monica reminds him they were never dating, while some unseen goon who is sure to be dead soon snickers in the background, and they make the swap. MODOK pays the 3 survivors their shares, plus the rest of the crews' shares, and they go off happy. MODOK's still got over $960 million, Monica's got the Hypernova, everyone's happy.

Or not. The Hypernova's in a "temporal bottle", which decays once removed from the place it was kept, and MODOK delayed contacting Monica long enough her scientists can't erect a containment field before the bottle dissipates, so. . .

(Even being 'one with all,' Living Laser looks like a Ken doll made of bubblegum. What the hell was MODOK's fake Hypernova, to do that to him?) 

And this was apparently MODOK's plan from the beginning. Use the lure of the Hypernova to not only destroy his greatest enemy, but get said enemy to pay him a billion dollars to do it. I think Rappacini survives somehow. Pretty sure I've seen her in comics since this came out, and Marvel can use more evil scientist women, anyway.

{11th longbox, 40th comic. Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11 #5, by Fred van Lente (writer), Francis Portella (penciler), Terry Pallot (inker), Guru eFX (colorist), Nate Piekos (letterer)}

Saturday Splash Page #159

"Early Retirement," in The Silencers #2, by Fred van Lente (writer), Steve Ellis (artist), Dae Lim Yoo (colorist)

A 4-issue mini-series from the early 2000s about a group of super-powered enforcers for a crime family. Their long-time leader with electric powers, Cardinal, is out of prison, and planning to secretly retire to run a flower shop. But there's a new drug on the street that turns users into difficult-to-kill monsters in crablike exoskeleton armor, and whoever is behind it is trying to kill the team.

The Silencers are mostly damaged goods, people with powers that are sometimes dangerous to them. Missile 21, the big flying guy, wears that metal suit that makes him look like a battering ram not just because its useful for hitting things, but because otherwise the velocity he flies at would break his neck. Most of them were scooped up at loose ends and turned into weapons by your standard mobsters. The black suits and ties, the bullshit about family, which roughly translates to keeping your mouth shut and going to prison to protect the bosses.

The Silencers themselves are a group of nutcases and sadists to various degrees, cheating on each other, backstabbing each other. Most of their casualties come as a result of that, rather than anything their enemies do. Stiletto and Kid Chaos were a couple of runaways brought in as new recruits, and while they seem close-knit, Kid Chaos is sleeping around behind Stiletto's back, and Stiletto's whole Dragon Lady look is just a disguise for a scared, immature kid. It's a nice bit of teamwork by Ellis and van Lente, how the designs sometimes match the characters' personalities, and sometimes contrast them.

Of course, the crew's main advantage is the cops and the costumed heroes are all written as such morons I half-suspect Garth Ennis ghost-wrote this thing. Van Lente even gives Cardinal a big speech when the heroes (who Ellis draws a thinly-veiled allusions to DC or Marvel's big names) finally catch up about how the "heroes" will never fight real evil because it's so easy to see them coming.

Then Cardinal takes them all down because, even though they've fought and captured this guy with electric powers many times, they all decided to just stand in a plainly visible puddle of water. The book's cynicism means it fits with the era when it came out, but coming to it 20 years after the fact, it just felt tired. Superheroes don't make real change, yeah yeah. Sometimes you need a group of bastards to get things done, uh-huh. Sir, I believe that horse has been successfully turned to dog food.

Saturday Splash Page #157

"Super-Power-Skrull," in Skrulls vs. Power Pack #2, by Fred van Lente (writer), Cory Hamscher (artist), Gurihiru and Wil Quintana (colorists), Dave Sharpe (letterer)

This wasn't an official Secret Invasion tie-in, what with all the 2000s-Power Pack mini-series existing in their own little continuity. But van Lente sticks with part of the basic premise, as the Power kids are captured by alien bounty hunters and hauled before an interstellar tribunal to face accusations they committed some serious crimes. Meanwhile, 4 Skrulls impersonate them in a bid to get access to a super-weapon via the kids' father's job with SWORD.

The real Pack bust out of jail. . .and promptly begin committing crimes in hopes of drawing out the imposters. Instead, they end up in a search for the identity of legendary figures called "The Annihilator" and "The Protector", who are of much interest to the Skrulls and the Kymellians (the horsefolk who gave the kids their powers.) That part felt like it was more van Lente setting up something for a future story that never took place, as well as a way to keep Power Pack from just rushing home and stomping the imposters.

Franklin Richards is present when the kids are initially captured, so he contacts their ship Friday. HERBIE actually agree to help Franklin, because he's immediately smitten with Friday. This is a recurring bit through the mini-series, HERBIE swooning or trying to act impressive and heroic, while Friday doesn't even remember his name.

(There's also a one-off gag during an interstellar bar fight where a Kree named Noh-Var warns the kids they aren't prepared for his blah blah blah and Katie just blasts him while complaining he lost her six high concepts ago. Even though he's dressed like a standard Kree soldier, it feels like a poke at Morrison's Marvel Boy.)

Cory Hamscher draws the first two issues, then he and Jacopo Camagni draw the next two issues collectively, though I can't find any rhyme or reason for who draws which pages. Hamscher's style is much rougher, much heavier lines. He gives Katie some really aggressive bangs, which are great when the imposter is grinning maliciously (or when Katie herself is trying to act bad), but less so at other times. I assume Hamscher came up with the looks for the Power kids when they try to act like crooks, which are suitably goofy, especially considering they're mostly dealing with aliens who shouldn't have any idea what those clothes would signify on Earth. Camagni has a lighter line. His figures and faces are rounded off versus Hamscher's more squared off look. It's a bit closer to the Gurihiru team's look, but less prone to exaggerate for comedic effect.

Saturday Splash Page #104

 

"Echo Chamber", in Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11 #5, by Fred van Lente (writer), Francis Portella (penciler), Terry Pallot (inker), Guru eFX (colorist), Nate Piekos (letterer)

Released in last 2007/early 2008, MODOK's 11 was, as the title suggests, a heist story, but with super-villains. MODOK recruits a bunch of villains or mercs - Armadillo, Chameleon, Nightshade, Living Laser, Mentallo, Puma, Rocket Racer and the Spot - to infiltrate a highly-sophisticated other-dimensional research vessel called the Infinicide, and recover the Hypernova. With a name like that, it has to be cool.

In return, the thieves will receive 5 million dollars, which all of them need for one reason or another, as van Lente and Portella outline in the first issue. Nightshade needs it for research. Puma needs it for his legal defense. Rocket Racer (who van Lente writes as a stuttering, cowardly mess of a momma's boy for some reason) needs it for said momma's medical bills. Armadillo just wants to stop wrestling for pesos.

You might notice that, even counting MODOK, I didn't list 11 characters. Fittingly for a heist story, there are wildcards involved. At least one character is not who they appear to be, and the loyalties of others are in question, because MODOK's not the only one who wants the prize. van Lente leverages the double-crosses and reveals pretty well, especially because after a while, even some of the crew are getting frustrated with their backstabbing coworkers.

Portella's work is reminiscent of Steve McNiven's. Not as detailed or photorealistic. I don't think it's as confident with the linework, either. Gets a bit fussy around people's faces sometimes, unnecessary lines. but able to handle a variety of different characters. Lots of fights to draw, but also a lot of reaction panels, what with all the betrayals. So many outraged faces to draw.

Saturday Splash Page #97

 

"Bus Battles," in Taskmaster (vol. 2) #2, by Fred van Lente (writer), Jefte Palo (artist), Jean-Francois Beaulieu (color artist), Dave Lanphear (letterer)

The next time Taskmaster got a mini-series all his own, it was after Siege had wrapped up. Taskmaster had been working for Osborn, but in the aftermath, finds a huge bounty placed on his head by the mysterious "Organization" he often works for, claiming he's actually a mole for Steve Rogers. Taskmaster has to track down the Organization to find out what's going on, and an innocent waitress named Mercedes gets sucked into the whole mess.

It's made messier because of how Fred van Lente treats Taskmaster's power. The first mini-series treated Taskmaster as essentially a mutant, having had his photographic reflexes since childhood, and with perfect recall of his entire life. van Lente changes it so Taskmaster didn't get these abilities until he was an adult, and that they're artificial in original.

What's more, and what creates all sorts of problems, is that while Taskmaster's excellent at recalling specific skills, he can't hold on to the context of how he acquired them. He can speak German, but can't recall when he learned it. Certain things act as triggers in his "memory palace", but it requires a step-by-step process through his past to get to the truth, which is far different from what he thinks.

In that sense, the story is grim and more than a little sad. Taskmaster endlessly repeating the same sin, feeling the guilt without remembering the cause. At the same time, van Lente and Jefte Palo also fill the book with bizarre concepts that seem more than a little tongue-in-cheek.

AIM agents preparing to attack Taskmaster by activating performance enhancers that make them bulk up, while they chant "Death. By. SCIENCE!" The Don of the Dead, a SHIELD agent turned costumed cartel leader, who performs songs about his exploits to keep the people loyal to him. A Bavarian castle in the Andes full of copies of Hitler's brain, with an entire village of Peruvians convinced they're Hitler.

Oh, and the guy truly behind everything is a no-name who survived working for every secret organization ever and refers to his new group as the Minions' International Liberation Front. Yeah, the initials spell exactly what you think they do. So, it's kind of crazy, but it keeps things from getting too heavy before the real emotional payoff at the end.

Palo's art is much more textured and rougher than the Udon Studios' guys. No manga influence. His Taskmaster doesn't show off the same fluid grace theirs did, tends towards quick and to the point violence. When Taskmaster uses someone's skills, Palo will overlay a greyed panel of that character on Taskmaster. It's makes for a nice contrast. The Udon guys with tend to draw Taskmaster starting a move, and then an after-image of whoever he'd copied might finish it. More than one after image if he switch from say, Daredevil to Spider-Man while navigating a laser security grid.

It made the process seem fluid, while Palo's makes it something that switches on and off abruptly. Use skill, turn off skill. Activate other skill. It makes sense, with the story suggesting the more he learns the more it crowds out his memories. Don't give the skills any more space in his skull than he can afford.

Family Problems Lead to DOOM

Truly, Latveria is a land of contrasts.

Fantastic Four and Power Pack: Favorite Son is not so much a team-up between Power Pack and the FF, as it between the kids and Franklin Richards. The Fantastic Four are basically background characters through the whole thing. Johnny Storm has literally zero dialogue across 4 issues. It's at least a different approach than most of these other Power Pack mini-series took.

The Power kids are having some turmoil because Julie and Jack want to stop hiding their powers from their parents, but Alex is dead-set against it. Julie thinks it would make their lives easier without the need to lie or sneak off. Jack just wants an easier path to stardom and attention. Katie wants to go along with what Alex wants, as van Lente writes her as seemingly closer to and more protective of Alex than her other siblings.

Enter Franklin Richards, who's convinced his parents to let him attend public school in an attempt to get out of his family's shadow. Except he becomes popular immediately because of his last name, making Jack jealous and ending up as the target of the Wizard's son. When Jack fails to keep his identity secret, Alex blows up at him. With Franklin angry at his parents for deciding public school is too dangerous and he can just learn from HERBIE, the two boys decide to run away and become a crime-fighting duo.

It says something about how sheltered Franklin is that he thinks "Smarty Pants" is a good codename.

All this gives Dr. Doom a chance to put a plan in gear. A plan involving Kraven the Hunter, body-swapping, throwing a fight against 4 children, and delicious Latverian chocolate froth. The last one doesn't sound too bad. The plan ultimately fails because Doom can't stop monologuing about it, and because Franklin's not bad at coming up with plans of his own. Which is how he gets to be part of Power Pack, although I don't think any of the other mini-series used him.

van Lente doesn't use Jack picking on Katie nearly as much as some of the other writers, maybe because Jack's around Franklin so much, or because Julie and Alex are the primary source of conflict in the team. Alex is sort of a know-it-all, bossy older brother, while Julie is the one most likely to call him on it, and the most booksmart of the group. Although Katie happily having a pen pal ends up being a big help, as does her distrust of all robots. She doesn't exhibit the "boys are gross" attitude she would in the mini-series Marc Sumerak wrote

Sunday Splash Page #141

 "Not Appropriate for Young Audiences" in Deadpool Team-Up #899, by Fred van Lente (writer), Dalibor Talijac (artist), Jeff Eckleberry (letterer)

During the time of Daniel Way's Deadpool run, the Merc with a Mouth became incredibly popular, to the extent Marvel gave him the treatment once reserved for Spider-Man. He got a second ongoing (Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth), almost a third ongoing that became a mini-series by Rob Liefeld (Deadpool Corps), and this team-up book. 

I can't actually remember what made him so popular at that point, seeing as we're still over five years away from the Deadpool movie. Heck, in this very comic, Deadpool describes this level of popularity as 'inexplicable and totally undeserved'.

Anyway, they did an oversized, one-shot 900th issue of Deadpool in late 2009, then started the numbering for this series at 899, and started running backwards. Made it all the way to 883, which isn't bad for Marvel these days. As every issue was by a different creative team, it was basically an opportunity to write their pet characters and/or do whatever random nonsense they felt like.

This was the only issue I actually bought at the time, because Arcade was in it, and van Lente and Talijac had done good work on a short story in that Deadpool #900 issue, but I've picked up maybe another 7 issues since then, and it's as much a mixed bag as you'd expect.

Jeff Parker brings in Gorilla Man from Agents of Atlas. Tom Fowler and Cullen Bunn do an issue harkening back to the Thing's days of pro wrestling. David Lapham and Shawn Crystal have Wade get married to Satana, which googum has gotten a lot of use out of at Random Happenstance over the years. Skottie Young and Ramon Perez make Wade Galactus' Herald. Stuff like that.

And with that, we are past all Deadpool-related titles. But we aren't out of the "Dead" woods yet.

Random Back Issue #40 - Super-Villain Team-Up: Modok's 11 #1

Wow, that is really insensitive, Spot. Also stupid, considering who you're talking to.

From the first issue of a 2008 mini-series, to the first issue of a 2007 mini-series, we've got MODOK's 11. I thought this came out closer to 2010, but apparently not. Although now that I think of it, van Lente wrote an issue of Amazing Spider-Man in 2008 that played off one of the outcomes of this mini-series. I should remember that, since it was one of the few Brand New Day issues I actually bought.

The issue starts with a brief recap of how MODOK came to be. Basically, a mediocre AIM scientist agreed to volunteer for the project to prove something to another AIM scientist who slept with him, once. That'd be future Scientist Supreme of AIM, Monica Rappacini.

The rest of the issue is basically a "get the team together" thing, as we see what four of MODOK's crew are up to. For Armadillo, it's wrestling for crappy pay in Mexico. Puma's in trouble for corporate fraud, and the tribal elders don't approve of him working as a merc to pay his legal bills. Rocket Racer's given up the crime biz, but the bills for his mom's illnesses are piling up. Mentallo's try to beat the house at a casino with his mental powers. Too bad Purple Man's the one running the casino. Quite possibly the least sketchy thing that asshole's ever done with his powers.

(Also, Mentallo keeps calling people "bubbeleh", which is the sort of thing that should get a guy shot in the head.)

The four of them arrive at the destination provided, but when they go inside, find Living Laser, Nightshade, Chameleon, and the Spot entering from the other side, and a table full of money in the middle. Spot makes a grab for the cash, setting off a brawl. The fight ends when MODOK shows up and the Spot makes his impolite comment about the guy's cranium.

MODOK sells them on the idea that he's come up with the perfect scheme to rob the most tightly guarded fortress ever, and that it requires all of them. Mentallo, meanwhile, is wondering why everyone is listening to this, and why they were all fighting over a table with no money on it all. MODOK telepathically assures him he'll learn the true scope of things soon.

From there, it's another four issues of betrayals, double-crosses, schemes within schemes, setbacks and all the other sorts of things you expect from a good heist story. Just with superpowers involved instead of George Clooney, which is a pretty big upgrade from where I'm sitting.

[11th longbox, 69th comic. Super-Villain Team-Up: M.O.D.O.K.'s 11 #1, by Fred van Lente (writer), Francis Portella (penciler), Terry Pallot (inker), Guru eFX (colorist), Nate Piekos (letterer)]

Slapstick - That's Not Funny

There may never have been a truer title. Maybe it read better in digital form.

This was a digital-first mini-series Marvel put out in 2016 or 2017, when they did that whole "Deadpool and the Mercs for Money" thing after Secret Wars kinda-sorta rebooted maybe rebooted shit.

The whole story is Slapstick trying to find a way to stop being a living cartoon, mostly so he can get his dick back. If you took a shot for every use of the word "dingus" in this thing, you would easily die of alcohol poisoning. He fights a lot of stuff: Spider-Man, Quasimodo (the Marvel villain, not the Hunchback of Notre Dame the villain's based on), sort-of SHIELD types, and lots of cartoon characters.

Slapstick keeps up a real stream of consciousness for the banter, but none of it is funny. He makes Deadpool look like a comic genius. Most of attempts at humor are other characters commenting on how much Slapstick sucks, or how much of a loser he is. Points he doesn't do much to disprove, so it's just kind of sad.

Reilly Brown storyboards and Diego Olortegui draws the rest, with Jim Campbell handling the color work, and they do a nifty job using a much simpler style and colors for Slapstick than everyone from the Marvel Universe. The characters that cross over from Dimension Ecch get the same color work and art style as Slapstick, more simplified, more old-school cartoon approach. That side of things works pretty well.

I'm not sure the point of de-cartoonifying Dimension Ecch. It could be commentary for this incessant need to make everything grimmer and more "adult". The people from a universe where folks get maimed and injured marching into the cartoon place where no dies (but everyone is actually miserable), and "saving" it, by making it just like their universe. But it's treated like it really was a good thing they did, which is just kind of stupid. Yes, make Dimension Ecch just like every other freaking universe Marvel has now, depressing and realistic, and blandly, muddily colored! That's what we need more of!

Anyway, I'm not sure if Slapstick has shown up anywhere since this, and if he has, I doubt this story got referenced since the only significant change would be he might have a girlfriend, and it would be easy enough to say they broke up off-panel.

Sunday Splash Page #9

"Guess the Fire Burned Away the Belly of Her Outfit" in Amazing Fantasy (vol. 2) #9, by Fred van Lente (writer), David Ross (penciler), Kevin Conrad, Jonathon Glapion (inkers), Guru eFX (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer)

This volume of Amazing Fantasy started in 2004, and seems like it was a series designed to pitch new characters, or revamped versions of existing characters, to see if they'd stick. This was the series that introduced Anya Corazon (Arana, later Spider-Girl), and Amadeus Cho.

In between those two stories was this six-parter, which introduced a new version of Scorpion. A teenage girl whose body can absorb toxins and then use them as a weapon, and is being chased by SHIELD and AIM. Thasanee's left unsure of anyone's motives, unsure of her own origins, trying to figure out how to make it through this and which way she wants to go. Leonard Kirk shares art duties with Dave Ross. Kirk's work is more simplified, smoother, Thasanee looks younger in the issues he draws. Ross makes her look older, makes the costume more like a second skin.

The story also introduced SHIELD agent Derek Khanata, who Jeff Parker went on to use in all his Agents of Atlas work, and Monica Rappacini, who is AIM's Scientist Supreme (and maybe was MODOK's ex in his more human days). Scorpion's gone on to some scattered use here and there, mostly in books Fred van Lente was writing or co-writing. Ditto for Rappacini.

The series ends with Khanata selling Fury on the supposed value of a SHIELD agent posing as a superhero to infiltrate the superhero community. But I'm not sure she got used enough in other books for the idea to really take root. The constant upheaval within SHIELD related to all the nonsense about who gets to be Boss of All Superheroes that's been going to for the last 15 years doesn't help.

This is the only story from this title I bought, picked it up in a manga-sized digest version a few years back. Marvel doesn't do those anymore, does it?

Alternate Favorite Marvel Characters #10 - Taskmaster

Character: Taskmaster (Tony Masters)

Creators: David Michelinie and George Perez

First appearance: Avengers #195

First encounter: Amazing Spider-Man #367. I think he appears on the last page and cover of the issue before, but that didn't tell me anything about him, so let's pick this issue, where Spider-Man and Solo run up against some guys trained by Taskmaster while pursuing leads on ULTIMATUM and the Red Skull.

Definitive writer: Gail Simone used him as a regular member of the cast in her Deadpool and Agent X runs, and that's probably the version I think of. A gun-for-hire to be sure, ruthless when he feels like it, cocky to the point of being almost insufferable. Not really trustworthy at any time, but when he found a few people he cared about he did try to help them, in his own way.

Definitive artist: I've only seen him draw one comic with Taskmaster, but I think I'll go with Stuart Immonen. There's a fluidness to his style that fits how I picture Taskmaster moving, he makes the pirate boots and cape look good, and he makes sure the skull mask is partially in shadow, which helps it look more like a mask and less like it's his actual face (which it isn't supposed to be).

Favorite moment or story: In the final issue of his first mini-series, Taskmaster #4, Taskmaster is trying to take revenge on Sunset Bain, who had used him and then tried to betray him and leave him for dead, as vicious criminal industrialists often do. He's made his way through her security guards and most of her defenses, but she has one guy left. An enhanced human, fast and strong enough to catch bullets.

Taskmaster knew he'd have to deal with that guy, so he watched footage of himself on fast-forward, and for a few moments, he's able to make his own body move with that kind of swiftness, which is enough to get past the goon's defenses and drop him.

It's a clever move, while still keeping in mind that Taskmaster does have limits to what he can manage, regardless of his powers. He would like to kill Bain, but the cops are coming. Normally they wouldn't be any problem, but between a bullet he took earlier, and his own exhaustion after that stunt, he has to bail. Mostly though, I just think it's a cool trick.

What I like about him: Not every villain has to be someone's arch-nemesis. Not every battle has to be a titanic struggle for the fate of the hero's loved one, or the fate of the world. Sometimes you just need a fun villain to give the hero someone to fight for an issue or two. Much like Arcade, who holds the #6 spot on the favorite characters list, Taskmaster is great for that role.

His superpower is cool, for one thing. The ability to learn almost any skill, instantly? I would be all over that. Cuts out all that time lost practicing. As an antagonist it gives him a wide array of abilities to draw from to challenge the hero with. But since he still has to be able to physically do whatever the skill is, there are limits to keep him from being too overwhelming. He isn't the Super-Adaptoid. It isn't as though he can watch Charles Xavier put his fingers to his temple while muttering, "To me, my X-Men," and the next thing you know, he can seize control of your mind.

There's a story in Kurt Busiek's Avengers' run, issue 26, where Taskmaster is hired to impersonate Captain America and trick a group of heroes into attacking a building controlled by a religious group the Avengers are having issues with. It's a quartet of heroes - Carol Danvers, Genis-Vell, Silverclaw, and Scott Lang - who haven't worked with Cap much, or at all with each other, so it takes them a while to figure out something's off. Once they do, Taskmaster drops the disguise and sics some of his students on them. When that fails, he fights all four of them by himself, and because he's been watching and studying their moves, for a time he's mopping the floor with them.

That issue includes most of what I like about Taskmaster. It's not a big revenge scheme on his part, just a job. But he enjoys the opportunity to jerk the Avengers around a bit, and when the disguise fails, he owns it and openly challenges them. Then he uses it as a chance to test some of his students, while using that as a chance to figure out these Avengers' moves. He's able to use what he's picked up (and their relative inexperience working together) to more than hold his own. But he loses when Genis charges him, then switches places with Rick Jones at the last second.

There's a lot of pieces there. The fact none of it is personal, just a paycheck. The occasional villain who despises the hero is fun - there'll be one of those later on in this series - but sometimes you want the guy who is simply doin' a job. It means you can use him against just about any hero, and depending on what the job is, he has a chance. Sure, Taskmaster probably can't defeat Iron Man in a one-on-one battle, but if all he needs to do is keep him off-balance long enough to finish stealing something and escape? Yeah, he can manage that.

So he can present a challenge, but not one so overwhelming that it seems impossible the hero can win. Taskmaster is ultimately mostly human in his abilities. He has limits, and he can be particularly vulnerable to surprise, precisely because he's so sure of himself. If he thinks he's seen everything you've got already, then he's sure he has some trick he copied from someone to counter it. If you can bust out something new, you can catch him entirely flat-footed. Case in point: That hodgepodge Avengers quartet wins when Genis charges at Taskmaster only to switch places at the last second with his counterpart Rick Jones, who kicks a gobsmacked Taskmaster right in chops.

At different times Taskmaster has fended off the Avengers, eluded Spider-Man, brought down Cassie Lang and Eric O'Grady while they were 50-feet tall and fighting each other. At other times he gets clocked by an RJO (Rick Jones Onslaught) From Outta Nowhere, or loses to Deadpool when Wade is fighting with his wrists and ankles cuffed. If he doesn't have time to adjust, or the opponent is just too unpredictable, he can lose really badly. And sometimes he loses to Moon Knight because Moonie is just too fuckin' crazy to stop coming at him, and Taskmaster is just here for a paycheck. He's not looking to die fighting some nutjob that talks to the moon.

He used that job with the Avengers as a chance to test some of his students, and the schools he sets up are a nifty variation on his shtick. Most of the mercenary types in comics don't like to hand out trade secrets. Maybe they take a student every so often, but why create potential competition? Taskmaster, maybe because of how many skills he has, maybe because it's so easy for him to pick things up, he shrugs and says, "Let me make some extra bucks off this."

Why not? There are all kinds of organizations that need cannon fodder, and that cannon fodder needs to be marginally useful. Taskmaster knows all sorts of things that can help with that. He's not going to train these guys up to the point they could take some of his more high-paying gigs, so it's an easy way to make some more money, and one that greatly reduces his chances of getting punched in the face by superheroes. And it keeps more avenues open to him for future work.

Also, I think it shows something about his attitude towards all the skills he has. He's pretty cocky about it, how quickly he can learn someone's moves, how many he's got. He's taken jobs for the government to get access to the World War 2 film archives, so he could study footage of heroes who are dead. He's the person who wants to know everything he can pick up about fighting, killing, infiltration, foreign languages, any skill that could possibly be helpful.

At the same time, because he can pick everything up so effortlessly, it doesn't mean as much. He copies Iron Fist's Flying Eagle Strike, so what? Just another skill. Throw it on the pile next that triple flip he picked up from Nightcrawler. I think he figures, what's the point of being able to do all this stuff if you can't show it off? Almost every fight he has, he has to namedrop who he stole each move from. Blah blah blah, drinking buddies with Bullseye, blah blah blah Daredevil's billy club block, blah blah blah. Training people and setting them up with HYDRA or AIM (or SHIELD) is just one more way to show off. "See how much stuff I taught these guys? I can do that, because I know all this stuff. Aren't I cool?"

Scott Lang gave Taskmaster some grief over his costume. He's a pirate, but also a skeleton, plus he threw in a cloak, pick a theme. It's part of that need to show off. Be garish, get attention, have some showmanship. It's not as though he can't dress down, wear a disguise. He can easily mimic another person's movements and speech patterns after all. If that's what the job requires, he'll go that route. If he wanted, he could be one of those legendary assassins spoken of in whispers. The one whose true face and voice no one has ever seen and lived to tell about it. But that's not how he plays it. Sometimes you need to be flashy, you need people to notice you, and his outfit certainly accomplishes that.

For the record, I don't mind the "track suit" look the Udon art team gave him; it has a pleasant simplicity to it, wouldn't restrict his movements, and the skull helmet is very cool. But it lacks that flashy element that seems key to Taskmaster.

Taskmaster has had two mini-series so far, and they took opposite approaches towards his memory. The first one, by the Udon Studios crew, which said he'd had the powers since he was a child at least, stated he remembered every moment of his life with perfect clarity. The second one, by Fred van Lente and Jefte Palo, said that he gained the power because he was a SHIELD agent who injected an experimental formula he found in a HYDRA base into his head, and that he could barely remember anything about himself because he had learned so many skills they were taking up all the space in his brain.

The van Lente/Palo mini-series went for the notion that Masters had cost himself dearly by using the serum, and while I thought the whole "forgotten wife" reveal was a bit much, the idea that his memory for people and events is almost non-existent did seem to work with his willingness to work with anyone. Taskmaster really doesn't seem to hold grudges, and will work with anybody just about, even if they parted on bad terms the last time. He's fought the Avengers multiple times, but was willing to take over training the new recruits at their Initiative camp. Deadpool has humiliated him more than once, but he and Wade might almost be considered friends. Taskmaster has been willing to help Deadpool in the past, and while I'm sure he's getting paid, Deadpool doesn't usually have that much money. Tasky could get more on another job elsewhere easily, but he still works with this crazy guy who has busted his jaw multiple times.

But if he only vaguely, or occasionally, remembers who anyone is, it could make sense. He approaches each meeting fresh, and judges the person based off what they say and do that time. If we go with the idea the second mini-series put forth, that Taskmaster on some level remembers he abandoned his wife by taking this serum and forgetting her, even if it's only a vague sense that he's a bad person, he might see a kindred spirit in Deadpool. When Taskmaster has helped Wade, Wade is usually in trouble for one reason or another, rather than it being a random "Kill this person for lots of cash" job. The attempt to do the right thing, or fix a past mistake could resonate with Taskmaster.

Because there's really no reason for him to willingly pose for a photo where it looks as though one of the washout Initiative recruits has defeated him, except just to be nice. The kid tried hard, but the nature of his power didn't seem to allow for things to work out for him as a superhero. If Masters supposedly always wanted to be the best, and took the serum to achieve that, he could feel empathy. Or maybe he remembers everything about his own life, knows he was never like that kid, but still figured there was no harm in giving the kid a good memory to go home with. He met Sandi and fell for her, and while that ended with her in the hospital, he did stay in the vicinity and try to sort of look out for her. He didn't always do this in healthy ways - killing the abusive boyfriend she told Deadpool just to beat up, trying to kill Alex Hayden (Agent X) because he thought he was bad news - but it's out of a genuine concern and desire to make up for his own mistakes, so the intent is good, at least.

Taskmaster has a lot of versatility, which comes in handy. Play him as a bad guy, play him as a surprise ally, or even a friend. Use his skills to make him a surprisingly difficult opponent for people in a higher weight class, or the limitations to bring about his defeat. Heck, you can make some gags out of him possessing some unusual or unexpected skill he picked up randomly.He's learned how to cheat at cards, but he also knows how to make a little flower out of a radish, because he picked up the technique from a restaurant. Give him a surprisingly good singing voice, or adept at carving marionettes. There are all kinds of possibilities.

Taskmaster picks up the pace, because he's got places to be, people to kill in Taskmaster (vol. 1) #4, by Ken Siu-Chong (writer), Jon Babcock (letterer), and the art team of Arnold Tsang, Drew Hou, Omar Dogan, Robb Ross, and Shane Law. Taskmaster makes some Avengers look like chumps, then is defeated by Scott Lang's favorite musician in Avengers (vol. 3) #26, by Kurt Busiek (writer), Stuart Immonen (penciler), Wade von Grawbadger (inker), Tom Smith (colorist), Richard Starkings and Albert Duchesne (letterers). Scott Lang has another bad day in Ant-Man #3, by Nick Spencer (writer), Ramon Rosanas (artist), Jordan Boyd (color artist), and Travis Lanham (letterer). For every $10,000 you donate to PBS, Taskmaster will kick Hawkeye in the face once in Avengers (vol. 1) #223, by David Michelinie (writer), Greg LaRocque (penciler), Brett Breeding and crew (inkers), Christie Scheele (colorist), and Rick Parker (letterer). Tasky prefers the drums, but still saves the day in Taskmaster (vol. 2) #2, by Fred van Lente (writer), Jefte Palo (penciler), Jean-Francois Beaulieu (color artist), and Dave Lanphear (letterer).

Taskmaster - Unthinkable

This trade came in with my last bunch of comics and even though I don't normally review trades (don't know exactly why, just don't), why not?

The mini-series is set after the conclusion of Siege, when a lot of criminals were apparently arrested at Asgard. Taskmaster wasn't one of them, and the word is he's working for the good guys now (not an impossible premise), and a group known as The Org has put a $1 billion bounty on him. So Taskmaster needs to find The Org and set things straight. Or kill them, if they won't listen to reason. The problem isn't the hordes of cannon fodder from practically every criminal organization in the Marvel Universe (including several writer Fred van Lente made up for this mini-series).

The problem is Taskmaster can't remember anything about The Org. Or anything at all, really. He's absorbed so many fighting styles, languages, and other assorted skills that his memories of actual people, places, and events are overwritten. They're still there, but buried under mountains of stuff he uses in his work. So we follow Taskmaster and an unfortunate waitress named Mercedes Merced as they try to work backwards through Taskmaster's memories to The Org.

I like all the bits of strangeness van Lente puts in this story. The different criminal organizations he created (the Black Choppers especially), the Andean village where everyone is Hitler as a result of an old operation SHIELD tried to destroy years ago. The Don of the Dead and his songs about his criminal exploits. The more oddball stuff that populates the Marvel Universe the better. It's all things other writers can play with if they want, and even if they choose not to, it's still adding something to the tapestry.

OK, van Lente sort of changes Taskmaster's origin. He had a mini-series years ago that told us he'd had these abilities since he was a kid (as demonstrated in a scene where he's copied Olympic diving techniques, but forgets he hasn't copied how to swim yet). Which would make him a mutant, I guess. van Lente makes it so Tasky gained his ability as a result of a drug he chose to take as an adult. It does add a certain Marvel element to his story. He chose to take the drug so he could be the best, but in so doing badly hurt someone close to him, and he can't stop hurting them the same way over and over. It has a bit of Spider-Man, where a moment of selfishness lead to his Uncle Ben dying, and maybe a bit of the Hulk, where no matter how well things are going for Banner/Big Green, eventually the Hulk will overdo it and wreck everything and be alone again.

The question is whether Taskmaster needed that added to his story. Before he might do the right thing, but it was down to whether he felt like it or not. Or if he was paid enough to do it. Or he might attack the Avengers, or open another cannon fodder training facility. Either way, it was his call. If he helped Agent X fend off a group of super-powered killers, it was probably because X's partner Sandi was in the line of fire and Taskmaster was sweet on her.

Now that isn't really the case. He has such a vague idea of who he is, he probably wouldn't remember Sandi well enough to know why he'd care she was in danger. He's reliant on guidance from The Org (more specifically The Hub). Or he's pushed by an instinct he can't explain that he's a bad guy, which seems to give him the attitude that if he feels like a bad guy, he ought to be one. The origin's twist is that the end result of his drive to be the best makes it that he can't use those skills for his won goals anymore, because he can't remember who he is well enough to have goals. The gift comes with a curse. A reverse of Iron Man, where the suit originally keeps his heart going, but then advances further to becomes a weapon he can use to rectify mistakes, protect people, throw his friends in a Negative Zone prison, etc. It makes Taskmaster a little more tragic, but I don't think he needed that. A guy who was just good enough you might be able to get his help, but would be looking over your shoulder the whole time just in case seemed more interesting. He can still be that, I suppose, but if he turns on someone, it'll be due to forgetting who they are, or The Hub tells him to, rather than a conscious decision on his part.

Jefte Palo's the artist for the series, and lets hear it for an artist who doesn't need fill-in help to finish a mini-series. What? That's seems rarer than you'd think these days. I last saw Palo's work on the last arc of the Moon Knight series I was buying, right before it was canceled. Which was only two years ago, but we're on our second Moon Knight ongoing since then, which is nuts. I liked Palo's action sequences more there than I do here. I think the difference was Moon Knight was doing anything fancy in those fights, mostly punching and being punched. Taskmaster's being a lot more acrobatic and varied, since he draws on skills from close to a dozen characters over the mini-series, but the art doesn't convey the grace I'd expect. There's a sequence where Taskmaster says he'll use the Destroyer for acrobatic skill, but he doesn't really do anything acrobatic. Just charges at the machine gun nest and lunges.

I haven't seen Palo's method of showing whose skills Taskmaster's using before. The one I see most often is a sort of after-image either superimposed on Taskmaster, or floating around him. Palo opts for a sort of sepia-toned square. Any parts of Taskmaster outside the square look like him. Any parts inside look like whoever he's mimicking. It works, and it did make for a nice visual when Taskmaster unleashes multiple styles simultaneously.

I did like Palo's expressions and body language. One in particular was at the start of issue 3, as Tasky and Mercedes climb a mountain. Taskmaster's leading a llama, Mercedes is following, holding onto the llama's tail. Everything about her, from the way she's hunched over, to the way Palo drew he with a sort of stomping tread, how her hat is pulled low over her eyes, and the little bit of an outthrust lower lip, sell that Mercedes is seriously aggravated by all this, and actually, probably a little pissed. Understandably. And Palo does this with what looks like relatively few lines, so I was seriously impressed.

A Comic Gives Me A Chance To Blather About Sports

In last month's Power Man and Iron Fist, Luke Cage showed up in a nice aircraft to fish Victor and Danny out of the ocean. Luke's price for not telling the rest of the Avengers is Danny's courtside seats at the next Knicks' game, a playoff game between the Knicks and the Heat.

I'm not sure why it's a huge issue if the Avengers found out about this. So Danny didn't quite handle things smoothly. Big whoop. A couple of his teammates are Spider-Man and Hawkeye, both of whom have multiple screw-ups to there name. Not to mention Wolverine, who gets mind-controlled into slaughtering 500 people every other Tuesday, but I digress.

My initial reaction was to laugh because by the time the comic came out, the Knicks had already been eliminated. By the Celtics. Well, you figure van Lente wrote this months ago, before the Celtics stumbled post-trade with Oklahoma City, and it would have looked like Knicks/Heat in the first round. That's a boring explanation.

Perhaps the Marvel U Celtics never made the Perkins for Jeff Green trade, the rest of the team didn't fall into a depression, and they held onto the #2 seed, leaving the Heat to battle the Knicks. Or maybe the Knicks fell to the #7 seed. Which raises the question of whether it happened because they made the trade for Carmelo Anthony and it did worse in the short-term than it did here, or because they didn't and attempted to rely Amare Stoudamire even as his back troubles increased and left the team without a premier scorer.

There's always more radical possibilities. van Lente anticipated the way playoff seeding broke out, and in Luke and Danny's world, the Knicks were able to triumph over a worn down, disinterested, or just outmatched Boston team. So the Knicks and Heat are playing in the second round. It could be the Conference Finals, but I'm not going crazy enough to think the Knicks can make it that far.

The way Luke mentions Jessica having a thing for LeBron suggests he isn't in New York often where she can check him, but maybe it's just a rare occasion where they have the time to go watch him. Perhaps in the Marvel Universe LeBron took his talents to Long Island, or wherever. He and Amare have made the Knicks a powerhouse, while Wade struggles with Bosh as his sidekick.

Should I Trust A Shadow As Evidence?

Spoiler warning for part of Power Man and Iron Fist #2. We're introduced to Tiowa Bryant in this issue, who Victor (he's the new Power Man) seems quite taken with. As the scene draws to a close, it's revealed that Tiowa may also be the mysterious "Noir" who caught Victor's attention (and kicked him off a roof) last issue. The evidence would be that in the last panel she appears in, Tiowa's shadow forms the outline of Noir.

Which seems to settle things, though I can't help being suspicious. We're talking about a character called noir, and the few films of that genre I've seen tend to have characters who keep secrets, who aren't who them seem to be, and there are usually double-crosses and surprise revelations. Plus, between Victor and Tiowa studying theater at a school for the performing arts and the Commedia Dell'Morte, there's quite an emphasis on acting, which is about pretending to be someone you aren't. Assuming another persona. So maybe Noir was using shadow powers to keep an eye on Tiowa without her knowledge.

Yeah, it's pretty unlikely. I'm just surprised Fred van Lente presented us with this mysterious character last issue, and he's already revealed her secret identity to us, if not to the other characters. I expected this mystery of who Noir was would be drawn out over the course of the mini-series, revealed around issue 4, maybe 5. I guess van Lente wants us wondering about the "why?" of her actions more than the "who?". Danny and Victor are still in the dark, so we can watch them try to piece it together, which ought to be interesting. I don't know about Victor, but Danny's never struck me as an ace sleuth.

Posting may be sporadic for the next week or so. I'll try to avoid that, but it'll probably happen.