Taskmaster

[The NZA]

 

 

Taskmaster had previously been a character who drifted through the backgrounds of larger Marvel Universe stories, a supporting player in adventures that weren’t his own, but developed a cult fanbase largely thanks to his knack for kicking ass and being enigmatic. Of course, there’s a risk inherent in telling a story that expands on the background of an enigma. Just ask Boba Fett, and then cringe in horror as every word he speaks makes him less cool. Thankfully writer Fred Van Lente, artist Jefté Palo and color artist Jean-François Beaulieu rose to the challenge and created a fascinating origin story for Taskmaster, a character with more than thirty years of comics history behind him.

Released this week as a trade paperback collection, Taskmaster: Unthinkable follows a down-on-his-luck supervillain as he faces a global organization of affiliated evil henchmen groups, a town full of Hitlers, and, perhaps worst of all, the secrets of his own past. Able to gracefully segue from moments of laughter to action pieces to scenes that are genuinely touching, Taskmaster was one of the best things Marvel published in 2010.

 

On a recommendation, I got around to reading Van Lente (Action Philosophers!) & team's mini-series "Unthinkable" and really dug it; made me wanna go back & read more Deadpool/Agent X etc stuff as I've really been coming around to the character. Anyone else read this arc?

 

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