Van Lente Is A Stern "Taskmaster"

[NightBeetle]

CBR: New Taskmaster Mini Series

The Taskmaster debuted back in 1980's "Avengers" #195, and over the years he's primarily worked as, basically, a teacher. For the right fee, he was willing to teach villains, their minions and the occasional hero some of the skills he himself has learned through his special ability. Most recently, the character appeared regularly in writer Christos Gage's issues of "Avengers: The Initiative" where he served as leader of the Norman Osborn-controlled Initiative and lead them into battle during the Siege of Asgard.

Van Lente is both a fan of the character's earlier appearances and his most recent ones during "Siege." Part of the reason the writer finds the character so intriguing is because of the way his power has impacted his personality and made the character arrogant and shallow. "I think *****ey is an excellent way to describe him [Laughs]," Van Lente told CBR News. "He does have this major flaw, though, which is, while he retains how to throw Daredevil's billyclub or Captain America's shield, he can't remember what his parents' names were. So as with all well thought out super powers in the Marvel Universe, you don't get anything for free. The gift always comes with a price."

"If you think of your brain as a hard drive, Taskmaster's problem is that he's absorbed so many skills and fighting styles that he's maxed out his memory. His super memory is actually erasing his own personal memories. By the time the series begins, he doesn't really remember who he actually is. Plus, he doesn't remember how he actually got this ability in the first place," Van Lente continued.

"In his first appearance, he claims he was born with the power, which I guess sort of makes him a mutant, and he grows up emulating various super heroes, which is supposedly how he became so skilled. But A) He's not a mutant. This has been proven multiple times. And B) he doesn't actually remember if that's the truth or not. It's just a vague story that he's been telling people over and over again for many years."


The plot of "Taskmaster" involves the title character paying the price for his career choices and being forced to discover who he was before he became a costumed super villain for hire. "Taskmaster is a professional criminal. He's not someone who is really interested in conquering the world. He's interested in charging would-be world conquerors exorbitant fees to train them and their goons. Then, of course, he's someone who has been known to train heroes as well.


I believe he was among the initial good guy staff of Camp Hammond. I believe he also trained USAgent, John Walker, when he became Captain America. Taskmaster's loyalty is to whomever is writing his checks that day," Van Lente explained. "And, unfortunately, that comes back to bite him in the ass because a rumor begins to circulate that the reason he was able to escape from Asgard at the end of 'Siege' is that he's turned traitor. He supposedly now works for Steve Rogers.


So the evil organizations of the world: HYDRA, the Maggia, A.I.M., the Sons of the Serpent, the Hand - all of them are out to kill him because there's a billion dollar bounty on his head. They feel that if he turns on them, the amount of evidence he has would destroy their entire organizations. So Taskmaster needs to figure out who's spreading these rumors about him and why. That requires him to figure out who he really is."

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Van Lente? Taskmaster? There.

 

[venom892]

I'll be getting this too.The plot sounds very good.

 

[bored]

Van Lente? Taskmaster? There.

This

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I was gonna buy this anyway (Jefte Palo's art doesn't hurt, either). The concept sounds good. I like the idea that Taskie's absorbed so much fighting knowledge that his brain is erasing his own personal memories to make room.

 

[iloveclones]

Yeah, I'll definately be buying this. I've always liked how Tasky found the best application for his skills. I always wondered if he printed out certificates for his graduates.




The Taskmaster Academy Proudly Recognizes That:

Joe Thug

Has Passed All Requirements

This Document Certifies That The Above Named Is Conversant in the Skills Of:
Being Cannon Fodder
Being Hung Upside-Down During Questioning
Shooting Automatic Weapons Without Actually Hitting Anything


There Will Be Refreshments Served After The Ceremony

 

[Dread]

I was planning on getting this series because I like Fred Van Lente's work, and I like Taskmaster as a character. Hell, I even chased down that UDON TASKMASTER mini from about 2004 that is long out of print across two boroughs. So the two combined is really something I can't miss. He has a good clever idea to Taskmaster's origin, or lack of one. He also is utilizing his past as playing on both sides of the aisle to backfire a bit on him now. Looks interesting.

Someone has to train those minions in the basics. I imagine Taskmaster is or used to be the super villain version of those fly by night security guard training places where all you need is $100 and a dream and you can be shown a few videoes and holds, and be given a certification to go land that $10 an hour career of your dreams. The problem is few of those students hit it big like Crossbones.

I remember once in the 90's, three mooks that Taskmaster trained (Blood-Spider, Jagged Bow, and Death-Shield, who fought like Spidey, Hawkeye, and Capt. America, respectively) were pitted against Spider-Man and Solo and they at least lasted a few pages against them, which isn't too bad for a mook. Taskmaster also used to train grunts to fight like Cap for Red Skull to ice in his own training sessions. Taskmaster also trained Agent X to a degree.

Still, I'm all for Taskmaster getting more recognition on his own.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I'll definately be buying this. I've always liked how Tasky found the best application for his skills. I always wondered if he printed out certificates for his graduates.




The Taskmaster Academy Proudly Recognizes That:

Joe Thug

Has Passed All Requirements

This Document Certifies That The Above Named Is Conversant in the Skills Of:
Being Cannon Fodder
Being Hung Upside-Down During Questioning
Shooting Automatic Weapons Without Actually Hitting Anything


There Will Be Refreshments Served After The Ceremony

Haha, more likely, Taskie was like, "There, you've got everything the Red Skull needs for you to get your ass kicked by Captain America without making him look too bad. Now get the hell out of my face, ya bother me."

 

[Anubis]

I really wish they'd give him back his Udon costume.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I've gotten over it. It ain't coming back and his old one's not so bad. Could still do without the cape, but whatevs.

 

[Anubis]

At the very least a happy medium. He looks like a Scooby Doo Villain.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

"I'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling superheroes and your little capes!"

 

[Scourge2099]

They should just combine aspects from his Udon and original costumes.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's what I was thinking. Ditch the cape, mute the orange a bit, give him a more tactical look overall without the pirate boots and such, and of course change the mask to the stylized skull instead of making him the Red Skull's bleached second cousin. That'd look good. Oh, and for God's sake, give him back his energy weapons. It's just ******ed to have him lugging around fifty swords and bows and shields when he could just have a doohickey in his glove that generates hard energy constructs of all that s***.

 

[iloveclones]

The Taskmaster debuted back in 1980's "Avengers" #195

Tasky only appears in the last panel. His real first issue is 196. Both are on Marvel Digital if you have a sub.

You know, I bought those off the stands (actually, one of those then-ubiquitous spinner racks). Tasky was such a cool idea, I just assumed that he was an already established character. It wasn't until I read that blurb that I realized that. I mean, I was 13, and probably not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it shows me how well they used to introduce characters. (This was during Perez' 1st, and my favorite, run.)

 

[iloveclones]

I think it would be kind of interesting to do a story showing that what Tasky does, isn't exactly illegal. I mean, wouldn't it be kind of funny if he opened a shop right next to Danny Rand's, with random thugs filing in and out. "Hey, I'm just running a Martial Arts school here. Wanna see my license? Now **** off!"

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That would be pretty funny. Who knows, maybe that's where Taskie'll end up at the end of the series. I certainly wouldn't put an idea like that past Van Lente.

 

[iloveclones]

I didn't know what Udon was, and when I googled it, I got a lot of pics of some kind of Japanese Noodle Soup.......

I did eventually find it. Don't know when it came out, but it was definately designed in the 90's. By the X-Men.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Haha, UDON is an art studio that does really manga-styled art. They're probably most famous for their (incredibly sporadic) Street Fighter comics. Capcom, the SF developers, actually brought UDON in to do the art featured in the Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix (*whew*) game that came out last year.

I thought they did a pretty good redesign of Taskmaster in his mini. Looking back, I would've preferred if they'd kept more of his classic color scheme (if only because it's so unique--I mean, white, dark blue/black, and orange?), but the stylized mask was especially cool and made more sense to me than his mask looking like an actual human skull. You've kind of already got the market cornered on masks that look like actual skulls (Red Skull) and masks that look like masks with skull imprints (Crossbones).

 

[Dread]

I do agree with the idea of merging Taskmaster's default costume and the UDON suit. He'll appear in AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES but if his design in the teaser is accurate, he'll look a bit too much like Deadshot there, which is a problem. The energy weapon was functional but I imagine they want Taskmaster to keep his "real" weapons to better showcase his skills. I mean, ANYONE with an energy weapon that creates anything out of energy can kick ass, and it's easy for that weapon to overshadow Taskmaster's skill. Besides, I like that corny T-shield.

I do agree that the "white skull" mask looked better when it was stylized so he couldn't be confused with Red Skull or Crossbones. His UDON suit technically was still had white and blue in it, just ditched the orange. But, it looks like the Perez suit'll never die, which I can live with I guess.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Give him an ongoing already is my opinion, I know it'd likely get cancelled in 5 issues, but damn I'd rock all five of those issues.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Who knows? Incredible Hercules started out as a single arc of Incredible Hulk tying into World War Hulk and then blew up into its own series and now a couple mini-series. Maybe Taskmaster will surprise Marvel the same way and become an ongoing.

Yeah, I doubt it too, but maybe...

 

[Scourge2099]

Knowing Marvel , they'd only make a Taskmaster book if Deadpool was a co-star. Sure they're great together , but Deadpool is WAY too overexposed.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't know, Van Lente writing Taskmaster and Deadpool together sounds almost as good as Simone coming back to do it. I'd excuse some more DP overexposure for that.

 

[Scourge2099]

Seeing Bob is more than worth that.