By: Fred Van Lente (writer), Jefte Palo (art), Jean Francois Beaulieu (colors), Dave Lanphear (letters) & Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
The Story: Van Lente fills in the last few bits as he fleshes out the suddenly very interesting Taskmaster character.
What’s Good: Who’s up for a Taskmaster ongoing? I am! Perhaps that is overdoing it, at least in this lousy comic sales environment, but in this series and issue Van Lente has really changed the way we see Taskmaster. Perhaps it is a bit of a retcon, but it doesn’t seem to conflict that much with past characterizations of Taskmaster that we’ve seen. Bravo!
For those who have missed it, Van Lente has turned Taskmaster into a kinda tragic figure. His brain is filled to overflowing with his memorization of fighting styles at the like to the extent that something has to give. And the things that always get lost when his brain gets too full are the details about who he is, the identity of his wife and the fact that he is really a good guy. Mercedes (his wife) is just about as interesting as she dutifully stays at her husbands side, acting as his handler only to have him remember (and forget) her again and again. How sad is that?
I think this could have been a great miniseries with any type of art, but Palo’s scratchy style seems especially well suited for this spy/espionage-y tale. Once again, my favorite trick that he uses are the windows over Taskmaster when he is emulating someone else’s moves. Very clever. I don’t know if he originated that concept, but it works well for demonstrating that Taskmaster is pulling a move he learned from Daredevil (as an example). Without this bit of visual storytelling, we’d have to see a narration box explaining what moves he was using and that would be really clumsy.
What’s Not So Good: Because of the fact that this issue was much more story-centric, we lost some of the humor that had pervaded issues #1-3. That was sorely missed. Van Lente is a very funny writer and I guess he has spoiled us such that I’m disappointed if I only got one or two really funny panels in a single comic book.
There were also a couple of panels in this issue that looked rushed. Overall, the art was very strong, so it was just a panel or two in the sequence when the Redshirts are entering the SHIELD base that weren’t quite as sharp as everything else.
And why did the Secret Avengers have to be in this issue? Although we did get one killer image of Ant Man riding Captain Steve like a horse, they weren’t essential to the plot of this story. I guess they needed Captain Steve, but we really didn’t need the others along for the ride.
Conclusion: A really strong issue that wraps what has been one of the best miniseries of 2010. If you haven’t been following the single issues, don’t miss the trade when it comes out.
Grade: B+
-Dean Stell
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Conclusion