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Taskmaster (Collected Editions)
Taskmaster: Unthinkable
Taskmaster has trained hench-thugs for every terrorist organization and criminal cartel in the Marvel U. So when the rumor starts that he's turned traitor and now works for Steve Rogers, a billion-dollar bounty is put on his head, and every cadre of costumed fanatics looks to collect. Now Taskmaster has to fight hordes upon hordes of his psychopathic students while at the same time figuring out who framed him.
Taskmaster #1-4
Taskmaster #1-4
96 pages, Paperback
First published March 16, 2011
3 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Fred Van Lente
1,355 books320 followersFred Van Lente is the New York Times-bestselling author of comics as varied as Archer & Armstrong (Harvey Award nominee, Best Series), Taskmaster, MODOK's 11, Amazing Spider-Man, Conan the Avenger, Weird Detective, and Cowboys & Aliens (upon which the 2011 movie was based), as well as the novels Ten Dead Comedians and The Con Artist.
Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.
Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
July 23, 2018
Marvel has such great depth on its roster of characters. So I usually enjoy it when an overlooked C-Lister is given some time in the spotlight.
Taskmaster was – and I suppose still is – one of those supporting villains who pops up in other people's stories to either further the plot or get killed dramatically. I always liked flipping the page of some trade and going, "Oh, it's that guy!" Then it became, "Oh hey it's, what's his name...oh right, Taskmaster!" Until finally I was all like, "Oooh a Taskmaster appearance...what a treat!" So I was glad when I could read about Taskmaster in a place that wasn't a description box on the Marvel Database.
I didn't go into it with towering expectations. I would've been fine with a generic story about a villain being villainous. What I got what a pretty solid origin story that was both entertaining and heart-wrenching.
If at any point you stumbled across Taskmaster and thought "I wonder what his deal is?" then I would definitely recommend this one.
Taskmaster was – and I suppose still is – one of those supporting villains who pops up in other people's stories to either further the plot or get killed dramatically. I always liked flipping the page of some trade and going, "Oh, it's that guy!" Then it became, "Oh hey it's, what's his name...oh right, Taskmaster!" Until finally I was all like, "Oooh a Taskmaster appearance...what a treat!" So I was glad when I could read about Taskmaster in a place that wasn't a description box on the Marvel Database.
I didn't go into it with towering expectations. I would've been fine with a generic story about a villain being villainous. What I got what a pretty solid origin story that was both entertaining and heart-wrenching.
If at any point you stumbled across Taskmaster and thought "I wonder what his deal is?" then I would definitely recommend this one.
December 21, 2011
I liked Taskmaster back when he was hanging out with Deadpool and Agent X, and as a villain I think he's a great concept. Having a photographic reflex memory is pretty cool and I love the way the art worked in this issue to show how Taskmaster's fighting style changes to each memory. This story was pretty fun; full of action, comedy and even some heart at the end. Recommend.
January 21, 2018
ABSOLUTE RATING: {3/5 stars}
STANDARDIZED RATING: <3/5 stars>
STANDARDIZED RATING: <3/5 stars>
October 8, 2023
I love it when a writer goes deep for the redeeming qualities of a supervillain. Taskmaster is one of the Marvel Universe's most professional baddies: teaching henchmen how to fight heroes and kill effectively. Generally speaking, he does this dispassionately and leaves once he has been paid by the criminal organisation that has employed him.
Van Lente peels back the layers of this jobbing mercenary teacher and explores the nature of his photographic reflexes and the ultimate effect the rush of cortisol would have on his personal memories. Essentially this leaves Taskmaster a blank slate who relies on 'the Org' to get him started again.
However, what would happen to this surprisingly vulnerable superhuman when the Org puts a hit out on him? Taskmaster goes on the run from an onslaught of killers he trained, with an unsuspecting diner waitress named Mercedes in tow.
The plot of Taskmaster: Unthinkable is interesting though faulted. A lot of the antagonistic elements are eventually played for cheap laughs and the twists create plot holes, albeit small ones. Also a team of heroes appears midway through the plot but ultimately have no interaction with Taskmaster or even assist with his plight.
Where the book really works for me is the character development. A curious villain who often plays second fiddle to masterminds and their fleets of henchmen, becomes a tragic hero when he has too much attention drawn to himself and can't remember why.
I don't know if Marvel has kept Taskmaster's origin story in present continuity but I think Van Lente made some very interesting choices here. It blurs the lines of good and evil intentions in a rather heartbreaking way. 'Illusion of Truth' theory is applied in a way that is both sentimental and inspired.
Palo's artwork is strong too though I would have loved to see more of the 'flashback patchwork' featuring superheroes and villains that Taskmaster copies for combat.
Despite its superficial problems, I really liked the heart of Taskmaster: Unthinkable. I recommend it to those who wonder how an amnesiac fighting expert would survive when his steady job disappears and his many pupils turn against him.
Van Lente peels back the layers of this jobbing mercenary teacher and explores the nature of his photographic reflexes and the ultimate effect the rush of cortisol would have on his personal memories. Essentially this leaves Taskmaster a blank slate who relies on 'the Org' to get him started again.
However, what would happen to this surprisingly vulnerable superhuman when the Org puts a hit out on him? Taskmaster goes on the run from an onslaught of killers he trained, with an unsuspecting diner waitress named Mercedes in tow.
The plot of Taskmaster: Unthinkable is interesting though faulted. A lot of the antagonistic elements are eventually played for cheap laughs and the twists create plot holes, albeit small ones. Also a team of heroes appears midway through the plot but ultimately have no interaction with Taskmaster or even assist with his plight.
Where the book really works for me is the character development. A curious villain who often plays second fiddle to masterminds and their fleets of henchmen, becomes a tragic hero when he has too much attention drawn to himself and can't remember why.
I don't know if Marvel has kept Taskmaster's origin story in present continuity but I think Van Lente made some very interesting choices here. It blurs the lines of good and evil intentions in a rather heartbreaking way. 'Illusion of Truth' theory is applied in a way that is both sentimental and inspired.
Palo's artwork is strong too though I would have loved to see more of the 'flashback patchwork' featuring superheroes and villains that Taskmaster copies for combat.
Despite its superficial problems, I really liked the heart of Taskmaster: Unthinkable. I recommend it to those who wonder how an amnesiac fighting expert would survive when his steady job disappears and his many pupils turn against him.
January 11, 2025
Absolutely riveting. Read it in one sitting.
I love Taskmaster as a character. I was intrigued by his introduction to me in the Black Widow movie, but felt he was criminally underused there. Then I loved his side mission in Insomniac's Spider-Man game and wanted to know more about him. This comic did exactly that. The character is awesome, has serious skills, and carries an interesting psyche. His powers were visualized in such a cool and instinctive way, and the story was short and strong. Not to mention it had humour and heart. The full package. I highly recommend reading this as a standalone.
Thunderbolts better do right by him.
A (task)masterly 9/10 for this one.
I love Taskmaster as a character. I was intrigued by his introduction to me in the Black Widow movie, but felt he was criminally underused there. Then I loved his side mission in Insomniac's Spider-Man game and wanted to know more about him. This comic did exactly that. The character is awesome, has serious skills, and carries an interesting psyche. His powers were visualized in such a cool and instinctive way, and the story was short and strong. Not to mention it had humour and heart. The full package. I highly recommend reading this as a standalone.
Thunderbolts better do right by him.
A (task)masterly 9/10 for this one.
July 11, 2012
OMG, has Taskmaster never had an origin story before? This started out funny, and graduated to heartfelt and a little depressing. Good job, Fred Van Lente.
VL's script makes me long for more writers who are this grounded in the actual world we live in, rather than the insulated and hardly aware universe of Marvel books - like the lens is just out of focus, and VL has finally made the last adjustment. It probably means his books will read *very* outdated in a few years or more, but even reading old issues of Deadpool with all their pop culture references is a real treat for me, and reminds me of some of the silly things I used to enjoy so much.
I love that this complex, well-thought-out backstory is how we can relate (and yet still revere) Taskmaster - clearly VL spent more than a few hours trying to work out how this all came to be, and how to ensure it'll continue to give us a little jolt of pleasure every time Taskmaster shows up in future Marvel books. I wish we'd been able to spend more time with Taskmaster and his gallery of interesting characters, but I'm sure glad it was brought to us in the first place.
As my friend Aaron says, this book has emotional weight and foolish asides in a great balance so the book doesn't become a caricature or a mopey guilt trip.
VL's script makes me long for more writers who are this grounded in the actual world we live in, rather than the insulated and hardly aware universe of Marvel books - like the lens is just out of focus, and VL has finally made the last adjustment. It probably means his books will read *very* outdated in a few years or more, but even reading old issues of Deadpool with all their pop culture references is a real treat for me, and reminds me of some of the silly things I used to enjoy so much.
I love that this complex, well-thought-out backstory is how we can relate (and yet still revere) Taskmaster - clearly VL spent more than a few hours trying to work out how this all came to be, and how to ensure it'll continue to give us a little jolt of pleasure every time Taskmaster shows up in future Marvel books. I wish we'd been able to spend more time with Taskmaster and his gallery of interesting characters, but I'm sure glad it was brought to us in the first place.
As my friend Aaron says, this book has emotional weight and foolish asides in a great balance so the book doesn't become a caricature or a mopey guilt trip.
November 28, 2017
A very cool graphic novel that takes a D-level Marvel character and uses beautifully drawn comic and a compelling and unique story. It humanizes a character that Marvel usually throws in for comic-relief and tells an awesome origin story. I recommend it.
August 20, 2020
I've read a LOT of comics this year. But this is also the year I really started getting into comics in general. Before 2020 I read like, some of Squirrel Girl, the first run of Ms. Marvel, and The Unbelievable Gwenpool. It was this year that I really ramped things up.
I bring that all up to say I had heard of Taskmaster exactly once before 2020. He was in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and I thought he was an overly edgy attempt at making a cool character given his appearance. The skull mask really just seemed like a relic from the 70's or 80's that stuck around because it was well known. When I started reading more frequently this year I first encountered Taskmaster in the 2006 Moon Knight run, where, to my great surprise, he actually had quite the sense of humor. Even in that comic's impossibly gritty ugly artstyle Taskmaster was cracking jokes as he complained about having to block bullets with a shield that wasn't made out of something fancy like adamantium.
He's popped up a few more times this year in other things I've read but I've started to become interested in him as a character so I finally read one of his solo miniseries. And all of that prelude was just me sharing too much because I honestly thought this was really great!
Taskmaster is on the run from... well, everyone. It turns out that his past of constantly switching allegiances has lead to him claiming he'll be going to the authorities with everything he knows, and so every single villainous organization on the planet is after him at once. The problem is that he's not doing that, primarily because he has an incredibly poor memory. His incredible ability to recall any move he's seen someone perform even once means that his head is so impossibly overstuffed with combat knowledge that there's little room for anything else. He has a memory that is literally minutes long, and depends on various techniques and triggers to try and piece togethe what he needs to do things.
So it's basically a series with him on the run. And he picks up a waitress at a diner he was eating at because her close proximity to him made the villains think she was associated with him and the two head off on a world-spanning adventure to get away from evil. It's an extremely silly run that features characters named things like Don de los Muertos (Don of the Dead) or Redshirt the Uber Henchman (leader of a group literally called MILF). But it maintains a slight tinge of sadness throughout the whole thing. When not in combat Taskmaster is almost a helpless child, who can't remember anyone he's ever known throughout his life, and it makes for a powerful ending sequence when a memory he's worked hard to recover he is forced to throw away for survival.
This is definitely a run worth reading. It's fun. It's action-packed. It's even got the emotional beats. Taskmaster is cool and has become one of my favorite characters. Which is quite a step up considering he was a literal nobody to me before this year!
I bring that all up to say I had heard of Taskmaster exactly once before 2020. He was in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and I thought he was an overly edgy attempt at making a cool character given his appearance. The skull mask really just seemed like a relic from the 70's or 80's that stuck around because it was well known. When I started reading more frequently this year I first encountered Taskmaster in the 2006 Moon Knight run, where, to my great surprise, he actually had quite the sense of humor. Even in that comic's impossibly gritty ugly artstyle Taskmaster was cracking jokes as he complained about having to block bullets with a shield that wasn't made out of something fancy like adamantium.
He's popped up a few more times this year in other things I've read but I've started to become interested in him as a character so I finally read one of his solo miniseries. And all of that prelude was just me sharing too much because I honestly thought this was really great!
Taskmaster is on the run from... well, everyone. It turns out that his past of constantly switching allegiances has lead to him claiming he'll be going to the authorities with everything he knows, and so every single villainous organization on the planet is after him at once. The problem is that he's not doing that, primarily because he has an incredibly poor memory. His incredible ability to recall any move he's seen someone perform even once means that his head is so impossibly overstuffed with combat knowledge that there's little room for anything else. He has a memory that is literally minutes long, and depends on various techniques and triggers to try and piece togethe what he needs to do things.
So it's basically a series with him on the run. And he picks up a waitress at a diner he was eating at because her close proximity to him made the villains think she was associated with him and the two head off on a world-spanning adventure to get away from evil. It's an extremely silly run that features characters named things like Don de los Muertos (Don of the Dead) or Redshirt the Uber Henchman (leader of a group literally called MILF). But it maintains a slight tinge of sadness throughout the whole thing. When not in combat Taskmaster is almost a helpless child, who can't remember anyone he's ever known throughout his life, and it makes for a powerful ending sequence when a memory he's worked hard to recover he is forced to throw away for survival.
This is definitely a run worth reading. It's fun. It's action-packed. It's even got the emotional beats. Taskmaster is cool and has become one of my favorite characters. Which is quite a step up considering he was a literal nobody to me before this year!
August 18, 2021
The Taskmaster is a minor character from a forgettable Avengers storyline, who has made good in modern comics - as happens from time to time, think The Punisher. From the beginning he was a different type of supervillain, blessed/cursed with photographic reflexes, which allows him to mimic any fighting style he witnesses at the cost of his long and short-term memory. Instead of a criminal enterprise, the Taskmaster earned his daily bread by training henchmen for terrorist organizations and supervillains. The character has always popped up in strange places.
The story is that for reasons unknown a billion dollar bounty is put on the Taskmaster’s head. To discover who and why, he has to fight hordes of his former students and delves into his own forgotten past. I liked the story here a lot. Centering on the Taskmaster, a man who constantly forgets huge chunks of his past, cannot be easy, but the revelations in this mini-series are fairly big, interesting and make sense within the context of the Marvel Universe.
The problem I have with this story is not the excellent art, nor most of the developments, but the ridiculousness of the main villain, Redshirt the Uber Henchmen with his organization Minions International Liberation Front (MILF) who is attempting to destroy the Taskmaster. I don’t mind some over-the-top action in a superhero comic, but this injection of silliness is just off for what ends up a pretty tragic story for the Taskmaster. Not only is this villain pretty stupid, the author feels the need to explain this obvious joke to us, thinking that we must all be morons for reading his material.
The story is that for reasons unknown a billion dollar bounty is put on the Taskmaster’s head. To discover who and why, he has to fight hordes of his former students and delves into his own forgotten past. I liked the story here a lot. Centering on the Taskmaster, a man who constantly forgets huge chunks of his past, cannot be easy, but the revelations in this mini-series are fairly big, interesting and make sense within the context of the Marvel Universe.
The problem I have with this story is not the excellent art, nor most of the developments, but the ridiculousness of the main villain, Redshirt the Uber Henchmen with his organization Minions International Liberation Front (MILF) who is attempting to destroy the Taskmaster. I don’t mind some over-the-top action in a superhero comic, but this injection of silliness is just off for what ends up a pretty tragic story for the Taskmaster. Not only is this villain pretty stupid, the author feels the need to explain this obvious joke to us, thinking that we must all be morons for reading his material.
April 4, 2020
I concede that I've always been a fan of Taskmaster as a concept, but my in-comic encounters with him have largely relied on Deadpool comics in recent years. So this book was an interesting way to dive into his history across different criminal organizations while adding a complex new backstory that still works but certainly stretches the limits of things. It makes him a lot more serious than how he has been depicted in recent comics, but it's certainly a fulfilling take on the character.
And I really loved the visual treatment for this book and how they managed to better visualize how his photographic reflexes work while explaining how this differs from his active memories and the like.
And I really loved the visual treatment for this book and how they managed to better visualize how his photographic reflexes work while explaining how this differs from his active memories and the like.
April 12, 2019
Palo's art is grimy and chaotic and excellent, and the script gives him some high quality ludicrousness to work with, but this does have that "everything you know is wrong" thing that these comics seem set on doing to almost every character multiple times per year. Still, this is basically a tragedy, which is not something I would have expected from a miniseries centring on such a C-list villain.
November 22, 2020
Nicely plotted origin story in which Taskmaster discovers his own origin. Solid twists at the right points, only one of which I saw coming. And one laugh out loud humorous moment I won't spoil for you.
February 2, 2020
I think it's cool! Well done mini series. Enjoyable to read. Good insight into TM.
January 12, 2021
A decent story, but it didn't really go anywhere. I like how the artist highlighted which superhero's fighting style Taskmaster was using.
August 11, 2021
I picked this up right after watching Black Widow. This book was a great introduction to the character for me and I hope we see Tasky again in the MCU; would totally watch a Disney+ series in fact.
July 12, 2023
This was a decent read and a good look into a great villian and his story. It's a recommend if you like the character.
April 9, 2025
Dude fights Hitler clones
November 23, 2016
Back when I was a kid reading comics mostly for the cool powers, costumes, and fight scenes, I loved Taskmaster. Cool powers? Check! I wanted photographic reflexes for years after seeing him. Cool costume? Mega-check! Big cowl, skeletal mask, great color scheme, loads of weapons. Hells yeah. Cool fight scenes? Well, sorta. He held his own against an entire Avengers team with just himself and a buncha mooks, so not bad, although it seemed like he'd be better going against a solo hero. Anyway, loved the guy right from the start.
Fast forward to Taskmaster: Unthinkable. I had to give this two stars, which saddens me, because the basic story about the character is a really good one: basically (as has been established in prior comics), Taskmaster has memorized so many physical movements over the years that he's crowded out his other memories, and he's basically an amnesiac who is herded by some shadowy criminal organization. His struggle to regain some part of his memories makes a great story. It's just surrounded by a lot of crap.
First of all, the sort-of antagonist is a comedy character named Redshirt the Uber-henchman. Not only is this comedy bullshit distinctly out of place in an otherwise very serious book, it's not even funny – it's just plain dumb. Worse, he's started an organization whose acronym is MILF. Ha ha, see, he's so funny because he doesn't get the inadvertent pop culture references he's making. Kill me. Throw in some stupid criminal organizations (a biker gang made up of aliens, some S&M little people, and some other stupid stuff I rejected from memory), and a Hispanic bad guy with a death-themed costume named Don of the Dead, and it becomes difficult to take any of the actual story seriously.
Over the course of the series, Taskmaster remembers a bunch of important stuff, including the fact that he's married. When he finally fights Redshirt, he's getting killed because Redshirt has learned a martial art that Taskmaster doesn't know. Huh? I've never understood this: just because you know judo and I don't doesn't mean I can't kick your ass with my kung fu, but it seems an essential element here. Why? Because the only way for Taskmaster to survive is to learn his opponent's way of fighting (photographic reflexes, right?), and then beat him. Huh? He could never be better than the opponent he watched and learned from, but it's somehow enough to defeat Redshirt in a panel or two (even though Redshirt explicitly states that he had multiple surgeries to make himself more like the aliens who's fighting style he learned, so it would seem Taskmaster could never really imitate the movements he's photographically remembering. Whatever.). And then, because Taskmaster remembered more moves, he forgets his wife and everything else about himself. Huh? What’s worse is that in the dénouement, his wife implies that this has happened numerous times. Huh? I give up.
Anyway. The good bones of a story, fleshed out with utter crap. I hope someone writes a really good Taskmaster story someday, and takes it seriously. This oaf Van Lente didn't.
Fast forward to Taskmaster: Unthinkable. I had to give this two stars, which saddens me, because the basic story about the character is a really good one: basically (as has been established in prior comics), Taskmaster has memorized so many physical movements over the years that he's crowded out his other memories, and he's basically an amnesiac who is herded by some shadowy criminal organization. His struggle to regain some part of his memories makes a great story. It's just surrounded by a lot of crap.
First of all, the sort-of antagonist is a comedy character named Redshirt the Uber-henchman. Not only is this comedy bullshit distinctly out of place in an otherwise very serious book, it's not even funny – it's just plain dumb. Worse, he's started an organization whose acronym is MILF. Ha ha, see, he's so funny because he doesn't get the inadvertent pop culture references he's making. Kill me. Throw in some stupid criminal organizations (a biker gang made up of aliens, some S&M little people, and some other stupid stuff I rejected from memory), and a Hispanic bad guy with a death-themed costume named Don of the Dead, and it becomes difficult to take any of the actual story seriously.
Over the course of the series, Taskmaster remembers a bunch of important stuff, including the fact that he's married. When he finally fights Redshirt, he's getting killed because Redshirt has learned a martial art that Taskmaster doesn't know. Huh? I've never understood this: just because you know judo and I don't doesn't mean I can't kick your ass with my kung fu, but it seems an essential element here. Why? Because the only way for Taskmaster to survive is to learn his opponent's way of fighting (photographic reflexes, right?), and then beat him. Huh? He could never be better than the opponent he watched and learned from, but it's somehow enough to defeat Redshirt in a panel or two (even though Redshirt explicitly states that he had multiple surgeries to make himself more like the aliens who's fighting style he learned, so it would seem Taskmaster could never really imitate the movements he's photographically remembering. Whatever.). And then, because Taskmaster remembered more moves, he forgets his wife and everything else about himself. Huh? What’s worse is that in the dénouement, his wife implies that this has happened numerous times. Huh? I give up.
Anyway. The good bones of a story, fleshed out with utter crap. I hope someone writes a really good Taskmaster story someday, and takes it seriously. This oaf Van Lente didn't.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2016
Issue 1 - I remember Taskmaster having this awesome ability to remember everything. What happened to him?
Issue 2 - Kind of a weird beginning of an issue, but I gradually got it. Seems I remembered wrong about Taskmaster's abilities. Unless they changed him in this series...
Issue 3 - Man, I sort of got lost in this issue. Can't keep track of all the weird memory things. Liked the ending, I guess. But damn, I didn't know Taskmaster was so emotional...
Issue 4 - Again, wasn't really following the weird plot twists. So I'm not exactly sure what happened save for what Taskmaster's wife said happened on the last page. I guess I sort of got the gist of it, but then that's never good enough for me. I'd rather have understood everything.
Overall - I remember loving this character when I first read comics about him, but I didn't much care for this series. Taskmaster seemed different from what I remember...so emotional and dramatic. I didn't really follow all the plot twists. I didn't understand why there were so many characters. I only sort of understood the gist of the thing. In the end, I just wasn't impressed. Even the small bits of comedy barely made me smile. But damn, Taskmaster's costume is HOT.
Issue 2 - Kind of a weird beginning of an issue, but I gradually got it. Seems I remembered wrong about Taskmaster's abilities. Unless they changed him in this series...
Issue 3 - Man, I sort of got lost in this issue. Can't keep track of all the weird memory things. Liked the ending, I guess. But damn, I didn't know Taskmaster was so emotional...
Issue 4 - Again, wasn't really following the weird plot twists. So I'm not exactly sure what happened save for what Taskmaster's wife said happened on the last page. I guess I sort of got the gist of it, but then that's never good enough for me. I'd rather have understood everything.
Overall - I remember loving this character when I first read comics about him, but I didn't much care for this series. Taskmaster seemed different from what I remember...so emotional and dramatic. I didn't really follow all the plot twists. I didn't understand why there were so many characters. I only sort of understood the gist of the thing. In the end, I just wasn't impressed. Even the small bits of comedy barely made me smile. But damn, Taskmaster's costume is HOT.
June 25, 2011
The four stars here is probably a tad high for a rating, but I was very pleasantly surprised by multiple aspects of the tale. In addition, I wasn't totally put off by Fred Van Lente taking one of my favorite supporting villain characters turning him into a well crafted anti-hero in this tale. Admittedly, the anit-hero bit was a little heavy handed, but the tragic undertones that comes out so well at the end is one of the best things about this story. The other is the over the top humor, with henchmen shouting, "Death by Science", or "No one expects the Inquisition." And, one of the main villains names himself Redshirt and his organization's letters spell MILF? Heavy handed yes, but amusing.
February 26, 2013
The Taskmaster seemed goofy to me until recent years when writers made him seem more of a credible threat. Here we are given a look into the origin of Taskmaster which has never been told before. As an origin story its done really well without sounding to compositional. The ideas here are interesting, comic book believable, and still funny. The funny however seemed a little to Deadpooly at times. I think Taskmaster is better when his humor is darker more than zany. The art was good but maybe too dark at times. I really enjoyed the effect the artist, Jefte Palo, created when Taskmaster uses his powers. Overall a really good book that could spawn more books.
April 12, 2016
Man, this is hokey! Talk about ridin the Deadpool train! This book tries really hard to be funny but it doesn't work so well and unfortunately it's just dumb! This book is so over the top with some of the worst villains ever! Let's get something straight, I've always been a Taskmaster fan from his appearances against Captain America in the 80's and on but I don't really understand what they're trying to do with him by turning him into some sort of guffawing comic relief! Save that kind of writing for Deadpool! Cmon, there's a part where he has to stop a really dumb villain by learning to play an electric guitar!!! WTF????
August 11, 2014
Childish humor seems to be the curse of Taskmaster stories, so if you think Deadpool is still funny, you'll probably dig the joke in here about the criminal organization chasing Taskmaster. If anything, this "return-to-form" of the character is even better than the 2000-era pseudo-reboot, inasmuch as it turns Taskmaster into a Ludlumesque tragic anti-hero rather than a straight up villain or mercenary. I generally liked it and would recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed Taskmaster stories in the past, Matt Olson.
May 30, 2019
What is a pretty decent origin story gets plagued by far too many forced comedy moments. Taskmaster's backstory is actually well done here and carries some real emotional weight. The aforementioned "comedy" moments hamper that, however, and, honestly, most aren't even that clever. The art is a high point, though I have a feeling some people won't be able to get behind the rough pencil style presented here. All in all, a good origin story that could have been better and a true staple for the character.
March 1, 2013
This is not really what you would call a five-star comic or anything like, but I kinda loved everything about it, so I'm giving it the highest rating possible. If you took Memento and crossed it with The Venture Bros, you'd get this comic. It hit all of my sweet spots, and if you're like me and love superhero action that doesn't take itself too seriously, then this is definitely the book for you, too.
September 3, 2011
Picked this up solely because of Fred Van Lente whose keeps producing solid work and this one is no different. Super villain with amnesia is given an origin story and a previously one dimensional, throwaway character now has layers to his persona.
Lots of humour in the story as well. That helped.
Lots of humour in the story as well. That helped.
March 15, 2012
Loved it, i'm a massive Taskmaster fan and was suitably excited to see him get hia own series. It didn't disappoint, the humour is great, the artwork is amazing and most of all, the story of Taskmaster's past, fleshing out a relatively one dimensional villain, into a tragic kind of hero is excellent. Totally lived up to the hype for me.
March 9, 2014
Art's pretty. That's about all that's good about this mini.
Taskmaster was interesting because he was an ordinary dude who decide to use his superpowers to make himself money and was pretty smart in going about it.
Van Lente has however saddled Taskmaster with a pointless and angsty backstory that is at complete odds to Taskmaster's previous characterisation.
Taskmaster was interesting because he was an ordinary dude who decide to use his superpowers to make himself money and was pretty smart in going about it.
Van Lente has however saddled Taskmaster with a pointless and angsty backstory that is at complete odds to Taskmaster's previous characterisation.
May 20, 2014
This is the first Taskmaster comic I've read. I think I first heard about him in Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe or maybe another Deadpool comic? Anyway, I liked it. I expected not to know anything about the character, but luckily it was pretty much an origin story. I'll definitely wanna look for more Taskmaster comics now.
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