One of the things I loved in the mid 80s when I found my first direct market comic book store was that I finally had all of these older books made available to me at long last. It was like a revelation to see hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of back issues, all bagged and boarded, with stories to tell that I had only heard whispers about or nothing at all.
One series that I was reading at the time, being a huge Marvel fan, was Avengers. I had been making my way backward in chunks of ten issues or so but I loved looking further back to see prices and to see the covers. When I came across #196 with the introduction of Taskmaster, I was enthralled. Yes, it’s gaudy from today’s perspective because of the push for realism in a lot of areas and just the color choices themselves. But I loved the way it took from several characters to create this one as his skill was mimicry.
Createed by writer David Michelinie and artist George Perez, Taskmaster looks to be one of the key villains in the upcoming Black Widow film and the slivers of footage we’ve seen are enticing. To get fans new and old familiar with him, he’s now the subject of a new Marvel 101 piece you can see below.
“Once known as Tony Masters, the Super Villain Taskmaster forgot his old life in order to become a prodigious savant of fighting skills. This week on Marvel 101, get ready to learn what it takes to go blow-for-blow with the best heroes in the world.”
