Longbox Junk - Mark Hazzard: Merc (Part 2)

 Welcome to Longbox Junk, the place to find all the comic reviews you never asked for!

Continuing on with my look at all 13 issues of one of the most unloved series to come out of Marvel's New Universe, Mark Hazzard: Merc. Part Two will cover issues five through nine of the run.  

Part One FOUND HERE was a bit of a surprise.  It was an interesting and pretty well done dive into a main character who was a broken man, addicted to violence and trying to reconnect with his family and the "real" world.  Not the BEST comic story I've ever read, but pretty good.  

In MY humble opinion, if the series would have stopped with the first four issues, it would have made a nice little mini-series. . .but there's nine more issues to go, right?  Peter David is gone as the writer of the series, so what happens now?  Will the new writer (Doug Murray for all of the issues at hand) continue David's solid character-driven work?

LET'S FIND OUT!

MARK HAZZARD: MERC

PART 2: ISSUES 5-9

MARVEL - NEW UNIVERSE (1986)

ISSUE FIVE

That's What Friends Are For!

COVER: Gray Morrow

THE COVER:

It's. . .okay.  Not bad, not great.  Just riding right down the middle of the road.  Overall, it's pretty well done, but one thing that REALLY bugs me about this cover is the "blast" effect from Hazzard's weapon.  It looks like it's supposed to be a Stryker shotgun, but the way the "blast" is illustrated, it looks like a flamethrower for some reason.  Instead of blasting straight out, it's got a weird little downward angle at the end that I just CANNOT unsee!  Other than that, it's an okay cover.

Let's get inside!

THE STORY:

SCRIPT:  Doug Murray
PENCILS:  Mark Beachum
INKS:  Jack Fury (?)

One of Mark Hazzard's mercenary partners and longtime friend from Mark's time in Vietnam named Mal approaches Mark with a problem.  His sister, Phoenix, has been kidnapped by a biker gang and he needs Hazzard's help to rescue her.  Mark immediately agrees, and the two of them enlist another friend of Mark's, a martial arts instructor called "Priestess".

Priestess will be the distraction while Mark and Mal infiltrate the biker gang's hideout and rescue Mal's sister.

The plan goes off without a hitch.  Priestess keeps the bikers occupied in the bar downstairs while Mark and Mal sneak upstairs and grab Phoenix.  When the gang finally realizes what's happening, the mercenaries are forced to make their escape under fire.

But the leader of the biker gang, Ramon, isn't letting Phoenix go so easily.  They lay siege to Priestess' martial arts school until Mark agrees to fight Ramon one on one later that night.  Mark senses something is off about the whole situation.

Mark shows up to the place that he's supposed to fight Ramon and discovers Mal setting explosives and planning an ambush.  Prior to arriving, Mark talked to some witnesses to Phoenix's abduction and discovered that she's actually Ramon's girlfriend and went with him willingly.

Mark Confronts Mal and his friend confesses that he just didn't want his little sister going out with biker trash.  The bikers arrive for the fight and Mark has to save them from Mal's ambush.  As the two friends fight, the bikers attack but are killed by Mal's explosives, leaving only Ramon alive.

Mal's sister is finally able to talk some sense to her brother before Mark is forced to shoot his friend.  As the police arrive, Phoenix leaves with Ramon, Mark leaves with Priestess, and Mal is just sad and by himself.

The End. To be continued. . .

THE REVIEW:

Okay then.  Absolutely no mention of Hazzard's legal troubles.  No mention of his son.  Pretty much NO connection with the prior four issues beyond the characters of Mal and Hazzard themselves.  It's almost like the story that Peter David had written doesn't exist now.  

I was wondering where the series would go after David's departure and this is where it went. 

The story itself is okay.  A commando raid on a biker gang hideout to rescue a prisoner, only to discover that she was there because she wanted to be.  It's a fairly simple and well-worn story path, but it's not a bad framework to hang some action on.

The problem here for me is that there was ALREADY a story in progress and this seems like a soft reboot of the series coming out of nowhere.  It's a bit jarring and feels unnecessary.  

I have a bad feeling about this.  Let's see what happens next.

ISSUE SIX

Clients

COVER: Mike Zeck

THE COVER:

Now HERE'S some good stuff!  Probably my favorite cover of the series so far, courtesy of the great Mike Zeck.  I'm a sucker for character portrait covers and this is a good one.  Zeck's use of a solid black background gives this cover a great look.  Very nice!

Moving along!

THE STORY:

SCRIPT: Doug Murray
PENCILS:  Vince Giarrano
INKS:  Manny Hands (Get it? GET IT?)

TRIGGER WARNING:  This issue deals with an extreme right-wing politician who uses law enforcement to intimidate or remove citizens who oppose him. If the previous sentence triggers you in ANY way, then skip this one and meet me back down in issue seven.  Everyone in that's staying in?  Let's do it!

In an unnamed, vaguely Germanic country in "Middle Europe", Mark Hazzard and his mercenary teammates, explosives expert Mal (who is apparently completely forgiven for lying to Mark and almost getting him killed last issue) and Treetop (The crew's helicopter pilot and a friend of Mark's from Vietnam) are on a job to protect a controversial hard right-wing politician seeking election named Kurtz.

Protesters begin to get out of hand and Kurtz's personal bodyguards (wearing on-the-nose brown shirts, of course) brutally beat a woman in front of Hazzard.  He gives the bodyguard a deserved beating of his own. . .upsetting both Kurtz and Treetop, who was the organizer of this particular job.

Leaving the team's hotel headquarters for a break after a heated argument with Treetop about how this job was arranged without consulting Hazzard, and that he wouldn't have taken it if he'd known what a raging A-Hole their client was, Mark is attacked by one of Kurtz's thugs.  

After showing the thug what a bad idea THAT was, Hazzard runs into the woman who had been beaten at Kurtz's rally earlier.  Frieda takes him to her home and her father, a veteran of WWII shows Hazzard some old films that show Kurtz overseeing executions in the town as a member of the SS.  

Frieda and her father ask Hazzard to help get rid of Kurtz and Mark coldly tells them that he's a professional and can't break a contract.  

The next day, Hazzard tries to convince Mal and Treetop that they're on the wrong side.  They don't agree.  They're mercenaries and the "right" side is the side that's paying them.  They won't break the contract.

Later, at Kurtz's next rally, Mark witnesses one of Kurtz's thugs infiltrating the crowd of protesters and stabbing Frieda!  Mark flies into a rage, pulls his gun and starts shooting.  Kurtz flees the carnage as Mal and Treetop try to stop Mark from chasing him down.

Mark shoots Treetop in the leg and informs his former friends that he's quitting.  Then leaves to finish Kurtz off.

Mark pursues Kurtz to his heavily-defended home.  He shoots his way through a small army of Kurtz's thugs and finally confronts Kurtz in his office.  As the fascist politician begs for his life, the police arrive, along with some reporters.  They record Kurtz begging and Mark leaves him alive, knowing that the public humiliation, along with the dead protester, will be enough to finish his political career.

We next see Mark back in the states, locked out of his apartment because it's owned by Treetop (who was the money manager of the mercenary crew).  He makes his way to his friend Priestess' apartment, and it's pretty clear they're about to become more than just friends.

The End. To Be Continued. . .

THE REVIEW:

In this issue, we get another self-contained story that completely ignores just about everything Peter David established in the first four issues.  I see now that Doug Murray IS doing a soft reboot of the series by destroying Hazzard's relationship with the mercenaries we met in David's opening issues and bringing in his own cast of characters (more of this in the next issue), with Priestess being the first.

With that in mind, I guess I need to understand that Issue Five was actually the new first issue of Mark Hazzard: Merc.  From THAT point of view, this series looks like it's moving toward one and done single issue stories, heavy on the action, and leaning into the "Merc" part of Mark Hazzard: Merc.

As far as the actual story at hand in Issue Six, it's not bad.  Mark Hazzard vs. Fascism.  It's black and white.  There's the bad guys, here's the good guys.  A bit heavy-handed, but not bad.  Murray is still establishing HIS cast of characters, so there are some strange parts like Mark suddenly deciding to shoot a guy he's been friends with for about twenty years, but overall a decent one shot story.

Let's talk about the art.  The artist on this issue is Vince Giarrano, which is a name that SHOULD be familiar to any Batman fan of the 90s.  If not, then let me refresh your memory. . .

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #20 

Giarrano had a BIG hand in the Batman books during the 90s and especially during the "Knightfall" story arc.  His angular, exaggerated art style is a unique signature look that's pretty much one of those "love it or hate it" sort of things.  

This is some of Giarrano's earlier work.  It is NOT what you would expect when you see his name on something.  I'm gonna be honest here and say it's not great.  It's just okay.  There's none of the weird Giarrano style or flair present.  It's pretty clear he had a major evolvement in style going forward from the 80s to the 90s.  

Overall, taken from the new perspective of this being the second issue of a new series, it's not a bad little standalone story.  It just feels a little weird in spots because Murray is still deconstructing what was established in the first four issues.

NEXT! 

ISSUE SEVEN

Incentives

COVER: Mike Zeck

THE COVER:

Another one by Mike Zeck, but compared to the great portrait cover on the previous issue, this one is disappointing.  Hazzard's proportions just look off and weird, especially his head.  The plane is cool, but much too close and large.  It's not a terrible cover, but Zeck can do better.

MOVING ALONG!

THE STORY:

SCRIPT:  Doug Murray
PENCILS:  Val Mayerik
INKS:  Val Mayerik

We begin somewhere in Central America at some time in the recent past before Issue #1.  Mark Hazzard and "Sergeant Major" Peel have finished training a band of rebels and wish them luck in taking over their country.  

We then shift to the present, where Mark and his son are enjoying a day together at the museum.  Mark gets a call from one of his Central American contacts begging him to come help free the rebel leader (known simply as "The Commander") from a state prison before he is executed.  Mark agrees to take the job, even though they aren't able to pay him anything.  He considers The Commander to be a friend.

Mark cuts his family day short and leaves to gather a team.

Mark needs a pilot (since he shot his friend, Treetop in the leg last issue), so the first stop is Ritter, a mercenary who refuses the job because there's no pay, no incentive.  Mark's next stop is to try and make amends with Mal, his former best friend and partner.  Mal also turns Mark down.  He hasn't forgotten Mark shooting Treetop.

Finally, Mark goes to Sergeant Major and Doc. . .a Vietnamese medic he met during the war.  She and Sergeant Major agree to go on the mission.

We shift scenes to the Jungles of Central America, where Mark, Doc, and Sergeant Major are leading a small band of rebels during their attack on the massive state prison where The Commander is being held.

Doc and Mark fight their way through the prison to grab The Commander while Sergeant Major and the rebels fight the government forces outside.  They manage to make their escape with the badly-wounded Commander into the jungle.  

When they arrive at their rendezvous with the rest of the rebels, they are ambushed by Esteban, the rebel second in command.  He was the one who betrayed The Commander so that he could be the leader of the Rebellion.  

Hazzard and his team are caught by surprise and the battle begins to look desperate until a single A-10 Warthog fighter bomber appears and devastates the rebels.  It's Ritter.  He finally decided that being able to test his new plane was worth not being paid for the rescue job.

Mark isn't happy with Ritter's showboating, but they survived the ambush and The Commander is ready to keep fighting.  Doc stays behind to keep an eye on The Commander while his wounds finish healing while Mark, Ritter and Sergeant Major head back to the states.

The End. . .To be continued.

THE REVIEW:

Another one and done story, with Murray introducing more of his own characters to replace the original mercenary crew.  At least this issue gave us a bit of a nod to Mark's family drama. . .a page and a half total in three issues, but at least it's still sort of there.

The story itself is a pretty bare bones framework.  Basically an introduction to Doc, Ritter, and Sergeant Major as three new mercenaries and not much more than that.  A bit of explosive prison break action and an ambush at the rendezvous point, and it's done.  

It's not a BAD little story.  It reads quick and isn't very memorable, but it's pretty good for what it is.  

NEXT! 

ISSUE EIGHT

Cestus Dei

COVER: Mike Zeck

THE COVER:

You'd THINK the guy Hazzard is sneaking up on would smell the cigarette smoke.  Other than that, Mike Zeck delivers a pretty solid cover with some nice detail.  There's not much more I can say about this one.  Let's get into the story!

THE STORY:

SCRIPT:  Doug Murray
PENCILS:  Gray Morrow
INKS:  Vince Colletta

Mark Hazzard is having a bit of a problem.  He can't find mercenary work because nobody will hire a merc who broke a contract and went on a public shooting spree in a European city, with one of the people getting shot by Hazzard being a fellow merc (Issue #6, above).  

Eventually, he gets a mysterious message.  He flies to Italy and meets a representative of a secret sect of the Catholic Church.  They want to hire him to retrieve an artifact called "The Ring of The Fisherman", along with one of their priests, Father Capistran.  Both taken by terrorists outside of Beirut.  

Mark is introduced to Father Kevin Johnson, a member of "Cestus Dei", a secret military arm of the Church.  Hazzard doesn't like being told who he has to work with, but time is short and off they go.

The next day, after flying to Lebanon,  Mark finds an old connection who owes him and quickly discovers the location of the terrorists and is given a contact in the city.  Shortly after, Mark and Father Johnson are ambushed.  They realize the terrorists are aware they are on their trail.

Arriving in the city, Mark and Father Johnson meet with their contact, who confirms the location of the terrorists, but the contact betrays them and leads them into another ambush!  The heat is on, but they move on the contact's information anyway.

The contact's information was solid, even if he wasn't.  Mark and Father Johnson find the terrorists hiding in an old church.  They go on the attack and manage to retrieve the ring, but the priest the terrorists had taken hostage is killed during the fight.  

Upon returning to Italy with the Ring of The Fisherman, Mark reveals to the mysterious priest that hired him that he discovered papers in the church.  He knows that their secret sect is actually banned and not part of the Catholic Church any longer.  That the Ring was going to be their way to "Buy Back" into the Church.  That they KNEW terrorists were operating in the area and their illegal dig team was in danger.  

Hazzard knew too much.  The priest commands Father Johnson to attack.  Mark beats him easily and demands payment. Returning to New York City, Mark gives all the money to a local church. 

The End. . .To Be Continued.

THE REVIEW:

Not a bad little one and done story here.  It has an interesting premise with shades of "The DaVinci Code" in secret sects of the Catholic Church with forbidden knowledge, along with a hidden military branch.  This comic came out 16 years before The DaVinci Code, so it was pretty interesting seeing some of the same themes at play.  It doesn't dig TOO deep into those themes. . .really more of a framework for the action, but still probably the best story in these five issues so far.

We've got Gray Morrow back on art in this one.  This time backed up Vince Colletta on inks.  Say what you will about Colletta. . .and there IS some controversy hanging over the prolific comic veteran, but his dark lines definitely improve Morrow's pencils here.  At least in MY humble opinion they do.

Overall, not bad.  Not great, but a pretty good read.

AND FINALLY. . .

ISSUE NINE

Decoy

COVER: Mike Zeck

THE COVER:

Mike Zeck gives us another solid cover here.  It's not a masterpiece, but Zeck's covers have been a nice improvement since the first handful of issues.  I like Hazzard's defiant glare.  It says that somehow, some way, some terrorist hind is about to get kicked.  It's a nice little detail that tells a story without a word.  

Let's get inside!

THE STORY:

SCRIPT:  Doug Murray
PENCILS:  Andy Kubert
INKS:  Adam Kubert

A former associate of Mark Hazzard, a mercenary by the name of Lincoln "Stryker" Griffin, hears about Mark's problems finding work and decides to let him in on a big job he's got cooking.  Along with Mal (who Hazzard is friends with again? Okay) and Hazzard's new pilot, Ritter, the four mercenaries head to the Middle East.

Once there, they split into two teams, each carrying a shipment of mysterious cargo.  Mark and Ritter go by air in a rickety WWII transport plane, Griffin and Mal go by land in a truck.  

We follow the two teams as they journey across the Middle East to their ultimate destination, Afghanistan.  Mark and Ritter have the harder time of it as they find themselves flying into the war zone of the Iran/Iraq war!  They are shot down and captured by the Iranians. 

In the meantime, Mal and Griffin are hauling cross-country, ramming barricades and dodging patrols.  They successfully manage to reach their destination and off-load their cargo. . .weapons for the Afghan Mujahadeen  fighting Soviet occupation.  Stinger missiles to take down Soviet helicopters, to be exact.

It turns out that Hazzard's cargo was just farm tools.  They were the decoy while the real weapons were with Mal and Griffin.  The Iranians who captured Hazzard and Ritter are NOT pleased to discover their informants were fooled.  

The Iranians brutally torture Ritter and Hazzard, trying to find out where the actual weapons shipment was.  Hazzard tries to make a break for it, but is recaptured and knocked out.  When he comes to, he finds himself in a courtyard tied to a stake next to Ritter while a firing squad prepares to go to work.

Despite Hazzard's desperate attempts to bargain, the Iranians execute Ritter.  They keep Hazzard alive for further interrogation.

Back in New York City, Griffin has gathered Mal, Treetop, Sergeant Major, and Priestess to inform them he's got information on where Mark is being held and that he's going to publicly executed in about a week.  

But he's got a plan to get him out. . .

To Be Continued. . .

THE REVIEW:

So what we have here is the first part of a continuing story that will go on for the remaining issues of Mark Hazzard: Merc.  It's actually a pretty good little tale of misdirection and misfortune that introduces us to yet ANOTHER new character, Lincoln Griffon. . .who, as we will see, will become a major character in the remaining issues, and it could be argued the new MAIN character of what's left of this series. But more on that coming up in the last part of this series review.

The story itself moves at a nice pace and features plenty of action.  It seems Murray is getting more of a feel for the series as he goes.  Too bad this is the first chapter in what is the closing story arc.  It's getting better just when it's getting ready to end.  It's a bit disappointing. 

So the story is pretty good.  Let's talk about the art.

We get a surprise appearance by one of my favorite artists, Andy Kubert!  In MY humble opinion, Kubert is a modern comics legend who is STILL going strong to this very day!  And to add to the goodness, he's got his brother, Adam on inks!  I wonder if the Kubert brothers lost some sort of bet to end up on this unloved series doing a fill-in job.

Anyway, what can I say about Kubert's art?  It's gritty, realistic, and perfect for this kind of story.  This issue shows what Mark Hazzard: Merc COULD have been.  Unfortunately, it's only for one issue.  Gray Morrow does the art for most of the remaining issues, which isn't BAD, but once you get spoiled with some Kubert art, it's hard to go back.

CONCLUSION

The second batch of issues from Mark Hazzard: Merc take a complete swerve from what Peter David was working on in the first four issues.  Mostly one and done stories except for the last issue, with writer Doug Murray giving us a soft reboot of the series and establishing his own cast of side characters, with stories leaning away from inner conflict and toward the military action advertised on the covers.

Issue Five is basically Issue One, with the actual issues One through Four telling a standalone story that is all but ignored for the rest of the series.  Was this a good thing or a bad thing?  Was the shift what caused the swift cancellation of the series, or was the writing already on the wall and Murray just marking time?  I don't know the answer to these questions, but sort of wish I did.  Information on Mark Hazzard: Merc is a bit sparse, to say the least.  This series review is the only real in-depth look, as far as I can tell.

In MY humble opinion, I like the change.  Don't get me wrong, I liked Peter David's four issues for what they were, but this is more like how I imagined the series would be when I started reading it.    It sort of reminds me of old DC war comics like Star Spangled War Stories once Unknown Soldier became the focus.  One and done stories easy for new readers to get into, with recurring characters and themes for returning readers.

Overall, Issues Five through Nine of Mark Hazzard: Merc are a pretty good read.  Not great, but not bad.  Very heavily reminiscent of Bronze Age war comics.  

Up Next. . .

Let's wrap it up!  What happens next with Mark Hazzard?  Well. . .maybe not what you might expect.

Oh, and BONUS!  I'm also going to throw in an appearance by Mark Hazzard TWENTY YEARS after this series was cancelled.  What was Mark Hazzard doing in a comic book from 2006?  You're gonna find out!

Be there or be square.