Longbox Junk - Mark Hazzard: Merc (Part 1)

 Before we get started, I'll take a moment to address the extended break I've taken from Longbox Junk. 

Over the past year or so, life has been throwing a LOT of stuff at me. . .work stuff, family stuff, and especially health and medical stuff. . .all at the same time.  It's drastically lowered my motivation to do just about ANYTHING, and I've been in that place for a while now.

 If you've been in that mental place, then you know what I'm talking about. I'm getting better, though, so let's just leave it at that and get back into some Longbox Junk!

What better way to jump back into the Longbox Junk saddle than with a bit of New Universe?

*I know.  I USUALLY do a bunch of horror comics during October, but let's ease on back into this.

I've touched on the sad, short life of Marvel's New Universe before, with my review of the first issue of Justice, found HERE.  Boiled down, it was an ambitious experiment by Marvel to celebrate their 25th anniversary by giving readers a whole new "universe" populated with original new characters, not bogged down by 25 years of sometimes convoluted history and continuity.  

Unfortunately, for many reasons (some of them behind the scenes drama at Marvel that had nothing to do with readers) New Universe was a dud.  Four of the debut titles were cancelled within a year.  The rest struggled along for a few more years before the whole project was folded.

Mark Hazzard: Merc was one of the four launch titles that were cancelled in New Universe's first year.  It was the only one of the four that got an Annual.  It was a bit of an odd duck to begin with.  New Universe was supposed to be a more "realistic" universe, and Mark Hazzard leaned HARD into that idea.  

It's a military comic.  There are no powers.  There are no heroes.  The title character is a professional mercenary. . .a killing machine who has become detached from anything resembling a normal life.  It was different than anything else Marvel had out at the time. 

I'm going to be going through all 13 issues of this strange little artifact of the 80s.  Since this is a series review, the individual entries will be a bit shorter than my usual reviews. . .more of an overview with some commentary.   Enough introduction!  Let's take a look at Mark Hazzard: Merc!

MARK HAZZARD: MERC

PART 1: ISSUES 1 - 4

MARVEL - NEW UNIVERSE (1986)

ISSUE ONE

Bad For Business

COVER: Mark Beachum/ Joe Rubenstein

THE COVER:

It's. . .okay.  This isn't really the kind of cover that grabs me and makes me want to take a look inside.  It's not BAD, but at the same time, it's not really good.  It's definitely aimed at Punisher fans.  In MY humble opinion, the covers of ALL the first issues of the New Universe comics didn't do a great job of grabbing readers (maybe with the exception of Star Brand).  A bit of a stumble right out of the gate.  

Moving along.  Let's get inside this thing!

THE STORY:

SCRIPT: Peter David

PENCILS: Gray Morrow

INKS: Gray Morrow

Mercenary Mark Hazzard is introduced as he accepts a job in Central America for a Revolutionary group that hires the mercenary unit he leads to take down the despotic ruler of their country, dead or alive.  

We follow Hazzard as he accomplishes the mission like the violent and unmerciful professional he is.  But when he sees the people who hired him are just as bad, if not worse, than the man he's just assassinated, he breaks the deal and tries to rescue the former President's daughter.

A desperate escape ensues as the nation collapses around Mark and his men.  The President's daughter constantly tries to escape what she believes to be an abduction instead of the rescue Mark intends.  She does manage to get away and is quickly gunned down by some of her father's own soldiers.

Mark begins to realize the futility of the violent life he's chosen when he watches the President's daughter die.  Despite the protests of his men, Mark decides to skip the next assignment and try to reconnect with his own son, who he has neglected for too long.  

To be continued. . .

THE REVIEW:

When it comes to first issues I basically ask just TWO simple questions:

 First, does it introduce the characters and their situation in a new reader-friendly way?  Second, does it make me want to read more?  Two things.  That's all I ask. Is that too much?  You'd be surprised how often comic publishers can't even accomplish those two simple little things in a first issue.

So, do we get a good introduction to Mark Hazzard and his world here?  I'll give that one a yes.  Peter David is pretty much a legend in modern comics.  He's a master storyteller, and you can definitely see his signature touch here in the underlying conflict between Mark Hazzard, the man of violence and action vs. Mark Hazzard, the sad man disconnected from his own family and the rest of the "real" world. 

 It's an inner conflict of the sort that David honed during his many years of writing Hulk.  Truthfully, it seems Peter David is slumming a bit here.  This kind of story is sort of second nature to his writing style, and he makes it look easy.

Although the story is mostly focused on the violent overthrow of a Central American nation, David deftly gives us plenty of background through flashbacks to Hazzard's three tours of Vietnam, Mark's own distant military father, and his broken relationship with his family.

Second question.  Does this first issue make me want to read more?  Thanks to Peter David's great writing, I'd say yes.  The picture is painted of a violent man beyond redemption, but IS he?  It's a pretty good hook.  

On the art side of things, prolific longtime comic artist Gray Morrow delivers.  This is by no means his BEST work, but it's solid and tells the story well, even if Morrow doesn't step too far out of the lines to try and give us something special.  It's not GREAT art, but it's good art, and actually better than some of the other New Universe first issues.  

Overall, this was a pretty good first issue.  Not a comic masterpiece, but solid work from two great professionals.  Peter David and Gray Morrow make a pretty good team here.

Let's see what's next, shall we?  WE SHALL!

ISSUE TWO

Balk

COVER: Mark Beachum/ Joe Rubenstein

THE COVER:

This one is just bad.  I think the red machine gun is what REALLY sets me off on this one.  For a series that was trying to be a grounded look at the life of a broken military man trying to reconnect with family and reality, a red machine gun just completely fails the whole mission.  The art itself is okay, but the whole concept of this cover doesn't reflect ANYTHING this comic has to offer.  It's a bit of joke, to be completely honest.

Enough of this.  Let's get inside.

THE STORY:

SCRIPT: Peter David

PENCILS: Gray Morrow

INKS: Gray Morrow

First, I'm not sure if it's some sort of printing error, but my copy of issue two is extremely washed out.  Some pages can barely be read, so I only put a couple of page scans in this one. Apologies for the crappy quality.

Mark Hazzard decides it's time to reconnect with his son, Scott.  He surprises Scott by agreeing to attend one of his baseball games.  His ex-wife, Joan is skeptical and her new husband, Greg is angry at Mark trying to insert himself into their lives after two years of being totally absent.

Greg vents to one of his clients, Henri Graymalkin, without realizing Graymalkin wants Mark Hazzard dead for interfering with his business sometime prior to the first issue.  Armed with the information of exactly when and where Hazzard will be, Graymalkin dispatches three assassins.

At the ball game, Mark tries his best just to be there for his son, but he can't help taking control by intimidating the coach into letting Scott play more.  

During a break, the first assassin attacks Hazzard in the bathroom.  After taking him down, Mark returns to the game, only for the second assassin to strike.  Mark stabs and kills him in full view of the crowd.  The third assassin sees he's out of his league with Hazzard and takes one of the young ball players hostage to try and make his escape. 

The horrified crowd watches as Mark makes it clear he's willing to shoot through the hostage to take down the assassin.  When the hitman's gun jams and he tries to get away, Mark kills the defenseless man.   

Mark's ex-wife is livid and berates him for bringing his violent world along with him to a Little League game of all places.  Later, at the gym with his mercenary team, Mark wonders if it's even possible for him to have a normal life.

To be continued. . .

THE REVIEW:  

Peter David continues to dig deep into the conflict between the violent world of Mark Hazzard, Merc vs.  the sad world of Mark Hazzard, divorced dad.  It's really what he seems to do best.  It's the same sort of  "Man vs. Monster" inner battle that played out over his many years of writing Hulk.  

This issue really illustrates the conflict as Mark Hazzard's violent world collides with the normal world of people just going to a Little League game.  His later anguish over not being able to live a normal life could have come straight from a comic featuring the similarly tortured Bruce Banner.  

On the art side, Gray Morrow's work in this issue is actually a bit improved over that in the debut issue (it might be hard to tell with the state of the pages I scanned).  The art is nothing fancy, just good solid art that tells the story at hand, but doesn't try to step outside of what it's supposed to be.

Overall, I'm getting the impression that this is a sort of undercover Incredible Hulk story. . .with guns.  That's not a BAD thing.  Peter David is best known as a Hulk writer, so it makes sense that he's brought that along with him into this series.  

NEXT! 

ISSUE THREE

Philadelphia Freedom

COVER: Mark Beachum/Joe Rubenstein

THE COVER:

Okay, not bad.  Not great, but I like this one.  It's a gritty portrait of the main character that succeeds with simplicity.  I admit, I'm a bit of a sucker for portrait covers.  This isn't the best portrait cover I've ever seen, but it's a big improvement on the covers of the first two issues.  

Let's check out the story!

THE STORY:

TRIGGER ALERT!

The next two issues deal with Mark Hazzard working for the Israeli Mossad against Palestinian terrorists in Philadelphia.  The Israelis are the good guys.  If the previous two sentences triggers you in ANY way, meet up with me again in part two of this series, which picks up with issue five.  You have been duly warned.  Everybody in that's staying in?  Okay, let's do this!

SCRIPT: Peter David

PENCILS: Sam De La Rosa (as Jack Fury) & Alan Kupperberg

INKS: Sam De La Rosa (as Jack Fury)

After the violent events of last issue, Mark Hazzard is being grilled by the police over his involvement.  Luckily for Mark, the investigating officer is a friend of his, and we're introduced to Lt. Claire Burnett.  She's willing to give Hazzard the benefit of the doubt, but tells him not to leave town during the investigation.

Immediately after agreeing to stick around, Mark gets a call from an old contact in the Israeli Mossad named Jacob Ram with an out of town job in Philadelphia as the bodyguard for an Israeli diplomat during a parade .   Mark initially tells him no because of something that happened 3 years ago, but when Ram tells him an old rival of Hazzard's named Jarret Wolfson will also be on the job, Mark agrees. . .as long as he can be in charge.  He sees it as an opportunity to rub an old grudge in Wolfson's face.

In Philly, there's immediate friction between Hazzard and Wolfson, but that's the way Hazzard wanted it anyway.  They meet the Israeli diplomat, Eli Wisenthal, and the parade begins.  As expected, Palestinian terrorists attack!  During the battle, the terrorists manage to grab Wisenthal and escape while the Philadelphia police arrest Hazzard.

Hazzard's Mossad contact breaks him out of jail.  The terrorists have holed up in an apartment building and are threatening to kill their hostage, Wisenthal, unless Israel releases over 200 terrorist prisoners.  Jacob Ram is convinced the only way Wisenthal makes it out alive is if Hazzard goes in.

After a tense room-to-room shootout, Hazzard rescues Wisenthal and lets Jacob Ram know in no uncertain terms to never call him again.  He's put together that Ram purposely made him and Wisenthal  the expendable fall guys so the Mossad could draw the Palestinians out and interrogate the survivors (which we see Ram doing toward the end of the issue).

Mark returns to New York and is rewarded for his efforts by getting arrested by Lt. Burnett for leaving the city while under investigation.  

To be continued. . .

THE REVIEW:

This issue doesn't really explore the two conflicting sides of Mark Hazzard, but instead focuses on his worse tendencies and addiction to a violent life.  He breaks the trust of a friend, takes on a job he doesn't really want to do for a person he doesn't really want to work for, then gets arrested and almost killed several times JUST to settle a grudge with an old rival.

The focus is on action here, with a good helping of international politics thrown in.  We do get some character development for Hazzard as we explore a bit more of the Merc side of Mark Hazzard: Merc.  We learn he's got a history with both the NYPD and Mossad.  

I like that Peter David didn't really give us an "origin" issue, but starts Hazzard's story in the middle of it, with little bits here and there filling in the sketch of the character as we go along.  This issue was a nice break from the dark inner conflict of the first two issues

On the art side, the ongoing issues with the New Universe in general begins to show up here, with a new art team and two pencillers for this single issue, with the series only three chapters deep.  That said, the art team delivers nicely.  

This was an action-heavy issue and the art has a nice sense of movement and motion.  I liked Gray Morrow's art on the first two issues, but prolific comic veteran Alan Kupperberg, along with Sam De La Rosa (working under the alias of Jack Fury, who we will be seeing a LOT more of next issue) gave me a nice change of pace here.

Overall, this is probably my favorite issue of the series so far.  A solid story with good art, lots of action and a bit of character development.  Nothing wrong with that.

Let's wrap this up!

ISSUE FOUR

Bar None

COVER: Unknown (probably Jack Fury)

THE COVER:

I couldn't find a solid source for the cover artist on this issue, but if you take a look at the massive creator credit list below, it's not surprising.  The New Universe problems were starting to kick in.  That said, it's not a bad cover.  It's got a nice sense of motion and some interesting detail going on.  It's not a GREAT cover, but at least it's got some presence.

Let's check out the story!

THE STORY:

SCRIPT: Peter David

PENCILS: Alan Kupperberg, Gray Morrow (as Jack Fury), Jim Fern (as Jack Fury), 

Art Nichols (as Jack Fury) & Sam De La Rosa (as Jack Fury)

INKS: Gray Morrow (as Jack Fury), Jim Fern (as Jack Fury), Art Nichols (as Jack Fury) &

Sam De La Rosa (as Jack Fury)

AKA: The most artists I think I've ever seen on one single random issue!  

Let's recap:  Over the past three issues Mark Hazzard has. . .

-Killed two men in full view of  dozens of spectators at a Little League baseball game.

-Has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism in another state following a deadly public shootout in broad daylight witnessed by hundreds of people at a parade. . .after being warned not to leave New York while the baseball killings are investigated.

-Broke out of jail with the assistance of a foreign intelligence agency.

-Has been arrested a SECOND time upon returning to New York.

To add insult to injury, his ex-wife and her new husband are like, "Can you PLEASE just go away again?", while Mark's son is like, "You're cool, dad!  If you have a problem, you just shoot it!", which was NOT what Mark wanted in reconnecting with his son.  

This issue starts with Mark sitting in jail and reflecting on the dire consequences of his actions over the past. . .well. . .in comic book time, this series has covered about ONE WEEK.  His kid is loving the violence, the Feds are NOT so pleased, and neither is his NYPD contact, whose career is taking a hit over her trusting Hazzard to stay in New York instead of putting him in jail like she should have.

But along comes Agent Dirkson, of "The Company" AKA a Federal Agency interested in a man of Mark's violent talents to carry out some jobs definitely NOT approved by Congress against citizens of the United States.  

It's one of those offers that can't be refused.  Mark is looking at hard time.  Dirkson can make that all go away.  So he'd be crazy not to take the offer, so Mark takes it, right?  RIGHT?  We'll see.

Little does Mark or  Dirkson know, but there's a mole on the NYPD.  He's Irham, a member of the Palestinian terror cell Mark took down last issue.  He meets up with Besq, the brother of one of the said terrorists who Mark killed.  Besq is bent on revenge and Irham helps him put his plan in motion.

They steal a bus and begin kidnapping people Mark has recently been in contact with. . .Dirkson, Lt. Burnett and her husband, and even Mark's lawyer.  When Hazzard shows up at midnight to give Dirkson his answer about working for him, he's met by the two terrorists and their hostages.

Mark let's himself be taken prisoner after the terrorists kill LT. Burnett's husband.  But as the bus leaves, they are ambushed by Mark's mercenary team.  A firefight breaks out and Mark and his team manage to kill the terrorists and rescue the hostages. . .but they are forced to make a hasty escape when the NYPD starts showing up.

The next day, Mark visits with his son.  He didn't take Dirkson's deal and is trusting the legal system to keep him out of prison.  He's out on bail, but what happens next is completely up in the air.

To be continued. . .

THE REVIEW:

Once again, Peter David gives us a pretty good "worlds collide" story as Mark realizes that his son is looking up to him in a completely wrong way, and that his actions have affected other people's lives in a terrible way. . .Lt. Burnett is being investigated and her husband is dead because of Mark.

  In the end, faced with a choice of solving his problems with violence by working with Dirkson, or facing the consequences of his actions and providing a better example for his son, Hazzard chooses the high road.  It brings a nice touch of humanity and hope for redemption for the character and leaves what happens next wide open.

This was Peter David's last issue, and he closed off his time writing Mark Hazzard: Merc in a great way, making his four issues a very nice little self-contained story arc.  This series was never collected, but I think these first four issues would make a decent little Trade.

On the art side of things.

Take a look at the creator credits up there!  That's FIVE pencillers and FOUR inkers on this ONE issue!

Most of them working under the alias "Jack Fury" to keep the title splash from reading like a who's who of 80's Marvel fill-in art talent.

New Universe was notorious for its unstable roster of writers and artists, and we get our first taste of that here.  There are five artists at work here, and you can definitely see it.  Mind you, they're five pretty good artists, so it's not as bad as you'd think, but there are places where the switch is a bit jarring.

Overall, this was a good wrap-up for Peter David's time writing this series.    

CONCLUSION

Mark Hazzard: Merc is one of the most unloved New Universe titles.  I think maybe Kickers Inc. would be the only New Universe series to top a "worst of" list over Mark Hazzard: Merc.  

This is a series you can collect the entirety of from the bargain bin, and if you do gather the whole run, you might as well forget about reselling anything other than the first issue, and even the first issue would be a big "maybe" for a buck or two.  What I'm saying is that this series IS Longbox Junk in the minds of many collectors.

BUT. . .

If you're a fan of Peter David's writing, don't sleep on what he did here.  It's worth checking out.  He deftly transferred the dual conflict he spent over a decade perfecting with the Hulk to the four issues he did of Mark Hazzard: Merc.  Instead of the more familiar man vs. monster conflict, he shifted it a bit to give a story about violence vs responsibility.  

In four short issues we get (1) a man who realizes his life has gone to hell, (2) tries to fix things, (3) falls back on his old ways, and finally (4) faces the consequence of his actions.  That's a pretty heavy load for four issues of a military action comic to carry.  Peter David is a good enough writer that he makes it look easy.

Like I said above, this series was never collected, but at least THESE four issues would make a nice little trade paperback.  You can find these issues pretty easily in the bargain bins, so I would definitely recommend comic fans who might not know about this decent little Peter David story go do a little Longbox Junkin' and check it out.

And that's that for Part One of my look at Mark Hazzard: Merc.  This was Peter David's last issue and he left things completely open and up in the air.  What happens next?  Find out in Part Two, coming soon!

Be there or be square.