According to Taskmaster, his outfit has ‘panache’ and it’s award winning (three-years running ‘Best Skull Costume’). Taskmaster #1’s cast comprises of writer Jed McKay, currently best known for his run on Black Cat, side by side with Alessandro Vitti on art, colors by Guru-eFX, and letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna.

Taskmaster is a catspaw, a hired-sword, a hired-gun, a hired-whatever you like. So, what can go wrong with a little crime in the opening of the book?

Only he didn’t do it. And someone (none other than assa-chnid extraordinaire Black Widow) is after him to kill him. There is arrow-shooting, golf-playing and spy-infiltrating action, all in one issue, as the task is laid at hand: the only way Taskmaster can prove his innocence is to find out who killed Maria Hill.

So, he’s hired by Nick Fury Jr. that lays before him an impossible task: Taskmaster has to spy on and imitate three of the most shadowy characters on the 616-Earth. In the case of Taskmaster, the famous proverb changes from ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’, to ‘what you can see and remember won’t kill you.’

Taskmaster #1 is a cavalier adventure of gallivanting and skulduggery with a make-it-as-I-go trickster in the middle. Taskmaster might be over his head in this one, but he is no joke. The jokes on the other hand (narrative and visual, including the SFX splortch) are what make this book have the insurmountable panache of the Taskmaster’s costume.

The artwork is a bit more realistic and coarser than average-Marvel style, but it does work with the down-and-dirty character of everyone except the Taskmaster. Taskmaster is a loveable, disoriented murder-kitten that is lost and Taskmaster #1 is the way to this murder-kitten.