Written by Peter David
Art by Gray Morrow; Rick Parker; & D. Martin
Cover Art by ‘B/R’
SUMMARY:
Published by Marvel Comics’ New Universe imprint for December 1986, this issue is entitled “Balk.” Relaxing at a friend’s shooting range, professional mercenary Mark Hazzard boasts to his gun-packing cronies that he is going unarmed to his son Scott’s Little League game. Scott’s resentful step-father, Gordon, inadvertently tips off one of Hazzard’s enemies about the opportunity of assassinating the mercenary at the ball game.
With his young son (cheering him on) and ex-wife Joan present amidst the ballgame’s witnesses, Hazzard single-handedly must take down multiple hitmen and protect bystanders.
REVIEW:
Consider it an uninspired knock-off of The Punisher. Hence, the cover image is unambiguous. As good of a writer as Peter David is, he is slumming here. It’s hard to fathom what audience he means to impress with this trigger-happy vigilante fantasy. For instance, Hazzard stabs one baddie in the chest and eliminates another with a gunshot to the face, as the art team deliberately minimizes the bloodshed.
Against common sense, Marvel Comics doesn’t include a parental advisory label re: its violence quotient. Replacing Marvel’s kid-friendly, super-hero theatrics with savage PG-13 street violence is a socially reckless game this comic seems to be playing with a potential young audience. Further, David’s ultra-thin script adds nothing new to one-dimensional action-hero caricatures, like Hazzard, as his 80’s Schwarzenegger/Stallone ‘blow’ em away’ gimmick telegraphs every supposed twist.
Lastly, this comic’s middling artwork has noticeably faded over time, so there really isn’t a redeeming asset for Mark Hazzard: Merc # 2.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
In additional to a weekly issue checklist, there’s Marvel’s half-page “Universe News” column from Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 2 Stars
