| Mark Hazzard | |
|---|---|
Cover to Mark Hazzard: Merc #1 Art by Gray Morrow |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Mark Hazzard: Merc #1 |
| Created by | Archie Goodwin |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Mark Hazzard |
| Abilities | West Point graduate Years of combat experience |
Mark Hazzard: Merc was a comic book series published by Marvel Comics under their New Universe imprint. The series ran for twelve issues in 1986 and 1987, plus one Annual, which ended the series.
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Mark Hazzard's father was a career soldier who was very demanding of Mark; although Mark was generally very successful academically and as a football player, his father was perpetually disappointed in him for not being "the best." In high school, Mark met and fell in love with his future wife, Joan. After graduating from high school, he went to West Point, where he was a cadet officer. Fed up with his father's disapproval—notably his disapproval of Joan—Mark dropped out, got married, and enlisted in the United States Army. Hazzard spent three tours in Vietnam ironically enough discovering something at which he was, finally, among the best: combat. While "in country," Hazzard met his future accomplices Louis "Treetop" Barrington and Sgt. Major Peel. Returning home, Mark and Joan produced a son, Scotty, but Hazzard coundn't find work. Mark finally became a mercenary, then a mercenary commander. Under Hazzard's leadership, his mercenary crew tended to be more scrupulous than most in its choice of clients. Mark was happy, but his wife wasn't; she gave him an ultimatum, to choose between his life as a merc or their marriage.
The series ran for 12 regular issues and one annual.
After their divorce, Joan married a lawyer named Gordon, who had a strained relationship with Hazzard. Jealous, Gordon arranged for Hazzard to be sent on a mission in Iran, expecting him to die. Hazzard was rescued by his merc crew, and then investigated his betrayal. Tracking it back to Gordon, Hazzard strangled him but not before Gordon was able to inflict an ultimately fatal injury on Hazzard. Taken to a hospital, Hazzard was removed from life support at Scottie's request; Scottie believed his father would prefer it that way.
An eight page special was printed in February 2006 as a backup story in Amazing Fantasy #18 as part of a Untold Tales of the New Universe event, which was created to commemorate The 20th Anniversary of The New Universe and would also serve as a preamble to Warren Ellis' newuniversal. It was written by Tony Lee with art by Leonard Kirk.