The eponymous Mark Hazzard is an American ex-soldier, a Vietnam veteran who now leads "The Shop", a small team of freelance mercenaries. Hazzard generally tries to do the right thing, pushing his team to refuse (or subvert) any contracts that seem morally wrong.
The series was one of eight titles launched to introduce the New Universe, a shared world unrelated to the existing Marvel Universe. It was initially billed as “the world outside your window”, a setting which only diverged from the real world when a single Mass Empowering Event granted some people superpowers.
Marc Hazzard: Merc, however, didn't involve any superpowers at all (or any hi-tech gadgets, for that matter). Hazzard, his foes and his allies were all normal humans - the series entirely ignored the existence of the new "paranormals" and didn't cross-over with any of the other New Universe titles.
It was initially written by Peter David, but after four issues David left and the remainder of the run was written by Doug Murray. There was no consistent art team for most of the comic's run, but Gray Morrow (who also drew the first two issues) was the most frequent penciller, often working with inker Vince Colletta. Between them, John Wellington and Andy Yanchus provide color art for almost all of the series.
In the first few issues, David's stories mix Hazzard's mercenary work with sub-plots involving his ex-wife and his son, with Mark wanting to be a bigger part of his son's life but conscious that he was unreliable and frequently absent due to the nature of his work.
In contrast, Murray's run focuses almost entirely on Hazzard's overseas mercenary work, with the civilian supporting cast losing focus, new conflict between Mark and his colleagues in The Shop, and the introduction of more supporting characters in military or mercenary careers.
The series was cancelled after twelve issues and an annual were published, with the last arc bringing a definite ending to Mark's story, revisiting and resolving old plot threads from the beginning of the book. Some of the supporting cast eventually reappeared in another New Universe book, Psi-Force.
An Untold Tales of the New Universe Mark Hazzard story was later published in Amazing Fantasy in 2006, to mark the 20th anniversary of the New Universe.
After the New Universe was connected to the Marvel Universe, an alternative version of Hazzard also appeared in the 2015 Squadron Sinister miniseries as part of the wider Secret Wars event.
Mark Hazzard: Merc includes the following tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Subverted. In the second issue of the series, one of Gordon's wealthy clients is only too happy to arrange Mark's murder. The attempt fails but Mark has no idea that Gordon was behind it. A couple of issues later, after Doug Murray takes over as writer, Mark's family drops Out of Focus and we don't see any more of Gordon. Then, towards the end off the final arc, Mark discovers that it's Gordon and his client who betrayed him to Iran - leading to his imprisonment and torture, as well as his pilot's execution by firing squad. The subsequent confrontation ends with Gordon and Mark killing each other.
- Artistic License – Law Enforcement: After terrorists attack an Israel Day parade in Philadelphia, Jacob Ram tells the American police they must hand the prisoners over to him, as a representative of Israel, because the target was Israeli. And they immediately do (after which he executes the terrorists by feeding them to his dogs, although presumably he doesn’t tell the police about that bit).
- Badass Normal: Played with. Mark and his allies are very competent normal humans in a setting which involves superhumans. But we never get to see them confront any of those 'paranormals' before the series ends.
- Bait-and-Switch Comparison: Jacob Ram says he's going to feed the captured terrorists to his dogs. Mark replies that he doesn't care and leaves. The story then jumps between Ram's terrified captives and Mark, who may be changing his mind - "I'm not going to let this continue. I couldn't live with myself if I permitted this...". Mark's actually watching Rambo at the cinema, hating it, and ranting about how he should stop the screening.
- Construction Vehicle Rampage: After the attack on Philadelphia's Israel Day events, Jacob Ram swings a wrecking ball into the building where the terrorists are holding their hostages. Mark actually rides the wrecking ball on the first strike, jumping in through a window just before it hits.
- Daddy Didn't Show: This seems to have been a theme in Mark's recent life, and he's not always been there for Scott. At the point when the series starts, he's determined to do better (and his ex-wife is shocked when he actually does turn up to Scott's baseball game).
- Downer Ending: Joan's second husband, Gordon, betrays Mark again. This time it gets traced back to him, Mark confronts him in their house and they kill each other. Scott arrives to find his father dying in a pool of blood, his step-father dead, and his mother understandably shocked. Mark later dies in hospital when he's taken off life support.
- It's softened a little bit by Mark's old comrades telling more positive stories about how he met and helped them, but only a little.
- First Father Wins: Gordon is very insecure about Mark's role in Scott and Joan's lives, especially when he gets more actively involved with his son's life again. This then leads to his Start of Darkness (and eventually Mark's death, as well as his own) when he gets one of his wealthy clients involved.
- I Have No Son!: Mark - who never got on with his father - makes some blunt comments when talking to his mother after his father's death. She cuts ties and tells him not to come back again.
- The Ingenue: The president's daughter in the first issue is a sheltered, naïve girl who seems to genuinely believe that her father was a good man. When Mark realises that she's now going to be raped by the rebels, he breaks the contract to rescue her - but as the mercenaries of The Shop killed her father, she refuses to cooperate and eventually gets herself killed.
- Killed Off for Real: Mark dies in the annual, with the last issue of the series retitled Merc and focusing on the Sgt. Major and Lin in Afghanistan.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: Mal, who gets Mark involved when his sister's supposedly been kidnapped by the leader of a biker gang. The biker is actually her boyfriend and it's just that Mal doesn't approve - but by the point that Mark realises that, the violence has already started.
- New Season, New Title: The final issue is simply Merc on its cover, as it focuses on Lin and the Sgt. Major instead of Mark (who was Killed Off for Real in the annual). It keeps the old title for indicia and copyright purposes.
- Patricide: Downplayed and justified, as he's following Mark's own wishes, but Scott is the one to say that Mark's life support should be switched off.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Although the series is set in the shared New Universe, none of its super-powered paranormals appear (or are even mentioned) before it ends.
- Taken Off Life Support: Mark himself. His son Scott tells the doctor that he wouldn't have wanted to live on that way.
- Take That!: An early issue has Mark watching a Rambo film. He hates every second of it and considers shooting the projectionist, burning the prints and finding a way to stop Sylvester Stallone.
- Writer on Board: Peter David's final two issues are set against the background of the Arab–Israeli Conflict and don't offer many shades of grey. David's written elsewhere about his views on Israel's right to self-defence.
- The Arab terrorists are gleefully murderous - and the only Arab-American police officer is revealed to be an infiltrator working on their behalf.
- The moderate Israeli representative is a well-meaning but naive man who's almost killed by the terrorists (and, prior to that, is immediately cut off by Mark when he starts to talk about the problems the Palestinians face).
- Mossad's Jacob Ram decides to execute the captured Arab terrorists by feeding them to his dogs, commenting that he wonders what Allah will think of their remains being consumed by an 'unclean' animal. Mark, for his part, is shown to be absolutely fine with this - in fact, it’s the punchline to a Bait-and-Switch joke where his growing discomfort is actually aimed at the Rambo film he's watching.
