The Mask (Mini-Series)

(Dark Horse, 1991)
™ and ©1991 Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

Long before Jim Carrey inherited the ancient face-gear, the original comic series existed, and was a very different beast, running as the Masque in Dark Horse Presents #10–15 and #18–21. A make-over resulted in a more familiar version, where ultraviolence with high body counts and rivers of blood is tempered with slapstick humor and bad jokes. The first mini-series [reprinted here from Mayhem #1-4] has Stanley Ipkiss, a “loser” of a bank teller from Edge City, discovering an old mask. When he puts the mask on he’s transformed into a maniacal, bloodthirsty, wisecracking vigilante. To prevent some gangsters from robbing his bank, Stanley destroys half the city, and consequently makes an enemy for life in the mute, unstoppable thug known only as Walter. The strengths of the series lie in the ludicrous props the Mask seems to pull from thin air, and the imaginative way he dispatches his enemies in the fashion of an acid-crazed merging of Tom & Jerry and Charles Manson.

Jump to issue:

Notes

Writer

Artist