The Mask (comics)
The Mask is an American comedy horror comic book series created by Mike Richardson, developed by Doug Mahnke and John Arcudi, and published by Dark Horse Comics. Its artists include Mark Badger, Chris Warner and Keith Williams. The series tells the story of a supernatural mask that grants its wearers nearly limitless power, often at the cost of their sanity.
The original trilogy of The Mask, The Mask Returns, and The Mask Strikes Back was published as a limited series, from 1991 to 1995, and has since expanded into various spin-offs and other media, including Itty Bitty Mask and the 2019 main series revival I Pledge Allegiance to the Mask!. The series is known for its dark tone and graphic violence.
Premise
The stories of The Mask revolve around a magical mask which bestows on its wearer reality-bending powers and an altered appearance, characterized by a large set of teeth and a green head. The mask affects the wearer's personality by removing all social and moral inhibitions, causing the wearer to become insane. The character was inspired by a combination of villains from DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and horror movies such as the Joker, the Green Goblin, Freddy Krueger, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Steve Ditko's the Creeper. In the original comics, Stanley Ipkiss appears to be a harmless nobody, but deep down, he harbors intense repressed anger and violence. He also holds grudges against many people over trivial matters, fantasizing about cruel scenarios where he takes revenge on them. However, once he starts wearing the Mask, he transforms into a sadistic, violent, and bloodthirsty being known as Big Head. Other characters who wore the Mask became, regardless of their intentions in donning it, cruel antiheroes or murderous, vengeful villains with ultra-violent tendencies.In contrast, in the 1994 film and the animated series, the Mask had much less predictable effects on its wearer; the main character Stanley Ipkiss is depicted as polite, meek and nebbish, but becomes a brash, confident, thieving, charismatic, dashing
and still polite supervillain who later on becomes a superhero while wearing the mask, whereas Dorian Tyrell, the main villain, retains the same basic personality while wearing the mask, only more violent. The same is true in the 2005 sequel Son of the Mask, whose main character Tim Avery is named after Tex Avery.
The title of the comic book originally referred to the mask itself and not the character it unleashed. In early stories, the character was referred to as Big Head; it was not until the films and television series that the character became known as The Mask.
Characters
- The Mask/Big Head – The titular mask is a semi-living entity possessing anyone wearing it and becoming Big Head. As such, it is both the protagonist and antagonist of the series depending on the motivations of its wearer.
- Walter – Big Head's arch-enemy - a mute, brutish man who worked for the Mob.
- Mitch Kellaway – One of the Mask's archenemies and a police officer who was one of the wearers of the mask.
- Stanley Ipkiss – The first person to encounter the Mask.
- Kathy Matthews – Also known as Katherine/Kathleen. Stanley's ex-girlfriend and a friend of Mitch, as well as one of the wearers of the mask.
- Nunzio – A long-suffering cab driver for the mob who ends up becoming one of the wearers of the Mask who used its powers to seize control of all crime in the city for a time.
- Lionel Ray – A police detective and friend of Mitch who encounters the Mask.
- Abner Mead – A political candidate who seeks to use the Mask to become the President of the United States.
- Ray Turtle – A young homeless man who used the Mask to kill his abusive former foster parents.
- Mask Hunters – A group of Neo-Nazis trying to use the Mask for their plans.
Publication history
Artist Chris Warner was hired to revamp the character based on Richardson's original APA-5 drawing and created the definitive look for the character. This new look was launched in 1989 in the pages of Dark Horse's Mayhem anthology. Aspiring writer John Arcudi and artist Doug Mahnke were hired to create the new adventures, which became the first popular use of the character, "a combination of Tex Avery and The Terminator". The Mask stories from Mayhem #1–4 were later collected as the 1991 issue The Mask #0 and also in a trade paperback collection.
Mayhem was canceled after four issues, but, in 1991, Arcudi and Mahnke continued with The Mask four issue limited series, which introduced one of the Mask's antagonists, a mute brutish hulk named Walter. This run was among Dark Horse's best sellers; following it, the company continued a succession of miniseries around the Mask, with various antagonists and protagonists wearing the mask. These series concluded in 2000 with the DC Comics crossover Joker/Mask, in which the magical Mask finds its way into the hands of Batman's arch-enemy The Joker. The first major storylines and the Joker/Mask crossover have all been collected in trade-paperback format and in a limited-edition hardcover box set. It was later revived as two spin-off series: Itty Bitty Mask and I Pledge Allegiance To The Mask!.
Original limited series
''The Mask''
In an antiques shop, a weak, neurotic man named Stanley Ipkiss shops for a gift to give to his girlfriend, Kathy Matthews. At the store he purchases an old jade mask which begins to speak to him. When Stanley wears it, he is transformed into a wacky super-powered being with an abnormally large, bald, green-skinned head and a mouthful of large teeth. After exploring his new abilities, Ipkiss goes on a rampage, taking revenge on those with whom he has a grudge, and earns the nickname Big Head.After taking the mask off, Stan begins to realize what has been happening. His acts as Big Head begin to take an emotional toll on him. He becomes verbally abusive toward Kathy. She kicks him out, but keeps the mask since it was a gift from Stanley.
Later, Stan breaks into Kathy's apartment to steal it back just as the police arrive in response to an earlier housebreaking call. Deciding his only way out is as Big Head, Stan puts the mask back on and kills multiple cops during his escape in addition to causing a great deal of property damage. He returns home as Big Head and removes the mask, preparing to leave the city; only to be shot in the back and killed by Kathy now wearing the mask, who figured out the identity of Big Head and donned the mask while Stan's back was turned after he took it off.
Kathy takes the mask to Lieutenant Kellaway for safe-keeping. Kellaway, who had been struggling with both the recent Big Head murders, and organized crime lords on the loose in his city, disregards Kathy's warnings, believing she is stressed and not thinking clearly, and tries on the mask. Becoming Big Head, Kellaway sets out to take down the crime lords who have plagued his police career.
City dwellers, not knowing of the magical mask, assumes Big Head is still the same killer whose targets are now high-profile crime lords. Despite Kellaway's good intentions, the mask causes his methods to become increasingly more violent. Big Head encounters Walter, a behemoth-sized mob muscle-man who never speaks, who has undertaken a vendetta against Big Head for killing his employers. Walter never shows pain and is the only one who can injure Big Head to any real degree.
While fighting off Walter's attacks, Lieutenant Kellaway, as Big Head, becomes the target of a police manhunt. Big Head fights off the police and tracks down the remaining mobsters. When Kellaway's partner attempts to stop Big Head, the mask-altered policeman nearly kills his friend and colleague. Kellaway, realizing what he has been doing, flees. He removes the mask, buries it in his basement in cement, and vows never to let it be worn again.
The first half of the story following Stan as Big Head was originally published in the four-issue anthology series Mayhem, between May–September 1989, and was then collected as issue #0 and the first part of the trade paperback.