Posted in: Comics, Dark Horse Comics | Tagged: Christopher Cantwell, maga, make america green again, the mask

Dark Horse's "The Mask" Returns From "Halt And Catch Fire" Creator Christopher Cantwell to 'Make America Green Again' #MAGA

Published Fri, 12 Jul 2019 08:00:13 -0500

The concept of The Mask was created by Mike Richardson in 1982, and first published as a single sketch he drew in 1985 for APA-5, an amateur press publication created by writer Mark Verheiden. After starting Dark Horse Comics, Richardson pitched his concept to writer/artist Mark Badger. The outcome was the Masque strip, that ran in the early issues of Dark Horse Presents. Badger's strips became more political, and Richardson ended the strip because it was too far from his original concept.

Artist Chris Warner was then hired to redesign the character based on Richardson's original APA-5 drawing and created the more familiar look for the character, given a new launch in 1989 in the pages of Dark Horse's Mayhem anthology. John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke were hired to create the new adventures as "a combination of Tex Avery and The Terminator".

Mayhem was canceled after four issues, but in 1991 Arcudi and Mahnke continued with The Mask four-issue limited series. 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. The original trilogy of The Mask, The Mask Returns, and The Mask Strikes Back were published as limited series from 1991 to 1995.

But it was as the 1994 movie starring Jim Carrey and directed by Chuck Russell, that The Mask gained true fame, and became the first hit film based on a comic book that very few had heard of – preceding Men in Black. The 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 and in a limited edition hardcover box set.

And aside from an 'Itty Bitty' iteration from Franco and Baltazar five years ago, that has been it for the past twenty years.

Until now.

The Mask: I Pledge Allegiance to the Mask!, is a new four-issue limited series written by Christopher Cantwell, co-creator of AMC's computer-based drama, Halt And Catch Fire and drawn by Patric Reynolds of Joe Golem.

"In a time when we're constantly being bombarded from every corner by absurdity, amorality, public violence, pure chaos, apathy, and real moral darkness in the country, it felt like no better time than to bring the original punk underground spirit of The Mask back to confront where we are as a nation," Cantwell said in a statement to Forbes, "The Mask has been gone for nearly 20 years, and now, the world is completely on f—ing fire. The world is ANGRY, HATEFUL, SPLITTING AT THE SEAMS. There is no truth anymore. There is only hysteria and a cacophony of disparate shouting voices. There is so much institutional crime on an ethical and moral scale that it washes over you in waves of misery that also sadly have the effect of dental novocaine. Worse, a lot of people seem to LOVE IT."

Two decades ago, a mysterious artifact of nearly limitless power was buried under concrete in the basement of an apartment building. However, the Mask refuses to remain hidden for long and before humanity knows what hit it, the "Big Head" killer is back on a Tex Avery-inspired murder spree. To make matters infinitely worse, the latest crazed wearer of the object is running for president on the slogan of (you guessed it, dear reader) "Make America green again!" The result is a pitch black parable that eerily echoes the modern political climate in the United States.

"It's the perfect time for Big Head to reemerge, because not only have people grown numb to radical extremism, nationalism, hate, vitriol, and politics-as-sport… they thirst for it, like blood," continued Cantwell. "If Big Head ran for President today… he'd have a ton of support. He'd have a real chance of winning. Even though he's a murderer, even though he's violently insane. I channelled all my anger, fear, and cynicism into a story, and tried to create something as pitch black, profane, ugly, and nihilistic as my own hopes for America right now in 2019. I scared myself writing this book. I didn't realize how angry I was. I think we could very well be lurching towards a President Big Head-style Doomsday very soon… and maybe we're already in one."