Cover: Tom Mandrake

Batman #386

Aug 1985 · DC · 0.75 USD; 0.95 CAD; 0.35 GBP

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“Black Mask: Losing Face”

★ 1st appearance — Black Mask★ 1st appearance — Roman Sionis

About this Issue

Batman #386 is the debut issue of Black Mask (Roman Sionis), one of the most significant additions to Batman's rogues gallery in the Copper Age — and the only villain co-created during Doug Moench's 1980s Batman run to become a genuine, recurring presence across decades of subsequent stories by other writers. The character's psychological architecture — a dark-mirror reflection of Bruce Wayne, a wealthy heir undone by his own obsession with masks and false identities — gave him a thematic richness that allowed writers to keep returning to him long after his creators had moved on. That resonance ultimately carried Black Mask from the comics page into animation, video games, live-action television, and a starring role as the main antagonist of the 2020 DCEU film Birds of Prey, portrayed by Ewan McGregor.

writer Doug Moench · artist, inker Tom Mandrake · colorist Adrienne Roy · letterer John Costanza · cover Tom Mandrake

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $45

CGC 9.8 · 461 in census $219*

CGC 9.6 · 489 in census $130*

CGC 9.4 · 294 in census $109

CGC 9.2 · 177 in census $77*

CGC 9.0 · 145 in census $77*

CGC 8.5 · 115 in census $74

Show all 18 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 77 in census $70

CGC 7.5 · 58 in census $65*

CGC 7.0 · 38 in census $62*

CGC 6.5 · 20 in census $58*

CGC 6.0 · 27 in census $48*

CGC 5.5 · 12 in census $48

CGC 5.0 · 10 in census $39*

CGC 4.5 · 2 in census $29*

CGC 4.0 · 1 in census $24*

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 3.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 2.5 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

More listings for this title

VG $9.99 FN/VF $39.81 FN/VF $60 CGC 5.5 $60 VG+ $66 VG $66 FN $67 NM- $72.24

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History

The issue was written by Doug Moench during his first run on the Batman title (1983–1986), a period in which he arrived at DC after leaving Marvel over a dispute with editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, and was immediately tasked with writing both Batman and Detective Comics simultaneously. Artist Tom Mandrake, a Kubert School graduate already working in DC's stable, provided both pencils and inks, with Adrienne Roy on colors and Len Wein editing; Mandrake's shadowy, expressionistic line work set a deliberately pulp-noir visual tone that suited a villain the cover copy explicitly positioned as 'a villain for the '80s.' The three-part introductory arc was structured as a crossover between the two Bat-titles Moench was writing, opening in Batman #386, continuing in Detective Comics #553 (with art by Klaus Janson), and concluding in Batman #387.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance and complete origin story of Black Mask (Roman Sionis), published with a cover date of August 1985 under the story title 'Black Mask: Losing Face.'
Created by writer Doug Moench and artist Tom Mandrake; full credits include colorist Adrienne Roy, letterer John Costanza, and editor Len Wein.
Also marks the first appearance of the False Face Society, Black Mask's mask-wearing criminal gang, and the character Circe (the disfigured model used as Black Mask's pawn).
Part 1 of a 3-part crossover arc, continued in Detective Comics #553 ('The False Face Society of Gotham,' art by Klaus Janson) and concluded in Batman #387.
The story establishes that Roman Sionis and Bruce Wayne share a childhood social connection — the Sionis and Wayne families moved in the same elite Gotham circles — giving Black Mask a direct personal vendetta against Bruce Wayne from his very first appearance.
Black Mask's signature weapon — a mask carved from the wood of his father's ebony coffin — is introduced and its origin fully explained in this issue.
The issue was reprinted as a DC Dollar Comics edition in 2020, confirming its ongoing relevance to new readers; known variants include a Newsstand edition, a Canadian price variant, and a Mark Jeweler advertisement insert variant.
Black Mask has since appeared in the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010, voiced by Wade Williams), the animated series The Batman, the Batman: Arkham video game franchise, and as the lead villain in the 2020 live-action DCEU film Birds of Prey, portrayed by Ewan McGregor.