Dark Horse Presents #10

History

Mike Richardson first conceived the Mask concept in 1982, refining it into a sketch for the amateur press publication APA-5 in 1985, where he envisioned the character as a dark hybrid of DC's Joker and Steve Ditko's Creeper. After founding Dark Horse Comics in 1986, Richardson pitched the idea to Mark Badger, a writer-artist who had done work for Marvel on titles including *The Incredible Hulk* and *Doctor Strange*; Badger agreed to develop it as a strip for *Dark Horse Presents*, but insisted on respelling the title 'Masque' — his way, Richardson later said, of putting his own stamp on it. The resulting strip, which debuted in issue #10 under editor Randy Stradley, was deliberately surreal and politically charged, with Badger steering the mythology toward South American political allegory rather than Richardson's original straightforward dark-fantasy concept. That creative divergence ultimately caused Richardson to end the strip after roughly a year's worth of issues, clearing the way for the definitive 1989 Mayhem redesign by Chris Warner, John Arcudi, and Doug Mahnke.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of The Mask, initially published under the title 'The Masque' — writer-artist Mark Badger changed the spelling as his own creative signature on the character.
• The 'Masque' strip was written and drawn by Mark Badger; the character's underlying concept originated with Dark Horse Comics founder Mike Richardson, who had been developing the idea since 1982.
• The issue is a black-and-white anthology containing three stories: the Concrete installment 'Straight in the Eye' (script and art by Paul Chadwick), 'Masque Part 1' (script and art by Mark Badger), and 'Sole Survivors' (script by Randy Stradley, art by Tony Salmons).
• The cover is by Paul Chadwick, reflecting Concrete's status as the series' flagship character at the time; Randy Stradley served as editor.
• In the debut story, the Masque is depicted as a chaotic, surreal force in a hallucinatory Manhattan environment — a tone markedly different from the more familiar green-skinned, zoot-suited 'Big Head' who would later be redesigned for the 1989 Mayhem anthology.
• The Masque strip ran for approximately ten issues of Dark Horse Presents before Richardson discontinued it, feeling the narrative had drifted too far into political territory away from his original vision for the character.
• The character was subsequently overhauled by editor Chris Warner, writer John Arcudi, and artist Doug Mahnke for Dark Horse's Mayhem anthology in 1989, creating the version that became the basis for the 1994 film starring Jim Carrey.
• The early Masque strip from Dark Horse Presents has never been collected in trade paperback form, making these original anthology issues the sole print home for the character's debut appearances.

Full credits

Key issues in Dark Horse Presents