Masks Volume 1 (MASKS TP)

Masks collects the Dynamite comics series bringing together a ton of pulp heroes, including the Shadow, the Green Hornet, the Spider, Miss Fury, the Black Terror, and many others. The story, by Chris Roberson, gives us the state of New York under the grip of the fascist Justice Party. This is a corrupt political party, essentially run by gangsters, meting out terror and oppression under the name of the law. The notion that a state government could be so easily subverted, and the streets of New York start being patrolled by an army of masked, armored thugs feels very pulpy, in the spirit of the characters it teams up.Unfortunately, the story ultimately feels so busy and crowded that nobody really gets much of a chance to do anything. The Shadow gets his best lines, with his “Why don’t you all quit screwing around,” attitude. Others, like Miss Fury and the Green Lama, end up making token appearances. We get the origins of the Black Bat and a new Zorro, but ultimately, their roles could have been played by anybody, and that makes the story feel kind of pointless.For that matter, the revelation of the villain behind everything, and his motivation, seems very perfunctory and rushed. It’s a character we’re supposed to know, but we never see him out of the context of being a villain. He ascribes more complex motivations for his plan than we see on the surface, but it’s difficult to believe him when we only ever see him doing anything besides masterminding this fascist organization. Also, things get wrapped up so easily it’s hard to imagine how they got so bad in the first place.Fortunately, it’s got great art by Alex Ross on the first chapter, and Dennis Calero through the rest of the book. While I hadn’t thought of Calero’s pen-and-ink work with its heavy use of shadow as particularly similar to Alex Ross’s painted pages, they share a lot in terms of layout and character acting. So the whole thing feels like a cohesive whole, despite what, on the surface, are two very similar styles.As a huge fan of the Shadow, it’s hard for me to pass up any story featuring him. And this is a very pretty one, but also very slight.

I probably like this little collection more than I should. In a lot of ways, it serves the same purpose to me that the 1990s Marvel crossover comics did, a way to introduce me to a set of characters I may not have known or was only dimly aware of. I wonder, as so many people have, what this collection could have been like had Alex Ross painted more than just the first issue. But...none of that takes away from the sheer joy of a good old-fashioned pulp fiction crossover. It's September 1938. A new party calling itself the Justice Party has taken over the state of New York but all is not well. A disparate group of pulp avengers smell a rat and their search for answers...ahh, I'll just stop there. I could be nice and dramatic but the truth is this story is an excuse to team up characters who never would have been on the same page before now.What makes a lot of this story work is the contrasting pairings. The Shadow (an old favorite of mine and the reason I picked up this crossover in the first place) is a hyper-focused force of nature whose constant thirst for universal justice clashes with the Green Hornet's desire to keep things within certain bounds (though interestingly enough, his partner Kato seems to appreciate the Shadow's position a bit more). The Black Bat and a 20th Century version of Zorro find common ground through wanting to protect the innocent, even if they started off in different places (district attorney and unemployed writer/illustrator). But the most fun pairing (and the one I wished I'd seen more of) was Miss Fury and the Green Lama. The wisecracking, New York socialite (who probably served as a prototype for Catwoman and Batgirl) is such a contrast to the constantly mellow mystic who acts like the 1930s version of a hippie.I should mention that there's a nice subtext about the utterly reasonable face of fascism and a dissection on why it ultimately fails. But I'll let you read the book for such details. I will add that anyone who finds the wrap-up a bit unbelievable obviously has no knowledge of that generation of Americans. Push come to shove, they actually WERE that tough. This one's worth checking out, in any case!

In nice condition and nothing messed up

This should have been the holy grail of pulp crossovers, The Shadow, The Spider, The Black Bat, Zorro, and others, plus a Doc Savage reference thrown in since they couldn't actually use the character, unfortunately the pace is way too fast, and the dialogue isn't the greate-JUSTICE! *AHEM* Excuse m-JUUUUSTIIIICE! Oh, I'm so sorry, verbal tick...I think you get my point. I understand arc phrases and arc words, but EVERY. OTHER. SENTENCE. IS. ABOUT. JUSTICE. I like this book, I really do, but it has flaws, like a part near the end where all the heroes argue about the morality of killing villains, while this could have been interesting, it was handled...clumsily, it seemed rushed and took up such a small story and ended up having no effect on the plot. Let summarize the scene,The shadow: I'm gonna kill this guyOther guy: No! *knocks gun out of hand*The Shadow:...You suck.Everyone but the shadow and the spider: killing is bad!Bad guy: *grabs gun*The shadow: *shoots bad guy* Well, I did it.Everyone: 'kayThe end.

Honestly I wanted to like this book more than I did. With this many characters you hardly get a sense of them or their motivations by the end of it all, my two favorite characters Miss Fury and the Green Lama were hardly fleshed out at all. If Alex Ross didn't do the covers and the first issue it might have been a total wash. If you're looking for a Dynamite comics super hero team up, go for Justice inc. starring the Shadow, the Avenger, & Doc Savage.