Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Fox Feature Syndicate, golden age
Fox Feature Syndicate’s Green Mask was in actuality rebooted into three vastly totally different characters from 1939-1946.
Anyone who’s been studying comedian books and/or watching comedian e-book motion pictures for any size of time is aware of that superhero origins are topic to alter. This has been occurring since the Golden Age. We mentioned some early Blue Beetle origin revisions lately, and an identical state of affairs developed with one other Fox Features Syndicate hero named Green Mask. Both characters had debuted in Mystery Men Comics #1 in 1939 and have been rebooted with added superpowers once they each acquired their very own collection early the subsequent yr. In Green Mask’s case, he was bombarded by energy from a “Vita-Ray machine”, giving him unimaginable energy and different talents plus a sidekick as nicely — and this is able to not be his final reboot throughout the Golden Age. Several points of the collection have covers which are coming to larger collector consideration in recent times, and there are lots of points of the two-volume collection up for public sale in the 2023 September 28 The Fox Comics Showcase Auction #40239 at Heritage Auctions.
Most of the main Fox Feature Syndicate superheroes have a kind of natural evolution of their talents and backstories over time, and the Green Mask might be the most pronounced instance of this from the Fox lineup. In truth, the character has two factors in its historical past that may qualify as reboots by at the moment’s requirements. While there seems to be some distinction in opinion as as to whether the character who debuted in Mystery Men Comics #1 is the similar individual as the character who debuts the subsequent yr in Green Mask #1, I believe they’re greatest understood as having totally different and unrelated secret identities. The model of Mystery Men Comics #1-12 is a pulp-style thriller man with no particular talents past primary athleticism and preventing ability and used no particular weaponry or devices past a standard handgun. The introductory blurb in the first situation alludes to the character as having a secret id, however it’s by no means named, and he’s by no means proven in any type apart from the Green Mask. In truth, the solely different common character of the function, newspaper reporter “News” Blake, sometimes does a lot of the leg work in these tales, leaving Green Mask to spherical up the unhealthy guys in the finish.
The debut of the character’s personal collection in Green Mask #1 considerably adjustments this equation. The character is now recognized as Michael Shelby, son of a United States Senator. The Senator is assassinated by members of a villainous secret society known as the Grim Circle. The assault leaves Michael Shelby close to dying himself, and in an try to avoid wasting his life, his buddy Professor Lascomb makes use of his “Vita-Ray Machine” on Michael’s mortally wounded physique. The process works even higher than anticipated, giving Shelby the energy of flight and normal superhuman energy. He decides to grow to be the Green Mask to avenge the homicide of his father. In the similar story, the sidekick Domino the Miracle Boy is launched, after a younger boy is injured in an assault on the Green Mask and the Vita-Ray Machine is used to avoid wasting him. This model of the character, which seems in Mystery Men Comics #12-31 and Green Mask #1-9, was successfully ended by Victor Fox’s Fox Publications, Inc. 1942 chapter.
When Fox emerged from his monetary strife in 1944 and began to place a comic book e-book line again collectively once more, Green Mask returned in Green Mask #10 as a very totally different character. He is now named as a person named Walter Green, whose son Johnny Green additionally has the energy to grow to be the Green Mask. But Walter Green isn’t proven in the collection. Instead, Johnny Green, who’s depicted as a younger boy, transforms into the grownup Green Mask when he’s angered by witnessing wrongdoing. It is actually the Billy Batson / Captain Marvel dynamic, however Johnny Green basically falls asleep throughout the transformation and wakes up with out reminiscence of what has occurred when the journey is over. After yet another situation of the unique Green Masokay collection, the title was relaunched with quantity 2 which lasted six points.
The Green Mask collection has ridiculously low CGC Census numbers, however there are lots of points of the two-volume collection up for public sale in the 2023 September 28 The Fox Comics Showcase Auction #40239 at Heritage Auctions. If you’ve got by no means bid at Heritage Auctions earlier than, you will get additional data, you’ll be able to take a look at their FAQ on the bidding course of and associated issues.
Affiliates of Bleeding Cool purchase from and/or consign to Heritage Auctions.
Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!
Stay up-to-date and assist the website by following Bleeding Cool on Google News at the moment!
Discussion about this post