Black Mask: Year of the Villain

[lordultimus]

Warning for child abuse.

Comments

[silverhammerman]

I know that a lot of people disliked Black Mask as a more or less straight mob boss with a penchant for torture, but it was a niche that needed filling. This on the other hand just makes him one of the many disguise based villains. Also, literally the only memorable thing about Black Mask is his... black mask... so having him constantly be in disguise seems like maybe not a great idea.

[shakalooloo]

In disguise OVER HIS GIANT SKULL MASK. Not too difficult to spot the villain if his head is so bulbously oversized.

And having parents that worked for Janus, it's only a matter of time before Two-Face comes calling, right?

[lego_joker]

it was a niche that needed filling

Ehhh, your mileage may vary. Torture is second-nature to all the Bat-villains, and almost all of them (including Joker) can be played as "straight" mob bosses if a writer feels like it.

Black Mask has an arresting visual going for him - and that's pretty vital for any successful comic-book villain - but precious little else.

[janegray]

YMMV, but for me, the kind of torture Black Mask did was so beyond anything I ever, ever, ever want to see in any story, ever.

Seriously, pulling a guy's eyeball out and force-feeding it to his wife? That shit should stay in the Hostel franchise. It made it impossible for me to keep reading an otherwise great Catwoman series.

[icon_uk]

Complete agreement. Violence and ruthlessness is one thing, but gratuitous torture porn is a complete turn off for me,

[icon_uk]

In Gotham we already have Clayface, Jane Doe and at least one other whose name escape me.

Oh and False Face from the Batman 66 series too.

[caivu]

I really hope this turns out to have been a stealth "pilot" for a Batwoman/Question series from this same team, as increasingly unlikely as that's looking. I was thrilled to see that Kate and Renee are still going strong.

One thing that wasn't explained at all was why Kate is in Atlanta, but I pieced together something that works out well: she was at least 12 hours away from Gotham when Bane took over the city (the same day that Lex made his offer to BM) and thus wouldn't have hard time to get back before it fell, requiring her to divert her route elsewhere.

[tcampbell1000]

Luthor's uncontrollable laughter when Black Mask brags about his net worth is the highlight of the story.

[mastermahan]

"Five hundred million? I spend twice that just to annoy Superman for five minutes!"

[beyondthefringe]

My utter lack of interest in Black Mask has not shifted at all with this new development.

Lex Luthor's offer is like, Neron in Underworld Unleashed, only with much less style.

[cainofdreaming]

Oh, now I want to see him make an offer to Shade.

[icon_uk]

Yup, I've been getting Underworld Unleashed vibes from this whole thing for a while.