{"id":21298,"date":"2012-10-03T03:52:48","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T08:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21298"},"modified":"2012-10-03T05:59:19","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T10:59:19","slug":"dc-classics-com-club-infinite-earths-black-mask-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21298","title":{"rendered":"DC Classics.Com: Club Infinite
Earths Black Mask Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> DC Comics has got a slew of characters that wear boring ol\u2019 suits. Mattel has a figure subscription specifically targeted at collectors. When Mattel announced Club Infinite Earths, I was excited at the prospect of getting some boring ol\u2019 suit figures. Black Mask wasn\u2019t on the top of my list though. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a big fan of the Black Mask, but it\u2019s not his fault really. Though I used to be a lifelong DC reader, Black Mask\u2019s first appearance and heaviest use fell into that middle-80s period where I wasn\u2019t really reading comics. <\/p>\n

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The creation of Doug Moench (Moon Knight, Deathlok)<\/em> & Tom Mandrake (Grimjack, The Spectre)<\/em>, the first Black Mask appears shortly before Crisis on Infinite Earths. He\u2019s kind of an anti-Bruce Wayne. Roman Sionis was born to wealthy parents, but it\u2019s all downhill from there. They drop him on his head as a baby. They treat him like crap and don\u2019t die when he\u2019s young (they probably never even took him to movies!)<\/em>, but his big beef with his parents is how fake they were. This would lead to a youthful obsession with masks. <\/p>\n

Roman grows up and runs the profitable family company into the ground by releasing defective makeup that disfigures women. Rightfully, that kinda sends him over the edge. He kills his parents and, because he\u2019s always been obsessed with the power of masks, carves a black mask out of his Dad\u2019s casket. He then goes on to set himself up as a powerful crime lord and leader of the False Face Society that would prove to be a big thorn in 80s Batman\u2019s side. <\/p>\n

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Now, I\u2019ve really never read that Black Mask. By the time I\u2019m finally introduced to the character, Brubaker had come along and pretty much ignored all of that. Treating him like a blank slate, Brubaker turned Black Mask into more of a solo act and not to mention sadistic douchebag. After an altercation with Catwoman, Black Mask killed her brother-in-law and fed his eyeballs to her sister (Mattel left that out of his packaging bio)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Black Mask was also used as the primary antagonist is Batman: Wargames. I kinda hate that whole mini-series. I\u2019m a big fan of Stephanie Brown as a character, particularly her brief time as Robin, and I\u2019m still harboring some resentment over her stint in Robin being used to get readers invested in her shortly before killing her off. If you read Wargames, you got to see Black Mask, stab, torture, shoot, and kick Stephanie down a flight of stairs (this was followed up with Leslie Thompkins letting her die to prove a point to Bruce. Ugh.)<\/em>. That stupidity would ultimately be undone, but I\u2019ve never really cared much for Black Mask none the less. <\/p>\n

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Anyway, I\u2019ve gone and started ranting about Stephanie Brown again. Black Mask ended up getting tossed off a building by Catwoman. He survived that, so she made sure on his second attempt on his life by putting a gun to his head and blowing his face off (this was also left off his bio)<\/em>. Later, in another asinine plot twist, Jeremiah Arkham would become the second Black Mask (maybe the nu52 washing some things away isn\u2019t so bad after all…)<\/em> .<\/p>\n

Like I said, I wasn\u2019t all that thrilled we were getting this figure, but it is a new character that we don\u2019t have. He pads out the shelf, right? The figure represents Black Mask as he was seen in the Brubaker stories when his look was redesigned into a black \u201cRed Skull\u201d look. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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In terms of body construction, Black Mask has a few more new pieces than I would expect. The majority of the figure is the suit body used for the Question, but the figure does feature a new jacket and new hands. The new jacket will be a useful addition going forward and the hands look a little off in some poses, but they hold the accessories snugly. Always important. <\/p>\n

The head sculpt is the main thing that has to be right here though and it is. While I\u2019d still like to see a more classic Black Mask, the skull look is captured very well here and the figure looks downright evil. The flash lines are somewhat distracting, but it\u2019s a solid sculpt.<\/p>\n

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The figure is mostly molded in the appropriate colors so paint isn\u2019t too much an issue, but I\u2019ve seen some examples of sloppy paint around the teeth. I do like the highlights on the face to help bring home the sculpt and the tampo on the tie is sharp too. <\/p>\n

The figure features standard articulation for the line. Ball-joints at the shoulders, swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, & thighs, hinges at the elbows, knees, & ankles, the 4H hips, and the ab crunch. The ab crunch works great inside the jacket, but I have some problems the neck articulation. It’s a ball-joint, but I can’t get any up and down movement on my figure, so it’s effectively a swivel joint. <\/p>\n

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One big highlight for this figure was supposed to be the accessories and it still is to an extent. If you Google Black Mask, one of the first images that comes up is of Batman\u2019s cowl pinned to a wall with a dagger. This image became obvious accessories for the figure and Mattel cited a cool feature, the dagger would go through the cowl<\/a>. It was a cool idea – Black Mask standing there with a dagger through Batman\u2019s cowl. Neat! It didn\u2019t happen though. There\u2019s a spot in the back of the cowl for the dagger, but it\u2019s filled in. It\u2019s still a cool accessory, but it has lost some luster. Oh, and Black Mask came with some small pitchfork\/ax thing. It looks mean, but I\u2019m not sure of the source material. <\/p>\n

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Overall, I\u2019m not that excited to own a Black Mask figure, but he came out nicely. The head sculpt is killer and the new jacket makes the tooling for some other much needed suit characters that much easier. I don\u2019t want Club Infinite Earths to do too many suits, I don\u2019t think collectors would really appreciate it that much more than moms and kids supposedly do, but hopefully Mattel will give us a couple in 2013. He\u2019s a decent addition to this year\u2019s lineup, but I\u2019m more excited about what\u2019s coming in the next few months right now. <\/p>\n

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More DC Universe Classics Reviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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For all our DC reviews, check out our
\n DC Universe Classics Collector’s Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DC Comics has got a slew of characters that wear boring ol\u2019 suits. Mattel has a figure subscription specifically targeted at collectors. When Mattel announced Club Infinite Earths, I was excited at the prospect of getting some boring ol\u2019 suit figures. Black Mask wasn\u2019t on the top of my list though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[6,34,10],"tags":[70,1522,1166,665,2557,20],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-5xw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18758,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18758","url_meta":{"origin":21298,"position":0},"title":"Ask Mattel May 15th Link Roundup","date":"May 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Ask Matty - May 15th Edition DCClassics.Com Asks: What accessories, if any, do you have planned for the Black Mask from Club Infinite Earths \/ Signature Series? He will come with a few accessories including a dagger that goes through Batman's loose cowl! DCClassics.Com Asks: Will more 8\" stactions debut\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask Matty"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21080,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21080","url_meta":{"origin":21298,"position":1},"title":"Vault Review: Club Infinite Earths Mirror Master","date":"September 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"With DCUC currently MIA and DC Direct focusing on video games and all things Nu, the Club Infinite Earths subscription has been my only link to the comics and characters I love.\u00a0 And now with Rocket Red out of the way, it\u2019s pure character gold for the rest of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/mima1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19992,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19992","url_meta":{"origin":21298,"position":2},"title":"DC Classics.Com Club Infinite Earths Rocket Red Review","date":"August 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I have no idea what to write about Rocket Red. I\u2019ve got twelve pictures to work around and I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s going to stick through two pages of me bitching and moaning about how this figure annoys me. I like to have fun with toys, but this guy\u2019s a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23329,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23329","url_meta":{"origin":21298,"position":3},"title":"Mattel Announces SDCC Exclusive For DCUC\/CIE & No One Cares","date":"May 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Mattel announced their DCUC\/CIE exclusive for SDCC this year and... I honestly think I liked last year\u2019s nothing better. I try not go negative here at IAT, but this one just bugs me. I almost don't want to post it. It\u2019s got dumb Mattel, Geoff Johns, new 52, and bad\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18960,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18960","url_meta":{"origin":21298,"position":4},"title":"DC Classics.Com Golden Age Flash Jay Garrick Review","date":"June 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"DCUC is dead. Long live\u2026 DCUC! Last year, Mattel took my collector heart and crushed it with six little words: \u201cwill no longer be at retail\u201d. Summer 2011 will not soon be forgotten by DC fans. The toyline imploded. The comics disintegrated. It was a bad time to love DC\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20246,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=20246","url_meta":{"origin":21298,"position":5},"title":"DC Classics.Com Club Infinite Earths Atrocitus Review","date":"August 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Every once in awhile, time just gets away from me. I didn\u2019t realize how long I\u2019d had Atrocitus sitting here when a reader asked me to not skip Atrocitus last week. I was always planning on reviewing him, but somehow he snuck past my sense of urgency. Let\u2019s check him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21298"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21306,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21298\/revisions\/21306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}