Free Comic Inside: MASK #2 “A Monster From VENOM”

In our first installment we looked at the first MASK comic. This time I want to look at the second one, the only one of the three I don’t own. Instead I picked it from this website, so you can read it yourself before I get into the day VENOM decided to attack MASK with the Loch Ness Monster.

I’m not kidding.

Now, I realize that on the show everything from mind-controlling books to spaceships to treasure hidden in paintings to fuel created from tree sap popped up in this show. At least one spaceship was actually owned by space aliens and not some VENOM trick. But attacking with the Loch Ness Monster? That’s both incredibly weird and incredibly awesome! Or would be if it had been done right, maybe in a longer story. But enough talking about it, let’s…talk…about…it….let’s move on.

I’m just going to guess which three toys came with this comic.

MASK #2

produced by DC Comics for Kenner

no credits given

As the story begins, Miles is spraying Matt  with his “Viper” mask’s venom, except it’s a mannequin look-alike that Mayhem uses to entertain himself. Actually, a lot of villains has toys of their enemies to destroy. I think writers just like to use this to fake out the audience. Then this happens.

“Now to see what Ziggy is up to.”

What, you thought I was kidding?

Apparently Matt and Bruce didn’t read the paper today. Maybe they’re not “Ziggy” fans.

So Matt calls MASK in, he and Bruce help those people, and then pretty much disappear from the rest of the story. A thought just occurred to me: how did Miles know that Matt was going boating that day? Or at all? Yes, that’s concerning me more than HOW THE HECK DID VENOM TRANSPORT THE FLIPPING LOCH NESS MONSTER ALL THE WAY TO AMERICA AND DR0P HIM IN THIS LAKE WITH NOBODY NOTICING! Yes, they knew it was there because it was in the morning paper (which neither Matt nor Bruce appears to have read) but nobody saw it happening? And why DIDN’T Matt & Bruce know about it or am I right about them not seeing the local news that morning? Or were they investigating the report and the writer was more concerned about VENOM’s life-size Matt Traker action figure? Are things I don’t question when kid logic is in effect? Eh, maybe. Although I would have had them visiting Vermont and had VENOM plot to use Champy, Nessie’s cousin in Lake Champlain. (Went there during one of the family trips to Vermont. Didn’t see any monster.) Or had Matt & Bruce in Scotland for some reason. That would have worked, too, since our unnamed writer wanted the more recognizable sea monster.

Coming in from MASK are Brad Turner riding the Condor Motorcycle. which becomes a mini-helicopter, and Dusty Hayes in the Gator Jeep. The top half would flip up and the “cockpit” would eject as a boat. The mini-comics (as I recall) only came with the bigger vehicles, or maybe they just forgot to pack one into the Condor box, because I had that one but not the other two featured vehicles. Brad’s mask is “Hocus Pocus”, which creates illusions (if “illusion is the ultimate weapon” does that mean Brad had the most powerful mask in the series?) while Dusty packed the “Backlash” mask, which according to the toy box creates sonic waves. On the show he would use it to knock things away, if that helps the name work for you.

Sly Rax counters with his “Piranha” motorcycle, whose sidecar can eject and become a submarine. He also has the “Stiletto” mask that fired large darts. He’s also in control of Nessie, but Dusty freezes the monster with the boat’s freeze ray and Brad uses his mask to trick Sly into thinking Nessie was after him. Of course, I wonder what they did with the real Nessie. Did they leave her there or take her home? Heck, three guys can transport her there without anyone knowing about it, since I don’t recall seeing the minions from the main comic and Vanessa Warfield was created for the show (she finally got a toy during the “racing series”) so it must be easy to do for the entire team. Right?

This…was a weird one. I’m glad one of them didn’t involve attacking MASK Headquarters (remember, there was no secret identity deal in the comics) but Nessie? That seems far out even for the stuff the show and comics pulled, and one of the comics had VENOM disguising themselves as Anubis and a bunch of mummies to amuse themselves while waiting for MASK to come into their trap trying to rescue Scott & T-Bob. This is still the most bizarre MASK story and that alone is worth a read.