I’ve also been speaking to Bill of Matt-Trakker.com and Jason and Wyatt of Agents of M.A.S.K. and we are hoping to get together (via the internet) now that the first story arc of the series has concluded to share our thoughts.

Instead of going quiet again, I am going to try to work on getting smaller posts up on the site. Hopefully that can help people stay more connected to the world of M.A.S.K. and Boulder-Hill.net. Next up, more covers from the regular M.A.S.K. series!

This is going to be a somewhat comprehensive look at the issue, and as such will contain a certain degree of spoiling. If you do not want to be spoiled, well, you have been warned.

To keep things organized I will be breaking down my review into sections. Hopefully, this will make it easier to follow, and if you are only curious about a certain topic, it will make it easier to find the answers you are looking for.

Covers

There are eight covers for issue #1. That’s a lot. As a general rule, I don’t love excessive amounts of variant covers, I do give a pass to one-shots and first issues. That being said, my personal trouble with it is that some of the covers are produced in extremely low quantities which makes it difficult for fans to get them. This is not really a critique of M.A.S.K. or even IDW, just a minor commentary on the practices of the comic book industry. I was fortunate enough to obtain all eight of the covers, and you can view them in the Comics section of the site (as with the other IDW releases, I am only hosting the covers, if you want the story please buy the book and support the creators).

   

   

Tommy Lee Edwards – This cover was one of the early promoted images for the series and I have loved it since day one. It’s dynamic, vibrant, and brilliantly executed. Tommy is also able to provide an exceptional blend of classic M.A.S.K. and the new modern style. To me it embodies what a new M.A.S.K. series should be and is my favorite of the bunch.

Joe Suitor – Another cover that was teased around the internet prior to release. This cover has a powerful shot of Matt and Miles back to back. While the characters and their masks are rendered with great detail, the background is lacking. And, while I don’t mind the decision, some fans might be disappointed with the lack of any vehicles present on this cover.

Andrew Griffith (colors by Jordi Escuin) – This is a fun cover. It has a brighter feel, thanks to Escuin’s coloring. This version also has Thunderhawk, Shark, Firefly and Condor mixed into the image. My only critique of this cover is that the characters and the vehicles don’t seem to integrate with each other.

Sketch Cover – If you have one of these, find a talented artist to fill it for you, otherwise there is not much to say about it.

Sara Pitre-Durocher – I suspect this cover will be somewhat polarizing for readers. It is certainly the cover that pushes the farthest from the traditional M.A.S.K. look. There is an extremely strong influence of graffiti and street art in the cover. For myself, I love the cover, as a variant cover. It is not an artistic style I ever expected to see juxtaposed with M.A.S.K. However, I am glad it is not the regular cover, as I believe that it does not convey the tone and content of the book as well as some of the other covers. It would certainly make for a fantastic poster though, I hope IDW takes advantage of that.

Sonny Liew – This cover is a close second for my favorite. Sonny does some really great stuff that is sure to play with the nostalgic feelings in any M.A.S.K. fan. Most obviously, he stylizes the background to mimic the packaging from the original 80s M.A.S.K. toys, including adding text such as CHANGES TO FIGHTER JET … AND BACK! The edges of the cover also have faux distressing. Sadly, this is one of the low quantity covers I mentioned at the beginning, and as such may be difficult to find.

Paul Pope (colors by Jordie Bellaire) – Paul does something a bit different with his cover. He features just a single character, and it is neither Matt nor Miles – it is Brad Turner, speeding down the road on Condor. I am a self-confessed Brad Turner enthusiast and as such, this cover really works for me. Both Brad and Condor are drawn with precision and detail. Unfortunately, this cover suffers from the same problem I had with Joe Suitor’s cover – the background is not given the same attention as the character is.

The eighth, and final cover is a pencils version of Andrew Griffith’s cover. While the image is still nice, I believe that the colored version is more successful.

Art

I did not expect to have especially different opinions about the art when compared to the One-Shot from last month. I was wrong. I strongly believe that Tony Vargas was able to exceed himself. His layouts feel stronger, lending to a well-paced story. The art also appears more confident. Tony does not shy away from close-ups on the character, vehicles or their masks. Something I wanted more of in the One-Shot.

All in all, I think the art Tony created for this issue is perfect. He once again pays homage to the original look of M.A.S.K. while still giving a modern update to reflect the current times. If I wanted to be nit picky, I would suggest that I would like to see a little more grit, stylistically, at times. The story of M.A.S.K. has grown up, and while I’m sure that Tony Vargas is trying to walk that fine line between too retro and too modern, I – for one – am ready for more of the serious adult style.

Story

If there was a flaw with M.A.S.K. #1, I think it must be the constraints put on Brandon Easton due to the ending of Revolution. Brandon is forced to transition from the end of Revolution into the ongoing M.A.S.K. series in just a few short pages and that brevity makes for a tough job. Readers who did not follow Revolution might find themselves confused with some of the goings on referenced in the first couple pages. For those who only have the original cartoon as a source, they would not understand why M.A.S.K. would be in conflict with law enforcement.

Given how well structured the rest of the issue is, I believe that this was mostly out of Brandon Easton’s hands. The rest of the issue reads very much how I expected and hoped it would – an adult version of the M.A.S.K. cartoon. In classic fashion, it pits M.A.S.K. against V.E.N.O.M. (although what V.E.N.O.M. stands for in this incarnation has yet to be revealed).

But, unlike in the 80s cartoons, the stakes are higher, Mayhem is meaner, and the risks are much more in your face. Instead of vague plans for power or money, Miles and his team are pursuing a specific goal – acquiring control of Cybertronian technology, with the end goal of using it to increase their power over the planet. And to do this, V.E.N.O.M. has no qualms about stepping on anyone who gets in their way. In one of the final panels, we see just how ruthless and terrifying the V.E.N.O.M. organization is under the writing of Brandon Easton. Sly Rax, uses his mask to slam two projectiles into Brad Turner’s shoulders, leaving him bleeding as the rest of M.A.S.K. tries to save his life.

As I stated before, this is a level of danger and violence never found in the cartoon. While I am sure that some readers will object for the same reason I am praising it, I relish this new, mature, direction for the M.A.S.K. franchise. I expect that issue two will be even stronger, now that Brandon has been able to move past the events of Revolution and be the sole captain of the ship named M.A.S.K.

Other Stuff

Perhaps this is not the most sophisticated of headings, but it is hard to encapsulate the final pages of the issue. In an effort to motivate those reading this to go buy their own copy I will refrain from giving too many details. Suffice it to say, there are some interesting facts and images to be found in the final pages. I will reveal one small piece that is very special to me.

It certainly goes without saying that I am grateful and flattered to have been mentioned in this issue of M.A.S.K., but I would be remiss if I did not also mention all the support that Matt-Trakker.com and Agents of M.A.S.K. provide to the community. All of them are dedicated members of the M.A.S.K. fan community and if you have never visited them before, now is the perfect time to do so.

I’ll wrap things up with one more image from the back of issue #1, once again from Tommy Lee Edwards.

Also, as always around here, better late than never. We’ve got two winners for my give-away. Carsten and Chad both sent in great memories of M.A.S.K. and will be receiving autographed copies of the M.A.S.K. one-shot. Look for emails asking for your addresses guys so I can send you your prizes!

Last, and certainly not least, if you are in the Los Angeles area on Wednesday, get over to The Comic Bug, where Brandon will be signing M.A.S.K. #1 as well as his new Vampire Hunter D series. I will be making a run down to get my hands on some copies, come out and support the series we all love.

First and foremost, the most disappointing part of the event was that the big publishers were not to be seen, this includes IDW. That means that there was no official promotion for M.A.S.K. or Revolution. While that was a bit of a let down, it was awesome to have Brandon Easton there.

Brandon was part of a panel discussing diversity in entertainment. He had some great comments about the topic, and related some of them in particular to M.A.S.K. and his choice to change Matt Trakker. Regardless of your personal opinion, it is clear that Brandon seriously considered the topic and the value.

Brandon was pretty busy, so was not able to have a long conversation. He did, however, confirm that M.A.S.K. #1 is still on track to hit shelves November 23rd. Below are a few photos from the convention, if you also attended today, please feel free to post comments!

• MASKast Chat

Most of you who visit Boulder-Hill.net also follow Agents of M.A.S.K. Last week I got to sit on with them to discuss the new comics, listen to it here.

• Signed M.A.S.K. Revolution

Don’t miss your chance to win a copy. All you need to do is send in an email describing your favorite memory of M.A.S.K. The winner will be announced later this week!

• Boulder-Hill.net Merchandise

You love M.A.S.K. and you love Boulder-Hill-net, right? Now you can show your love with Boulder-Hill.net merchandise, just added to the RedBubble store.

• Revolution Covers

The variant covers for Revolution that feature M.A.S.K. are now up in the Comics section. If you want to read the full issues, visit your local comic book shop or head on over to IDW’s Online Store.

• Darren Gregson

The very talented artist, Darren Gregson, was kind enough to send me a beautiful printed card featuring his rendering of Brad Turner riding Condor.

• L.A. Comic Con

If you are in the Los Angeles area, you have one more day to attend Stan Lee’s L.A. Comic Con. Brandon Easton, the writer of the new M.A.S.K. series, will be there as well!

I will be heading down to L.A. Comic Con tomorrow, hope to see you there!

I will not be providing an in-depth  review of the issues on here. There are too many non-M.A.S.K. elements that I do not follow (ROM, Micronauts, etc.) and would make a comprehensive review pointless. What I will do is quickly breakdown the highlights from a M.A.S.K. standpoint.

First, we are once again treated to a slew of variant covers. Issue #2 in particular, has a bunch of covers that in fact feature M.A.S.K.

Revolution #2

Revolution #3

To be clear, there are more covers than the six above, however, these are the ones that have at least some element of M.A.S.K. The covers require a lot of analysis. Some are more M.A.S.K. centric than others. I find the Guido Guidi cover from #2 to be the most appealing. The image is dynamic, pays homage to Jack Kirby, and features M.A.S.K. front and center – not much more that a M.A.S.K. fan could ask for.

Now let’s jump to the issues themselves. For people following the series, you may be scratching your head at all the different groups and happenings. That is a symptom of this being the ‘event’ book. Revolution ties a bunch of different properties together, unless you are following every single book that is released you are bound to miss something. All that being said, even if you are only here for M.A.S.K. you should be able to follow the story relatively easily.
Issue #2 has a lot of great M.A.S.K. action moments. Again, without giving any specifics away, readers are treated to an epic multi-page fight between M.A.S.K. and someone (read the book to find out). As is typical in big crossover events, there is a lot of action and there tends to be a little less subtle story telling. That holds true for issue #2, it is not a flaw, simply a fact to understand.

However! That does not mean that Revolution is all fights and explosions. Quite the contrary, in issue #3 we see some of the early stages of the strife building between Matt and Miles. All of which is handled quite well and creates a strong and natural path towards what we all know will be a disastrous ending for the two.

One other interesting thing, in issue #3 is that the we finally get the profile pages for Matt Trakker and Miles ‘Mayhem’ Manheim. Click on the individual images below to read them for yourself.

That is going to wrap up this update. We are getting close to the release of M.A.S.K. #1 – the ongoing comic from IDW Publishing, for which many of us are holding our breath in anticipation. Please help to support IDW and the creatives behind Revolution and M.A.S.K. – even if you live in a country where purchasing comics is difficult keep in mind that all the issues are easily available for digital purchase. Let’s all do our part to ensure that illusion stays the ultimate weapon.

First up is a very special item. If you are interested enough to visit a site about M.A.S.K. then you probably recognize the name, Doug Stone. I was lucky enough to have one of my promotional cards signed by Doug Stone last year. For those who are still scratching their heads, Doug Stone is a voice actor from the original cartoon series. Doug provided the voices for Matt Trakker, Bruce Sato, Dusty Hayes and others.

The second item won’t be new, if you listen to MASKast, from Agents of M.A.S.K. I was invited to participate in a MASKast Chat. In it we reflect on all the exciting news that lead up to the release of Revolution M.A.S.K. #1. They released it in their podcast stream a few days ago, but as always, whenever I am a guest the episode can also be found in the Audio section.

That’s going to wrap it up for today. Until next time, please keep the crusade alive by supporting the new M.A.S.K. comic book series from IDW Publishing.

Covers

So first and foremost, let’s check out the covers. The first cover is by Tommy Lee Edwards. I confess, it is my favorite. This is the regular cover. I think it’s a very cool and subtle update of the classic M.A.S.K. look that clearly pays a ton of respect to the original designs. Cover number two is by Dan Schoening. Dan’s take is 100% original 80s M.A.S.K. I love the layout and all the vehicles represented. My only critique of this cover is that I wish we could the vehicles more clearly. The next cover is by Ken Christiansen. This one is another take on updating the look of the agents. I would have liked to see some vehicles on this cover, since they were always an integral part of the world. Lastly, is the blank cover. I love M.A.S.K., but it is hard to be as excited for this cover. On the other hand, if you plan on attending a convention having one of these hands will turn into a one of a kind collectible.

Story

The first thing you realize, is that we are getting something never before told – a full origin for M.A.S.K. The original cartoon only gave a few odd hints and references (Matt’s dad found a magic cystal) and in the mini comics included with the original toys Matt had a younger brother named Andy who developed the mask technology. None of that here. M.A.S.K. is a paramilitary organization that is being created as a countermeasure to the Transformers. Remember, M.A.S.K. is part of the IDW world now and one piece in the puzzle of their new Revolution saga.

The first thing to ask is, does this make sense? M.A.S.K. having government backing, even if it’s black ops, makes a lot of sense. Between the necessary finances and the highly sophisticated technology they utilize, not having M.A.S.K. originate this way would almost be ludicrous. Brandon Easton, the writer of the series (who I had the pleasure of meeting on release day), makes some really great choices here. Giving M.A.S.K. an origin is something that is good storytelling and caters to the fans who have been dying for ‘the beginning’ for years.

Brandon continues to do an incredible job weaving the beginnings of M.A.S.K. together while also incorporating the rest of the Revolution universe into it. For those not familiar with GI Joe, you might have missed the early reference. Mayhem brings in Dr. Mindbender, a member of Cobra, to conduct psychological tests and programs designed to train the agents specifically to Mayhem’s desire. This integration feels effortless. Mindbender’s appearance is brief and completely logical.

The dialogue in the book is also well done. Brandon is able to pack in a lot of moments that give people new to M.A.S.K. a clear understanding of who the different people really are. The role of mentor/student between Mayhem and Trakker also setup for a really strong enmity down the line. Being betrayed by a man who taught you is a strong motivation to fight, which I am sure we will see in the coming issues.

The biggest area that left me wanting was the technology itself. Issue one does not really give any explanation into the development or origin of the masks or the vehicles. Given how much was packed into the first issue, this does not appear to be an oversight, rather a conscious choice. Clearly, choosing to first focus on the people was important in the construction of the story, a choice I love. All that being said, I cannot wait to explore the origins of the masks in the coming issues. With the option to draw from elements of other Revolution titles, I hope that we will be pleasantly surprised.

Art

Moving right along. In a comic book a good story is critical, but just as important is strong artwork. To compliment the writing of Brandon Easton, we have the artwork of Tony Vargas and colors from Jordi Escuin

It is difficult to argue whether or not art is ‘good’, but I will do my best.

For a comic like M.A.S.K., you have all the challenges of a typical comic book and the additional pressure to pay respect to the original material. Vargas really seems to have keyed into that. By retaining some of the more memorable aspects of characters and keeping them closer to the source, while pushing other minor aspects into a bit more modern style, he brings characters up to date while still making them instantly recognizable. The mirrored sunglasses for Sly and the crimson hair of Vanessa are just two such instances.

As you all know by now, this is the origin story. And so, we can’t expect too much of the fully developed M.A.S.K. agents. The most we get is a few teasing shots. But those teases sure are exciting. Of all of them, the final panel of the book does it the best. We get to see all four of the M.A.S.K. agents suited in profile. When news of the new comic first broke people were speculating on how true to the original series it would be. Looking at this panel alone, those worries can be laid too rest. Tony manages to make the agents look way more modern and injects that military style that the book presents but somehow also retains all of the important parts of the original. The easiest thing to notice of course, is that the agents have the same color scheme; Matt wearing red and grey, Julio in purple and green, etc. But it’s more than that, the shapes and forms of the masks really show their 80s influence. I think Mr. Vargas really knows his audience and hits it out of the park.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to take a moment to look at the coloring work. It could have been an easy choice – and probably a mistake – to go with a dark and gritty palette for this book. With all of the updates and military flavor being added it might seem like the more logical choice. However, that is not the case. I can only speculate that Jordi Escuin was trying to capture that vibrant coloration of the 80s cartoon when he went to work. Of all the many pages, I think the panel below really shows off why this was a great choice.

It would be a big let down if ThunderHawk was a dull dark red. The book has a great use of shadows and tones for those darker moments, but when it’s time for things to pop, they do.

Final Thoughts

On almost every single point of interest, I think Revolution M.A.S.K. is off to an amazing start. A combination of strong storytelling, memorable characters and vibrant art make it everything a M.A.S.K. fan could have wanted after thirty years of waiting. At this point, the only thing I can say is that I am crossing my fingers that issue two will introduce the vehicles and provide us some background on the technology that powers the masks.

For those who want to have an easier time checking out the covers to this book, they have also been added to the Comics area. Unlike the older books, we will not be providing the full issue. If you are a M.A.S.K. fan please do your best to support the work of these creators. The book can be found in most local comic book shops or here, in the IDW Store.

Also, if you follow the Boulder-Hill.net Facebook page (you really should), then you know that there will be a contest coming soon where you can win a copy of Revolution M.A.S.K. #1, signed by Brandon Easton.

Please forgive any formatting issues. In order to get this up as fast as I could I am using my phone. For those of you curious as to why there are so many copies in the first photo, well, they are not all for me! I will be giving a bunch away soon. The details will be announced soon. In the meantime, get down to your local comic book store and support M.A.S.K.!