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The Mask
Dark Horse Comics/DC Comics: Mask
Grifter and the Mask team up and face off against smugglers at a Las Vegas weapons show. After destroying a planet, the Mask has a bounty on his head and Lobo hot on his tail in a mind-bending, time twisting showdown between madmen. And last, but not least, the Joker stumbles upon the mask which inspires a new super-powered reign for the Clown Prince of Crime!
This volume collects Grifter/The Mask #1-#2, Lobo vs. the Mask #1-2, and Joker/Mask #1-4.
This volume collects Grifter/The Mask #1-#2, Lobo vs. the Mask #1-2, and Joker/Mask #1-4.
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 26, 2017
12 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
John Arcudi
945 books101 followersJohn Arcudi has made a name for himself by scripting comics that manage to combine long-running subplots with impeccable characterization and action sequences, making for some of the most exciting and consistently good comics out today.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 4, 2017
Joker / Mask by Henry Gilroy, Ronnie del Carmen, and Ramon Bachs - 2 Stars
The animated Batman version of the Joker gets a hold of The Mask and 4 issues of light amusement occur. There's no real story here, just the Joker terrorizing Gotham without being all that funny.
Grifter and The Mask by Steven T. Seagle and Luciano Lima - 1 Star
The epitome of bad 90's comics with bad 90's art. Grifter fights the Mask throughout Las Vegas and it's a real snoozefest.
Lobo / The Mask by John Arcudi, Alan Grant, and Doug Mahnke - 4 Stars
This was the book making this worth a read. Alan Grant has written most of Lobo's solo work. The Mask is the character that put John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke on the map. Having them all involved insures the characterizations were correct and the story interesting. Lobo been hired to take out the Mask and from there on out we get all out chaos, in a good way. This was the only crossover of the three where the Mask was witty and the story fun.
Received an advanced copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
The animated Batman version of the Joker gets a hold of The Mask and 4 issues of light amusement occur. There's no real story here, just the Joker terrorizing Gotham without being all that funny.
Grifter and The Mask by Steven T. Seagle and Luciano Lima - 1 Star
The epitome of bad 90's comics with bad 90's art. Grifter fights the Mask throughout Las Vegas and it's a real snoozefest.
Lobo / The Mask by John Arcudi, Alan Grant, and Doug Mahnke - 4 Stars
This was the book making this worth a read. Alan Grant has written most of Lobo's solo work. The Mask is the character that put John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke on the map. Having them all involved insures the characterizations were correct and the story interesting. Lobo been hired to take out the Mask and from there on out we get all out chaos, in a good way. This was the only crossover of the three where the Mask was witty and the story fun.
Received an advanced copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
September 8, 2023
Looky! I’ve lost my head!
Whoever puts on the mask is in for a world of hilarious, over-the-top, uncontrollable laughs! That’s what happens to The Joker in this Dark Horse/DC Comics crossover. It was reminiscent of Saturday Morning Cartoons, KIDS-WB.
Then a man in Las Vegas is given the wrong luggage at the hotel. After an argument with his wife, he decides to put on the Mask, and then faces off against Grifter. For some reason, when I first met The Grifter in comics, I thought he resembled Deadpool... That felt like an action movie!
The final chapter, Lobo/The Mask, includes music and time-travel...🎵
Rest In peace, Stanley.
August 15, 2018
The Lobo/Mask crossover is pretty awesome, alone that would have been a 4 star review I think, the others are fairly bland, the joker/mask story drags and the art in the grifter/mask set is painfully 90s. They’d be lower rated, wish I’d not bothered with them to be honest. If you enjoyed the earlier mask stories though give the lobo crossover a go.
December 11, 2021
Somebody stop him!
The zany (and oft time more violent than the movie) character of the Mask has crossed over into the DC universe for three stories of various action and style rub some people the wrong way and excite others depending on what they love about comics but here is my take on the crazy. Mostly I really enjoyed the book but Grifter has never been one of my favorite characters and the story was not so fun so I hope at least someone out there got to enjoy that story more. :)
Joker/Mask: Joker (from the animated adventures of Batman) is not happy about the local exhibit of frowning clown masks at the Gotham museum and he want everyone to know his displeasure as he plans to make his displeasure known in a real blast. Won't the kiddies be excited? However the artifact that turns people into the Mask is there too and the only henchman to show to the museum ends up donning it when he tries to please his boss regardless of the string of mishaps ruining his fun. What follows is a tale of madness as Joker double crosses his henchman, takes the mask, and lets his new godlike powers loose on Gotham all for laughs but in the end we'll see who laughs last.
Grifter/Mask: Hmmm...this crossover is more for those that like quirky tales filled with stereotypes of all sorts as Grifter finds himself losing big in Vegas but gets a chance to redeem himself with a job that will take him to a gun convention on the strip. Meanwhile a former soldier (who is in town to protest the gun show) with his own world class problems discovers after losing his suitcase at the airport that the one they gave him have some rather interesting things including the artifact that makes people into the Mask. Finding himself suddenly able to stand against anyone the man finds violence might just be the answer to all of his problems and the others he meets in Vegas are willing to respond in kind. Good thing things that happen in Vegas stay in Vegas as this was the least fun of the stories for me.
Lobo/Mask: Lobo, the nigh unstoppable intergalactic bounty hunter, is convinced to take on a high profile job. What follows is a story where the Mask comes out as a more interesting character than the other tales in this book when Lobo thinks the Mask is his bounty but the Mask convinces him he is not his target but the person that wore it before him. Cue music and the Mask and Lobo go on a wild ride kicking butt wherever they are needed on a quest for the ultimate bounty and the sweet payout at the end. Hopefully not to many galaxies are devastated in their wake. :)
The zany (and oft time more violent than the movie) character of the Mask has crossed over into the DC universe for three stories of various action and style rub some people the wrong way and excite others depending on what they love about comics but here is my take on the crazy. Mostly I really enjoyed the book but Grifter has never been one of my favorite characters and the story was not so fun so I hope at least someone out there got to enjoy that story more. :)
Joker/Mask: Joker (from the animated adventures of Batman) is not happy about the local exhibit of frowning clown masks at the Gotham museum and he want everyone to know his displeasure as he plans to make his displeasure known in a real blast. Won't the kiddies be excited? However the artifact that turns people into the Mask is there too and the only henchman to show to the museum ends up donning it when he tries to please his boss regardless of the string of mishaps ruining his fun. What follows is a tale of madness as Joker double crosses his henchman, takes the mask, and lets his new godlike powers loose on Gotham all for laughs but in the end we'll see who laughs last.
Grifter/Mask: Hmmm...this crossover is more for those that like quirky tales filled with stereotypes of all sorts as Grifter finds himself losing big in Vegas but gets a chance to redeem himself with a job that will take him to a gun convention on the strip. Meanwhile a former soldier (who is in town to protest the gun show) with his own world class problems discovers after losing his suitcase at the airport that the one they gave him have some rather interesting things including the artifact that makes people into the Mask. Finding himself suddenly able to stand against anyone the man finds violence might just be the answer to all of his problems and the others he meets in Vegas are willing to respond in kind. Good thing things that happen in Vegas stay in Vegas as this was the least fun of the stories for me.
Lobo/Mask: Lobo, the nigh unstoppable intergalactic bounty hunter, is convinced to take on a high profile job. What follows is a story where the Mask comes out as a more interesting character than the other tales in this book when Lobo thinks the Mask is his bounty but the Mask convinces him he is not his target but the person that wore it before him. Cue music and the Mask and Lobo go on a wild ride kicking butt wherever they are needed on a quest for the ultimate bounty and the sweet payout at the end. Hopefully not to many galaxies are devastated in their wake. :)
December 22, 2017
For crazy, funny, over-the-top nonsensical violence, it’s hard to beat the Mask. His ranks right up there with Tank Girl, the Punisher and the Joker. Speaking of the latter…
The Mask is paired with some well-known characters as the artefact seizes hold of various people and warps their personalities to its own dark purposes. The very first story deals with the Joker donning the Mask. Uh oh. The Mask makes its wearers crazy. So imagine what happens when its current wearer is already a lunatic.
Well, we don’t have to imagine! The Mask takes the Joker’s insanity and pushes it hard, making him so looney tunes that even his closest follower, Harley Quinn, can’t take it any longer. The story bounces off the page as the Mask-sporting Joker trounces the Batman so thoroughly the Caped Crusader disappears briefly from the story.
The Joker and the Batman have always been so closely intertwined that the Joker finds himself at a loss and rather despondent if Bruce Wayne’s alter ego isn’t around. But the Mask has no such problems. Without Batman in the picture, the green-faced madman runs amok, unstoppable and getting genuinely more frightening with each turning page.
There are other pairings and they manage to bring new levels of craziness to this story. Tank Girl had a huge tank, a massive gun and a hair trigger temper that caused her to shoot holes in a planet’s protective atmospheric dome. But she didn’t have a gun that shoots other guns…which then fire multiple bullets after hitting their target. Whoa nelly!
There is a little too much seriousness, gunplay and sociopolitical angst in one story. Yet another one involves bounty-hunting aliens including a pale-faced, red-necked alien that made his first appearance tangling with Superman and bragging how he blew up his own home planet to give himself an A on his homework assignment. Put him on the same planet with the Mask and you wonder how much of the globe will be left when the dust has settled.
That, perhaps, is where this anthology falls short. The original Mask was used to fight crime, woo a girl and have some laughs. These incarnations of the artefact result in nothing but scary, escalating violence with little humor to leaven or soften the attendant ferocity.
So while this anthology had its lively moments, its savagery may appeal only to those who prefer mayhem to actual story.
The Mask is paired with some well-known characters as the artefact seizes hold of various people and warps their personalities to its own dark purposes. The very first story deals with the Joker donning the Mask. Uh oh. The Mask makes its wearers crazy. So imagine what happens when its current wearer is already a lunatic.
Well, we don’t have to imagine! The Mask takes the Joker’s insanity and pushes it hard, making him so looney tunes that even his closest follower, Harley Quinn, can’t take it any longer. The story bounces off the page as the Mask-sporting Joker trounces the Batman so thoroughly the Caped Crusader disappears briefly from the story.
The Joker and the Batman have always been so closely intertwined that the Joker finds himself at a loss and rather despondent if Bruce Wayne’s alter ego isn’t around. But the Mask has no such problems. Without Batman in the picture, the green-faced madman runs amok, unstoppable and getting genuinely more frightening with each turning page.
There are other pairings and they manage to bring new levels of craziness to this story. Tank Girl had a huge tank, a massive gun and a hair trigger temper that caused her to shoot holes in a planet’s protective atmospheric dome. But she didn’t have a gun that shoots other guns…which then fire multiple bullets after hitting their target. Whoa nelly!
There is a little too much seriousness, gunplay and sociopolitical angst in one story. Yet another one involves bounty-hunting aliens including a pale-faced, red-necked alien that made his first appearance tangling with Superman and bragging how he blew up his own home planet to give himself an A on his homework assignment. Put him on the same planet with the Mask and you wonder how much of the globe will be left when the dust has settled.
That, perhaps, is where this anthology falls short. The original Mask was used to fight crime, woo a girl and have some laughs. These incarnations of the artefact result in nothing but scary, escalating violence with little humor to leaven or soften the attendant ferocity.
So while this anthology had its lively moments, its savagery may appeal only to those who prefer mayhem to actual story.
January 19, 2026
Ranked lowest to highest…
Grifter/The Mask - 2/5
Reminded me of The Mask: World Tour tonally and about how forgettable a crossover opportunity it was. Art is passable. Story forgettable. A couple okay gags.
Joker/Mask - 3/5
You’d think this would be the best of this DC crossover conceptually. The Clown Prince of Crime dons the Mask? S tier, right? It’s disappointing because Joker doesn’t really do anything to much different than he does sans the Mask. It’s Batman: the Animated Series Joker finds the mask from the Mask’s animated series (and Kellaway in tow) and really doesn’t take too much advantage of its powers in his scheming. It’s just a device to put Joker on top of the city and distance between him and Harley. Swap the Mask with anything else to make him a bit more powerful and it could be the same thing. The art is pretty good, but some of it is a bit much. Namely the Mask’s cartoon-ish-ness needs to be contrasted by a more grounded/serious world and the stylistic choices sometimes cross those boundaries slightly. Women are drawn very sexy to the point where even as a pervert—a pinup enjoyer a thought it was a bit much for this comic in particular.
Lobo vs. The Mask - 4.5/5
It’s wacky, it’s meta, it’s extremely violent, it’s the Mask’s prime creative team of Arcudi and Mahnke plus Alan Grant so it’s basically perfect. Haven’t read a lot of Lobo but from what I can tell Lobo is portrayed well and fits so well with a Mask romp. Out of all of these DC crossovers, I think this is the one I would re-read the most.
Grifter/The Mask - 2/5
Reminded me of The Mask: World Tour tonally and about how forgettable a crossover opportunity it was. Art is passable. Story forgettable. A couple okay gags.
Joker/Mask - 3/5
You’d think this would be the best of this DC crossover conceptually. The Clown Prince of Crime dons the Mask? S tier, right? It’s disappointing because Joker doesn’t really do anything to much different than he does sans the Mask. It’s Batman: the Animated Series Joker finds the mask from the Mask’s animated series (and Kellaway in tow) and really doesn’t take too much advantage of its powers in his scheming. It’s just a device to put Joker on top of the city and distance between him and Harley. Swap the Mask with anything else to make him a bit more powerful and it could be the same thing. The art is pretty good, but some of it is a bit much. Namely the Mask’s cartoon-ish-ness needs to be contrasted by a more grounded/serious world and the stylistic choices sometimes cross those boundaries slightly. Women are drawn very sexy to the point where even as a pervert—a pinup enjoyer a thought it was a bit much for this comic in particular.
Lobo vs. The Mask - 4.5/5
It’s wacky, it’s meta, it’s extremely violent, it’s the Mask’s prime creative team of Arcudi and Mahnke plus Alan Grant so it’s basically perfect. Haven’t read a lot of Lobo but from what I can tell Lobo is portrayed well and fits so well with a Mask romp. Out of all of these DC crossovers, I think this is the one I would re-read the most.
October 5, 2017
Nearly a monumental failure
If it weren't for the quite funny and well done the Mask/Batman crossover, this would be a colossal waste of time. The grifter and lobo crossovers were tepid, unfunny messes.
If it weren't for the quite funny and well done the Mask/Batman crossover, this would be a colossal waste of time. The grifter and lobo crossovers were tepid, unfunny messes.
December 9, 2024
A fun crossover in the Dark Horse “The Mask” comic line, hands down the Joker storyline is the reason to read the collection as I found The Grifter & Lobo entries kinda just fine, but I will say Lobo crossover is the most insane & violent of the collection.
February 7, 2018
1.5 Stars
September 4, 2019
As much as I like the art in the Joker part, the Lobo segment steals the cake. And I don't even like Lobo.
May 24, 2020
Mainly for the Joker Story... the rest were a bit, bland for a Mask story.
June 27, 2021
Joker - Kinda dull and overlong.
Grifter - Incoherent.
Lobo - Now this is where it's at. Over-the-top mayhem that's bonkers and crazy bloody fun.
Grifter - Incoherent.
Lobo - Now this is where it's at. Over-the-top mayhem that's bonkers and crazy bloody fun.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews