Project Superpowers: Masquerade

Project Superpowers #4

by Phil Hester, Carlos Paul, Alex Ross

The Project Superpowers expansion continues as Dynamite, Alex Ross, Phil Hester, and Carlos Paul present Masquerade! Exploring the origins of the beautiful and mysterious Masquerade, writer Phil Hester opens with young Diana Adams who would grow up, inspired by the heroes of the age, to fight crime in her own unique way!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

This Eisner Award-nominated artist was born in eastern Iowa, where he went on to study at the University of Iowa. His pencilling credits include Swamp Thing, Brave New World, Flinch, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Clerks: The Lost Scene, The Crow: Waking Nightmares, The Wretch (nominated for the 1997 Eisner Award for Best New Series), Aliens: Purge, and Green Arrow.

Since graduating from the University of Iowa, he has been in the comics industry for over 15 years.

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but the story seemed a little jumbled. It jumped around from Masquerade's past to her present, and some of the jumps were a little abrupt. And even though an origin story of sorts was attempted, it really didn't reveal as much of her past as I would have liked, such as more about her powers.

I really don't think the Project: Superpowers comics ever quite reached their potential. The characters were really cool and underutilized, but the execution was never quite right.

[Martti · Rating 1 out of 5]

So the girl-superhero needs to have a man-superhero rescue her in every episode? And she cannot have superpowers, but needs two pistols. Yet some more random crap. Some nazis? Robots? Lizardpeople?

Part of a large graphic novel Humble Bundle I got a while back, trying to justify the buy and actually read it rather than just forgetting it to the dusty disk in the corner. Great value plus support charity. Thank you Humble Bundle!

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/bo...

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A spin-off from Project Superpowers, which placed lots of out-of-copyright heroes in a shared universe, this tells the story of Masquerade, via crucial episodes on her adventuring, and flashing back from each of those to her childhood. The plot makes it more of a side-story to the original Project Superpowers series than a fully-fledged story in its own right, but it was still a good read. I was a bit frustrated by how the book didn't care to tell us what happened to an important character after she was kidnapped, casually revealing that she survived at the end but never telling us how.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this but when finished it felt like so much potential was wasted. The artwork was okay but I'm not sure what mood it was trying to go for and the writing and plot seemed unfocused and confusing at best. Yes, it looked pretty but it just seemed like a masquerade.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

More goodness from Alex Ross and the rest of the Dynamite crew. The Project Superpowers universe continues growing at a cautious pace, and my wallet is thankful for that. I am really enjoying these titles and am curious to see what happens next.

[Frans Kempe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed stories about Masquerade both past and present. Graphics are great

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This expansion to the Project Superpowers story focuses on both the past and present of Masquerade, and fleshes her out into a very interesting character. She is like DC's The Question in many ways, following her curiosity and using her wits to solve mysteries, even as they keep growing around her. The way that thread ties through the entire volume is beautifully done, especially after her release from the urn (this should definitely be read After Project Superpowers Vol. 1) as she tries to readjust to the world. The art is beautiful, as expected, managing to make Masquerade appear human and vulnerable without resorting to cheesecake. I didn't have much in the way of expectations for this book, but was very pleasantly surprised.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

The life story of Miss Masque/Masquerade. Starting with her childhood and leading up to the event that made her choose the life of costumed adventurer. Not so much info on how her powers got enhanced inside Pandora's Box. Interesting because Masquerade doesn't really fight much, she's much more the detective type, and unlike the other Project Superpowers people who mostly all fought in WWII she doesn't kill people willy-nilly. Good story.

[Gord · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its more "mystery noir" than it is "super hero" but there's a strong super hero presence. I love the first 3/4 of this , ends kind of on a downer.. it's not depressing just not where I thought this was going. Still a fantastic read.

[Travis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good character, hie art really bad jumble of a story.

Shame, as I was really excited with Alex Ross bringing back all these Golden Age heroes, but then he and the other writers didn't seem to know what to do with half the cast and the world they'd created.

[Johan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got the 4 issues via the The Boys vs The Girls Humble Bundle.

Nice story and the artwork is ok, but I felt lost. What is it about? Is this part of a larger universe? Who the heck are all these superheroes? ...

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, but just a woman who has to fight in a man's superhero world. Not that groundbreaking.

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the fact that many of the "Project: Superpowers" spinoffs have crashed and burned, this one was great.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice additional mini series from the main project Superpowers comic storyline. Good story and art. Recommended

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

this starts off great but after issue 2 it reads like pieces are missing huge time jump between issues 2 and 3 and then 3 and 4 has an entire plot point not even covered in the mini.