The Mask [Import] [Paperback]

John Arcudi (Author), Doug Mahnke (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Titan Books Ltd (August 25, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852866039
• ISBN-13: 978-1852866037
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny in a Sick Way, February 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mask (Paperback)

I picked up this gem a couple of years ago at a comic shop and I loved this graphic novel from page 1. I saw the movie when i was a little kid and i pciked up this book, but there is a complete difference between the Stanley Ipkiss in the movie and the one in the comic. In the movie, The Mask (Stanley Ipkiss) doesnt kill people but in the book he is a homicidal maniac, . Even though the comic is violent, there is something comical about. He acts like a cartoon character and he says some funny things. If you ever wondered what it would be like if a Warner Bros. cartoon character existed in our world than read this.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bighead sure has changed over the years,, November 9, 2004

By 

K. Ostrowski "bra1n1ac" (Burlington, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mask (Paperback)

I'm something of a fan of comic book characters, of cartoons, of police capers and of crime-solving stories. I'm also a fan of jokes. Still, I'd never quite gotten around to reading the earlier stuff about Bighead (the name the media gives to whoever's wearing the Mask.)
This is a great deal of the earlier stuff, and there's a distinct element of angst and a distinct element of humor. Horror and humor often interact in a tale like this, much as they would for a character like the Joker. Gruesomeness is commonplace, but very often, it's done in a way that's at least a little amusing.
Or rather, it should be. In more recent years, Bighead's appearances in other comic books have shown different renditions of the character. He's aparently a shapeshifter. He's super-strong, super-fast, he can manifest physical objects from thin air and nothing, apparently, can kill him. In other words, he should be a Chuck Jones or Tex Avery cartoon character, only real, and as such, truly dangerous and truly threatening, motivated, like Daffy Duck, by truly human desires such as greed.
In more recent incarnations, that's exactly what he was, and it made him not only a horrifying supervillain, but an incredible statement on old cartoons as well. One that bears repeating.
The only issue I take with the early bighead works is how often his behavior deviates from that of an animated character.
He smokes, drinks, uses WAY more guns than an average looney tune, and to top it off, he bleeds; something that he hasn't done for quite some time.
Now, in this early work, it's true that he does get some clever lines. The scene where he and the cops hit one another with vases was priceless, but I found him to be just a little less of a hyperbole than some other interpretations.
This doesn't mean I want Bighead to be a hero, like in that awful "Mask Adventures." Certainly not. But I think he's at his best when he's weilding huge cartoon bombs and large wooden mallets rather than uzis and sub-atomic machine guns, and I'd much rather he be the only character in the book that DOESN'T bleed.
But for all its impurities, it's a comic book that has its moments, and there are reasons to enjoy it other than just plain love of blood and guts. You just have to be the right kind of person.

1 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What a difference!, November 27, 2005

By 

Raj Gandesha "horse girl" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mask (Paperback)

I read the comic, and boy was I surprised! I saw the movie first, and I loved it! But the comic is different entirly! In the movie, the mask is a cartoony, wacky nice guy. But in the comic, he is a wacky, cartoony homicidal and violent guy! I liked the movie better.