The Green Mask is the name of two

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superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es, both published by

Fox Feature Syndicate Fox Feature Syndicate (also known as Fox Comics, Fox Publications, and Bruns Publications, Inc.) was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S. ...

. Both are in the

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with some of the original stories having been reprinted by

AC Comics AC Comics (formerly known as Paragon Publications and Americomics) is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.

Michael Shelby

The first Green Mask debuted in Fox's '' Mystery Men Comics'' #1 (August 1939). The writer was not credited (although it may have been

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series ''The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...

); the artwork was provided by Walter Frehm. This Green Mask's final appearance was in ''Mystery Men Comics'' #31 (February 1942). Originally, the Green Mask really is a mystery man; the secret identity of this "modern

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...

" is kept from the readers for his earliest appearances and known only to reporter "News" Doakes (later "News" Blake), who is the only one who can contact the

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-style costumed vigilante when needed. With the start of the solo ''Green Mask'' title in Summer 1940, the character was retooled. The hero is revealed to be Michael Shelby (or Selby, in some early stories), a wealthy private investigator and son of a crusading Senator murdered by white-hooded gangsters known as the Grim Circle. He is transformed into a super-powered "Miracle Man" ( no relation) after being exposed to an experimental "vita-ray" machine created by family friend Professor Lascomb. In ''Green Mask'' #1 (1940), he's joined by a young orphan named Don who, after surviving an explosion meant for the Green Mask, is taken in by the hero and becomes his non-powered, boomerang-throwing sidekick, Domino the Miracle Boy, wearing a costume almost identical to his own. Eventually, Shelby leaves behind his playboy lifestyle when he meets girlfriend Olivia Tracy on a case in ''Green Mask'' #6 (1941). According to ''Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "The Green Mask fights

Yellow Peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racist, racial color terminology for race, color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world. As a ...

Tong lords, hooded master criminals, counterfeiters, crime syndicates, mummies, and hunchbacked mad scientists". In ''

Project Superpowers ''Project Superpowers'' is a comic book limited series published by Dynamite Entertainment beginning January 2008. It was co-plotted by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross, with scripts by Jim Krueger, covers by Alex Ross, and interior art by Doug Klaub ...

'', Domino makes an appearance in the second series as part of a team of former sidekicks known as the Inheritors. The Green Mask does not appear.

Powers and abilities

Originally, the first Green Mask had no superpowers. Despite this, the first issue of his series

retconned Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...

his origin so that he became the Green Mask after gaining a number of superpowers after being exposed to vita-rays, including superhuman strength and the ability to fly. He would occasionally display other powers like invulnerability, usually as required by the plot. In addition to super powers, the Green Mask carried a gun (usually a

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...

or an automatic, although he briefly used a "paralyzer pistol" he had confiscated from a

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly amb ...

) for those times when being super was just not enough.

Johnny Green

Fox Feature re-introduced the Green Mask moniker in issue #10 of ''The Green Mask'' (August 1944); the artist and writer were uncredited. In this version, the Green Mask is secretly Johnny Green. He is the son of a previous Green Mask, named Walter Green. Johnny is a meek bespectacled teenager often taunted as a "sissy boy" by his high school peers who transforms into an adult "Avenger of Wrong" whenever he becomes angry and cries out at any display of injustice ("''Eee-ow!''"), changing back once he has finished beating up the bad guys, grows tired and yawns (making him a sort of cross between Captain Marvel and the

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

). While some stories have him aware of his alter-ego, others indicate that he either doesn't retain the memory of anything he did while transformed or perceives them as only a dream. The motherless Johnny lives in a rented room above the exclusive Miramar Club while his father is off serving in the army in Europe; he survives on his father's savings and the kindness of the club's owner, Punchy. He has a dog named Curly and a much more outgoing and courageous girlfriend named Suzie who's unaware of his dual identity. The second Green Mask's final appearance was in ''The Green Mask'' #17 (October–November 1946).

Powers and abilities

Johnny Green transforms into the adult Green Mask whenever he becomes angry, gaining all the powers of the previous Green Mask.

References

External links

''The Green Mask'' #1 at International Hero
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Green Mask Fox Feature Syndicate superheroes Golden Age superheroes Fox Feature Syndicate titles 1939 comics debuts American comics characters Comic strip superheroes Superhero comic strips