The Masked Man is a fictional

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

crime-fighter created by B.C. Boyer and published by

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

. His first appearance was in '' Eclipse'' #7, dated November 1982. The Masked Man is the alter ego of private eye Dick Carstairs, who takes on the identity of the Masked Man so that his friend Barney McAllister, a reporter, could grab headlines using tales of his crime-fighting adventures.

Publication history

Boyer originally created the character as a simple one-shot "throwaway" for ''Eclipse'', and originally pitched it as ''White Collar Man'' before Eclipse publisher

Dean Mullaney Dean Mullaney (born June 18, 1954) is an American editor, publisher, and designer whose Eclipse Enterprises, founded in 1977, was one of the earliest independent comic-book companies. Eclipse published some of the first graphic novels and was on ...

persuaded him to retitle the strip. While the character's visual similarity to

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 Spirit The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday edition of Register and Trib ...

has been noted, Boyer claimed the latter had no influence on the Masked Man, who was instead born out of the creator's apathy towards overcomplicated superhero costumes, and that he was unaware of the similarities until editor

Cat Yronwode Catherine Anna Yronwode ( née Manfredi; May 12, 1947) is an American writer, editor, graphic designer, typesetter, and publisher with an extensive career in the comic book industry. She is also a practitioner of folk magic. Early life Catherine ...

pointed out the resemblance. After being introduced to Eisner's work, Boyer devised the character of the Phantom Man in tribute. After the end of ''Eclipse, the Magazine'' in January 1983, ''The Masked Man'' graduated to colour successor ''

Eclipse Monthly ''Eclipse Monthly'' was a full color comics anthology title published in 1983–1984 by Eclipse Comics. An attempt by Eclipse to revive the comics anthologies of the Golden Age of Comic Books, ''Eclipse Monthly'' was the successor to Eclipse's bla ...

'', appearing in all ten issues from August 1983 to July 1984; it was the only ever-present in the anthology. Yronwode chose to give Carstairs a blue mask for his colour debut, something she later admitted to regretting. ''The Masked Man'' was then given an ongoing series from December 1984. Initially the bi-monthly ongoing retold the character's origins. The series was originally planned to end after 9 issues in 1986 but resumed with #10 in 1987. The resurrected title switched to black-and-white interiors. The book would then keep an irregular schedule until the twelfth and final issue, with editor Fred Burke noting Eclipse published the issues "whenever they were ready". In 1988 Eclipse sought Boyer's permission to include the Masked Man in crossover ''

Total Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

''. He acceded and the character featured in promotion for the title, but ultimately Carstairs and McAllister would only appear in a single panel of the series - drawn by Boyer himself.

Fictional character biography

During his crime-fighting career, Carstairs meets a number of allies and enemies. Among these is Dan Drekston, a reporter who threatens to reveal the identity of the Masked Man unless he can take Barney's place as Carstairs' companion. He also encounters Phantom Man, a.k.a. Lenny Winchester, when he saves Carstairs' life. The Phantom Man is an old man in a blue business suit, fedora, domino mask and gloves. Aphidman is another whom Carstairs crosses paths with, a high school student named Percy who mistakenly thinks he has superpowers like Spider-Man. Carstairs also meets Maggie Brown, who was blinded by gunfire; after saving her life, Carstairs falls in love with Maggie, although Barney believes she is faking her blindness. Barney also meets Carstairs' sister, Roxy Chicago, a criminal and murderer.

References

External links

*
International hero The Masked Man Page
1982 comics debuts 1984 comics debuts 1988 comics endings Comics publications Defunct American comics Eclipse Comics characters Eclipse Comics titles {{comics-stub