Miss Masque is a

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

al masked crime-fighter. She originally appeared in

comic books 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 ...

published by

Nedor Comics Standard Comics was a comic book imprint (trade name), imprint of United States, American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a Thrilling Publications, variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and pape ...

, and was later revived by

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

America's Best Comics America's Best Comics (ABC) is a comic book publishing brand. It was set up by Alan Moore in 1999 as an imprint of WildStorm, an idea proposed to Moore by WildStorm founder Jim Lee when it was still under Image Comics. History ''America's Best ...

, and

Dynamite Entertainment Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of '' The Boys'' franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptation ...

Nedor Comics

Miss Masque is the secret identity of Diana Adams, a young socialite who decides to fight crime and injustice in disguise. Miss Masque has no super powers, but relies on her wit and a pair of pistols. Her original costume was a mini-skirted red dress with red hat, gloves and cape, and a domino mask; yellow double "M" emblems on her chest and hat completed the ensemble. A later version of the costume had a bare midriff and shorter sleeves. Miss Masque first appeared in Nedor Comics' ''Exciting Comics'' #51 (September 1946). She also appeared in ''America's Best Comics'' (not to be confused with the DC Comics imprint), ''Fighting Yank'', and ''Black Terror''; her final Golden Age appearance was ''America's Best Comics'' #31 (July 1949). According to ''Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "she takes on ordinary murderers, murderers who dress like the devil to do their dirty work, crooked fight promoters, the insane caretaker of an Egyptian museum, and so on". There was no writer or artist credited for Miss Masque's first appearance.

Alex Schomburg Alexander A. Schomburg, born Alejandro Schomburg y Rosa (; May 10, 1905Alejandro Schomburg Y Rosa

and

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is ...

provided art for later cover appearances, and Ralph Mayo penciled some splash pages. The character's run in ''Exciting Comics'' ended with issue #54 (March 1947), and she then moved to ''America's Best Comics'' from issue #23 (Sept 1947) to #31 (July 1949).

AC Comics

Miss Masque is one of the many Golden Age characters revived by AC Comics in the early 1990s. The new version debuted in ''AC Annual'' #2 (1991). In AC continuity, Diana Adams is a Canadian socialite visiting

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

for

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ) refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. is French for "Fat ...

. Having forgotten to bring a costume for a party, she looks for one in a curio shop on

Bourbon Street Bourbon Street (french: Rue Bourbon, es, Calle de Borbón) is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Extending thirteen blocks from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue, Bourbon Street is famous for its many bars an ...

. The shop owner attempts to tell Adams that the costume is possessed by the "spirit of justice". As Adams is in a hurry, she ignores the warning, buys the outfit, and quickly leaves. When the party is interrupted by robbers, Adams stops the criminals and saves the life of a fellow partygoer. Finding herself strangely satisfied by the experience, she decides to make crime fighting her full-time occupation. In her AC Comics debut story, Miss Masque is revealed to be one of a group of 1940s era crime fighters that agreed to enter the Vault of Heroes, a stasis chamber designed to keep the heroes in suspended animation until they are needed again. She is revived in the 1990s and joins the

Femforce ''Femforce'' is a comic book published by AC Comics that began publication in 1985, detailing the adventures of the titular team: the "Federal Emergency Missions Force" or "Femforce", some of them original creations, while others originated in th ...

in their fight against the Shroud. She later becomes a member of the

Sentinels of Justice Sentinels of Justice is a fictional organization of superheroes. The comic was published by Americomics (a.k.a. AC Comics) in 1983 during a very brief time that AC was able to license the Charlton Comics superheroes before the rights were purcha ...

. Miss Masque has appeared in several AC Comics titles, including ''Femforce'', ''Good Girl Art Quarterly'', and her own self-titled comic book. AC Comics has also reprinted several Golden Age Miss Masque stories as part of their ''Golden Age Men of Mystery'' and ''Golden Age Greats'' titles.

America's Best Comics/DC

The Golden Age version of Miss Masque was revived by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

for his ''

Tom Strong ''Tom Strong'' is a comic book created by writer Alan Moore and artist Chris Sprouse, initially published bi-monthly by America's Best Comics, an imprint of DC Comics' Wildstorm division. Tom Strong, the title character, is a "science hero", wi ...

'' comics, published by

(now an imprint of

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

). Moore used the Nedor Comics characters to populate Terra Obscura, the alternate universe version of Tom Strong's Earth. In Moore's story, the heroes had been placed in suspended animation in 1969 during an alien invasion, and are revived 30 years later by Tom Strong. Miss Masque made her first appearance in ''Tom Strong'' #12 (June 2001). Miss Masque subsequently appeared in the ''Tom Strong'' spin-off ''

Terra Obscura ''Terra Obscura'' is a 2003 comic book miniseries spin-off from Alan Moore's ''Tom Strong'' series. The stories are written by Peter Hogan, and drawn by Yanick Paquette and Karl Story with additional flashback sequences drawn by Eric Theriault. ...

'', written by

Peter Hogan Peter Hogan is an English writer and comics writer, best known for ''Resident Alien'', which he co-created with artist Steve Parkhouse. Hogan began his comics career as editor of cult British comic ''Revolver'' in 1990–1991, before workin ...

from plots developed by Hogan and Moore. Now calling herself Ms. Masque, she becomes a member of the reformed superhero team SMASH. Ms. Masque's costume has been modified, replacing the mini-skirt with a pair of skin-tight pants. She is in a romantic relationship with Carol Carter, also known as the Fighting Spirit (daughter of the deceased

Fighting Yank The Fighting Yank is the name of several superheroes, first appearing in ''Startling Comics'' #10 (Sept 1941). Fall 1941 was a boom period for patriotic superheroes as the country prepared to enter World War II; during this period, comic book p ...

Dynamite Entertainment

Miss Masque has been revived once again as Masquerade in

Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which he collaborated wi ...

and

Jim Krueger Jim Krueger () is an American comic book writer, novelist, and filmmaker. Early life Jim Krueger and his brother grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He developed an interest in comic books and storytelling in his youth, and has described a fateful t ...

's new series from

entitled ''

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 ...

''. This

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

features many Golden Age characters, revamped and updated for today in a story that shows Ross and Krueger's vision for the fate of these heroes. Masquerade was one of the superheroes who had appeared after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and was then trapped and imprisoned in the Urn of Pandora by the misguided

. When the Urn is broken decades later, she reappears (in ''Project Superpowers'' #3) in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Her outfit has been drastically altered from when she first entered the Urn; she now wears a long red overcoat and wide-brimmed hat with a domino mask and two gun halters, and is suffering from

amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...

. She finds another hero, V-Man, and the two of them are taken to New York — now New Shangri-La — along with other heroes who were freed from the Urn. Her time in the Urn has given her literal masking powers — she can now replicate another person's appearance (although the seventh issue of the series shows her actually possessing the other person's body). In addition to a person's appearance, Masquerade also gains all their knowledge, including memories and skill sets. She also tends to briefly believe she ''is'' the person whose identity she is copying. It also caused her to fall in love with her teammate V-Man, having learned all about him. In 2009, Dynamite Entertainment gave Masquerade her own mini-series, starting in February and tied in with the ''Project Superpowers'' storyline. In 2020, she appeared in the mini-series ''

Die!namite In comic books, an intercompany crossover (also called cross-company or company crossover) is a comic or series of comics in which characters, that at the time of publication are the property or licensed property of one publisher, meet characte ...

'' fighting against a zombie plagu

She, Lady Satan and The Woman in Red will be getting their own comic called ''Scarlett Sisters''.

References

External links

Miss Masque
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Miss Masque
at Femfans Profiles
Daring Dames Spotlight: Miss Masque
at Drive Thru Comics. {{GoldenAge AC Comics characters America's Best Comics superheroes Dynamite Entertainment characters Comics characters introduced in 1946 Fictional bisexual females LGBT superheroes Nedor Comics superheroes Golden Age superheroes