Black Mask: Rebirth continuity?

[millernumber1]

So, I just started reading Red Hood and the Outlaws (because of the upcoming guest stars from Detective Comics), and I'm very confused: how in the world is Black Mask so darn resiliant? First Catwoman nearly kills him, and Penguin banishes him (in Valentine's run), then he comes right back in Tieri's run, then Snyder teams him up with Penguin, then Lobdell paralyzes him, then Snyder teams him up with Penguin and Shark again...

What are the editors even doing when it comes to this character?

[darkseidpwns]

All they know is that he's supposed to be an evil crime lord and frankly that's all he ever was. He has no depth and never will but Lobdell atleast tried.

[millernumber1]

All they know is that he's supposed to be an evil crime lord and frankly that's all he ever was. He has no depth and never will but Lobdell atleast tried.

He's an evil crime lord who is able to recover from anything and has so many personalities it's like he is Legion.

But seriously. This is a mess.

[darkseidpwns]

He's an evil crime lord who is able to recover from anything and has so many personalities it's like he is Legion.

But seriously. This is a mess.

He doesn't have any hook other than his creepy looking mask. He's a wannabe modern Joker before there was a modern Joker.

[millernumber1]

Well, he used to be a sadist. Now he's not even that. Just generic plot-smart and plot-resurrecting crime lord. His mask also looks stupid.

[TheNewFiftyForum]

He's one of the earlier examples of an anti-Bruce Wayne villain, but that angle was pretty much thrown out the window and never seen again after Brubaker made him a torture-loving sadist in his run on Catwoman. His use in Rebirth continuity has indeed been a mess, but isn't that par for the course these days? It's rare to see a writer actively taking notice of a characters recent previous appearances, especially if that character is below the absolute A-list.

[Aioros22]

When you think he`s Joker-lite that`s probably a sign you kind of don`t get the character.

If you want to go that route, you might as well say he`s more like Flamingo than Joker. They share no ideology pattern. Anyhow, he shows up so much because writers like using him, that`s basically it. You have Batman showing up in tons of months every month and writers hardly aknowledge whereas he was injured or beaten down last week.

Don`t see the issue here, frankly.

[JBatmanFan05]

He's one of the earlier examples of an anti-Bruce Wayne villain, but that angle was pretty much thrown out the window and never seen again after ...

Yea, that's where he fell apart, after they threw this out. Like so many villains, he had a great first appearance arc and showed promise, but it has been squandered by most writers. Moench, his creator, used him well. Brubaker got BM some attention at least. And now he's just an almost nothing. Snyder or King should make better use of him, take him back to his roots some. I'm not sure he has had a good credible story since NML.

[Hilden B. Lade]

Maybe they'll eventually pull off a Doombots-esque retcon and reveal that all these Black Masks were actually body doubles or robots.

[millernumber1]

He's one of the earlier examples of an anti-Bruce Wayne villain, but that angle was pretty much thrown out the window and never seen again after Brubaker made him a torture-loving sadist in his run on Catwoman. His use in Rebirth continuity has indeed been a mess, but isn't that par for the course these days? It's rare to see a writer actively taking notice of a characters recent previous appearances, especially if that character is below the absolute A-list.

His anti-Bruce Wayne thing was mostly stolen by Hush. The sadist thing is just nasty, but at least it was memorable. Now he's just a gangster with a BDSM mask, with no distinguishing personality.

When you think he`s Joker-lite that`s probably a sign you kind of don`t get the character.

If you want to go that route, you might as well say he`s more like Flamingo than Joker. They share no ideology pattern. Anyhow, he shows up so much because writers like using him, that`s basically it. You have Batman showing up in tons of months every month and writers hardly aknowledge whereas he was injured or beaten down last week.

Don`t see the issue here, frankly.

The issue is Black Mask isn't coming back in a year - he's coming back every few months. The sheer number of almost simultaneous pop-ups is blisteringly stupid. And it's not like there aren't other villains who could do this.

Yea, that's where he fell apart, after they threw this out. Like so many villains, he had a great first appearance arc and showed promise, but it has been squandered by most writers. Moench, his creator, used him well. Brubaker got BM some attention at least. And now he's just an almost nothing. Snyder or King should make better use of him, take him back to his roots some. I'm not sure he has had a good credible story since NML.

I don't think trying to make ANOTHER Bruce Wayne copycat isn't going to be very interesting. Hush seems to have taken the best version of this and made it iconic, so when I was reading Red Hood from Rebirth, I just kept thinking, "Hush was more interesting, even though that's quite sad to say."

[Frontier]

Well, he used to be a sadist. Now he's not even that. Just generic plot-smart and plot-resurrecting crime lord. His mask also looks stupid.

I hate bondage gear Black Mask .

[Aahz]

So, I just started reading Red Hood and the Outlaws (because of the upcoming guest stars from Detective Comics), and I'm very confused: how in the world is Black Mask so darn resiliant? First Catwoman nearly kills him, and Penguin banishes him (in Valentine's run), then he comes right back in Tieri's run, then Snyder teams him up with Penguin, then Lobdell paralyzes him, then Snyder teams him up with Penguin and Shark again...

What are the editors even doing when it comes to this character?

It seems like the writers keep in general not track of what is going with the villains. Black Mask isn't the only example for this, try for example to make sense of Ras appearances (and the League of Assassins in general) in rebirth.

[millernumber1]

I hate bondage gear Black Mask .

SAME.

It seems like the writers keep in general not track of what is going with the villains. Black Mask isn't the only example for this, try for example to make sense of Ras appearances (and the League of Assassins in general) in rebirth.

The only thing that's confusing me about Ra's in Rebirth is the appearance in Teen Titans - but Teen Titans is always orthagonally connected to the main Batman series. But Tynion is at least aware of what Snyder is doing in All Star Batman with Ra's. It doesn't really bother me that much for Ra's, but Black Mask just seems incredibly ridiculous.

[darkseidpwns]

Trinity is the only place where Ra's fails. Black Mask had no criminal empire at the end of Valentine's run, then he's looking for White Mask, then he's a top crime lord hanging out with Cobblepot and so on.

[joybeans]

Yea, that's where he fell apart, after they threw this out. Like so many villains, he had a great first appearance arc and showed promise, but it has been squandered by most writers. Moench, his creator, used him well. Brubaker got BM some attention at least. And now he's just an almost nothing. Snyder or King should make better use of him, take him back to his roots some. I'm not sure he has had a good credible story since NML.

Valentine's Catwoman made very good use of him, portraying him as a cunning chessmaster.