German M.A.S.K. Comics

M.A.S.K. was very much a Global phenomenon - and one country in particular who took to M.A.S.K. was Germany.  I collected the M.A.S.K. Comics when they were produced in the UK and a number of years later I managed to collect all of the US comics as well.

That then got me thinking about what other Countries also had their own M.A.S.K. variant?  I managed to pick up a few German issues from Ebay and was a bit disappointed - rather than original stories they were "dubbed" versions of the US comics.  Nevertheless, they have pride of place in my collection.

The popularity of M.A.S.K. in Germany led me to introducing a German Character in my Script.  A former work colleague translated the dialogue into German for me.

Recently, I've been contacted by Florian - a German M.A.S.K. fan who has forwarded me some scans from the German Comic and I thought I'd share them with you.

Although the stories in the comics may not be original, the artwork on the covers certainly was.

It is a very strange and unique style of artwork and I'm not sure that I'm a big fan of it.  

The first point to note is the M.A.S.K. logo.  They have gone down the same route as the US Comic and reduced the size of Rhino and the Mask emblem to make if fit without taking up too much of the cover.  I always preferred the option that the UK comic took and removed Rhino to keep only word MASK and the Mask emblem.  Fitted in very well.

The next thing are the images - not really up to the same standard as the UK or US variants.

It is still great despite any reservations that I may have - it is M.A.S.K. after all and all things M.A.S.K. are great.

From this image, you may recognise the Sumos from the UK Storyline Kamikaze.  The two scans that Florian provided me with are excerpts from the Kamikaze Story.  Below we have the original UK image - 

I "borrowed" this image from my friends over at M.A.S.K. Eire as they have some great scans of the UK Comic.

I hate to keep banging on about it - but the artwork in the UK comic has some of the best artwork ever in a comic.  The attention to detail is amazing and really brings the characters to life.

Some of the baddies might be a little bit over the top - such as the titular character of Kamikaze - but you'd have to agree that he his extremely well drawn.

In the next image below, we see the same page taken from the German version of the comic -

The two differences that you notice straight away are that they have chosen to colour in the strip and the next is that it is German.

I have mixed feelings about the strip being coloured in.  Part of me likes it as it has been expertly done.

However, it does distract a little from the great pencil images of the original artist.  But somewhere in the middle there is a great compromise.  This shows what could've been in the UK comic had they made our version a fully coloured comic rather than mostly Black and White!

Perhaps I have a bit of jealousy that the German version has taken ours and added something to it!

Here we have another expertly drawn page from my beloved UK M.A.S.K. Comic - again borrowed from my friends at M.A.S.K. Eire - hope you guys don't mind!

It's amazing how much action the UK artists managed to fit on a single page!

I always imagined that the artists must've had their own M.A.S.K. toys on their desks to get the detailing of the vehicles so magnificent.

When it comes to the characters, their Masks and fatigues, they go beyond anything seen in the toys, cartoons or the US comics so much so you can understand how I could visualise a live action M.A.S.K. movie!

Again, in the German version, they have coloured in the great image above.

From what Florian has told me, the German Comics initially ran the US stories.  Then, when those dried up (only 13 issues made) they moved onto the UK Stories.

As I'm sure you all know, the US comics were all coloured - so it was just a straight copy - with the dialogue translated to German.

With the UK Comics, however, we get to see some interpretation; artistic license from the German's.

Although some of the colours may not reflect the true colours as you would expect them to look - I do like the stylistic way they have done it.  Far better than the Cover page!

If anyone has any more M.A.S.K. images you'd like to share - please feel free to get in touch with me.  You can make comments below, catch me on my M.A.S.K. Comics Facebook Page or if you wish you can e-mail me!

I know that it has been a long time since I've posted on my page with a "Comic" related item - but I should be able to get some more posts done soon - so keep an eye on my blog.

In the meantime - there are a couple of things I would like you all to do

The first is to sign the Bring Back M.A.S.K. Petition.  It's almost been 30 years since M.A.S.K. was introduced and I feel it's time for it to come back!

As well as the Change.org campaign above - there is still on the ongoing Facebook Campaign.

You also need to make sure that you are hashtagging everything - #assembleMASK #Hasbro #MASKComics.

So, whether you would like to see my script make it onto the big screen or Wyatt and Jason's, I would like everyone to back the campaign!