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M.A.S.K. is a media franchise created by Kenner. The main premise revolved around the fight between an underground task force called M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) and a criminal organization called V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem). After its initial launch in 1985, the franchise spawned a variety of products, including four series of action figures, an animated television series, video games, comics, and a live-action theatrical film is currently in development by Hasbro Studios and Paramount.^[1]

History[edit]

M.A.S.K. was developed by Kenner Products in 1985, along with an animated television series to help with toy merchandising. The animated series debuted the same year and ran for two seasons (1985 to 1986). It focused mostly on toys released during the first two series of the toyline. From 1987 to 1988, Kenner released two additional series of action figures and vehicles. However, these last two series strayed from the original theme of the series of crimefighting and terrorism, focusing instead on a racing theme.

Action figures (1985–1988)[edit]

The M.A.S.K. toyline ran from 1985 to 1988, releasing four official series through those years. Each series featured vehicles with hidden gimmicks designed to represent combat-ready forms. Most vehicles came with one or two drivers, and each character had a mask that was depicted in fiction as having a certain special ability.

Animated series (1985–1986)[edit]

Debuting in 1985, the M.A.S.K. animated series followed the original premise where M.A.S.K., a law enforcement task force led by Matt Trakker, fought against V.E.N.O.M., a criminal organization led by Miles Mayhem. The series was produced by DIC Enterprises, Inc. M.A.S.K ran in broadcast syndication on local TV stations across America for two seasons (from 1985 to 1986). In total, 75 episodes were aired.

Other media[edit]

Comics[edit]

The first M.A.S.K. comics were three mini-comics produced by Kenner that were packaged with the vehicles from the first series of toys in 1985. After the success of the franchise, DC Comics picked up the rights and produced a special insert which appeared in several comic books dated September and November 1985 to launch a four-issue miniseries (December 1985 – March 1986). This was soon followed by another insert in comics dated from June to November 1986 and a regular series that lasted nine issues (February–October 1987).

A selection of the DC strips were reprinted in the UK, by Grandreams in Christmas Annuals (1986 and 1987), which also featured original text stories. Fleetway's M.A.S.K. comic magazine, initially published fortnightly before moving to a weekly pattern, featured entirely new plots produced by British writers and artists, in the standard mostly black and white short strip format of British comics. The stories were in their own continuity, not connected to either the cartoon series or DC/Grandreams comics. There was a notable difference in the comics in that Venom knew the identities of M.A.S.K. agents, whereas in the first cartoon series they did not. This weekly title lasted 80 issues before merging with the second incarnation of Eagle in 1988.

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M.A.S.K. was presented at the 2011 New York Comic Con by Hasbro in a convention-exclusive one-shot comic titled UNIT-E that featured various Hasbro licenses. Written by Andy Schmidt, M.A.S.K. was repackaged therein as a rogue quasi-law enforcement agency battling corruption in Detroit, led by Matt Trakker and four original team members, including a married couple.^[2]

In 2016, the franchise was reintroduced as part of IDW's Revolution crossover series, with writing by Brandon Easton and artwork by Tony Vargas.^[3] Matt Trakker is depicted as African-American in the series; Easton described the character as 'an engineering genius and intellectual bad boy who has been in search of stability since the loss of his father at an early age.'^[4] M.A.S.K. branched out into its own series starting in November 2016 but was canceled by IDW after only ten issues, with the final issue released on August 23, 2017.^[5]

Although the series was canceled, the characters from Brandon Easton's M.A.S.K. Comic Series returned later in 2017 as part of IDW's First Strike crossover^[6] series, featured in both a one-shot issue and a six issue mini-series.

Video games[edit]

Beginning in 1987, British software house Gremlin Graphics released a trilogy of computer games based on the M.A.S.K. franchise for various eight-bit computer formats.

The first game, MASK I, was a vertically-viewed 2D game in which the player controls the Thunderhawk vehicle. The premise of the game is that V.E.N.O.M. have propelled Boulder Hill into a time vortex, and the player must rescue the other members of the M.A.S.K. team by collecting and re-assembling parts of a scan key, which then directs the player to the location of the missing personnel. The game received mostly favorable reviews at the time, although it was noted by some that the tie-in to the franchise was quite tenuous and only the graphics, rather than the storyline and gameplay, connected it to the M.A.S.K. franchise.^[7][8]

The second game, MASK II, also released in 1987, was a 2D horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up. The game featured many more of the M.A.S.K. vehicles, and included a selection process in which the player chose which vehicles to use before the game began. Only one vehicle could be controlled at a time but these could be quickly interchanged. Again, the game was received favorably in the press, where it was noted that it was a better tie-in to the franchise than the first, because it featured more of the vehicles.^[9]

The final game in the trilogy MASK III – Venom Strikes Back was released in 1988 and was a 2D horizontal shoot-em-up. The premise of the game is that V.E.N.O.M. have kidnapped Scott Trakker and are holding him on the moon. The player controls Matt Trakker (unrecognizable in a space suit with helmet) through a series of static screens featuring platform puzzles and obstacles which must be overcome using the powers of the various masks. The player can hold up to four masks at a time, but can only use the power of one at a time. The masks can also be exchanged at certain points in the game. This game received the best reviews of the trilogy, despite the deviation from the franchise's storyline and style.^[10][11]

All three M.A.S.K. games were released for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC formats, while the second and third games were also released for the MSX format.

Television[edit]

In the animated series Transformers: Prime and Transformers: Robots in Disguise, M.A.S.K. is referred as a division of the United States military that developed a special vehicle (which they described as 'experimental, all-terrain, expeditionary fighting').^[12] Years later, several copies of that vehicle have been apparently mass-produced.^[13]

Film[edit]

On December 15, 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hasbro and Paramount were joining forces to create a shared cinematic universe combining M.A.S.K. with G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, and Rom.^[14] A group of screenwriters that included Michael Chabon, Cheo Hodari Coker, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein were hired to develop storylines, with Akiva Goldsman overseeing the project.^[15] In January 2018, Daley and Goldstein told IGN that M.A.S.K.'s inclusion in the film project was 'unlikely to happen' without specifying a reason,^[16] but in April 2018, Paramount announced the M.A.S.K. film project would commence, directed by F. Gary Gray and developed as 'a contemporary subculture movie with a youth empowerment angle.'^[1] On February 28, 2020, Chris Bremner has been announced to pen the script.^[17]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abFleming Jr, Mike (April 18, 2018). 'Paramount Teams With F. Gary Gray To Turn 'MASK' Into Film Franchise'. Deadline. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
2. ^Staff (October 17, 2011). 'UNIT-E NYCC Exclusive Comic Hasbro Universe Issue 0'. hisstank.com. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
3. ^Barder, Ollie (June 23, 2016). ''M.A.S.K.' Gets The Comic Treatment It Deserves And Stays True To Its Japanese Origins'. Forbes. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
4. ^Truitt, Brian (May 2, 2016). 'Exclusive: '80s cartoon 'M.A.S.K.' gets comic reboot this fall'. USA Today. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
5. ^Gross, Jason (May 24, 2017). 'IDW M.A.S.K. Comic Series To End After 10 Issues'. agentsofmask.com. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
6. ^'First Strike crossover series'. IDW Publishing. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
7. ^MASK on Lemon Retro Store
8. ^MASK on C64Endings
9. ^MASK II on Lemon Retro Store
10. ^MASK III on Lemon Retro Store
11. ^MASK III on Generation-MSX
12. ^Transformers: Prime – Season 3: Beast Hunters – Episode 5: Project Predacon
13. ^Transformers: Robots in Disguise – Season 1 – Episode 17: One of Our Mini-Cons is Missing
14. ^Kilday, Gregg (December 15, 2015). 'Paramount, Hasbro Creating Movie Universe Around G.I. Joe, Four Other Brands (Exclusive)'. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
15. ^Kit, Borys (April 21, 2016). 'Hasbro Cinematic Universe Takes Shape With Michael Chabon, Brian K. Vaughan, Akiva Goldsman (Exclusive)'. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
16. ^Collura, Scott (January 18, 2018). 'Rom: Spaceknight and M.A.S.K. Movies 'Not Likely to Happen''. IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
17. ^Kit, Borys (February 28, 2020). ''M.A.S.K' Movie Finds Its Writer (Exclusive)'. The Hollywood Reporter.

External links[edit]

• M.A.S.K. at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016.
• Albert Penello's MASK Page — M.A.S.K. toy information and database
• Matt-Trakker.com — M.A.S.K. page with interviews from the cast and crew and original web series