It’s another middle chapter in Detective 553 (Aug. 85), as Doug Moench and Klaus Janson continue the first appearance of Black Mask.
Roman Sionis is Black Mask, and runs a gang of criminals called the False Face Society. Sionis places great importance on masks, and the freedom of action they allow. As much as he is a gang leader, he is almost as much a cult leader, with the way he preaches to his men, and the sick, defacing things he has them do to themselves.
Roman’s lover, Circe, is as much a victim of him as anyone else. I am fairly certain this relationship inspired the one between the Joker and Jerry Hall in the first Batman film, as he mars her face and makes her wear a mask, just as Sionis does with Circe.
Even the style of mask he has her wear resembles the one from the film.
The story concludes in the next issue of Batman.
The strip says Green Arrow, but this story belongs to Black Canary. Cavalieri, Moore and Patterson give her a two-parter that leads to her very unpopular costume change.
Black Canary is feeling really down on herself after losing a fight to Bonfire, an arsonist who produces her own flames.
Green Arrow looks at the motivation behind the fires, suspecting that they have been arranged by the slumlords who own the buildings, to get the insurance.
This half concludes with Dinah reviewing a scrapbook of her mother;’s achievements as Black Canary, and ends with her making a surprising discovery.
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