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It’s another middle chapter in Detective 553 (Aug. 85), as Doug Moench and Klaus Janson continue the first appearance of Black Mask.

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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.

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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.

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Even the style of mask he has her wear resembles the one from the film.

The story concludes in the next issue of Batman.

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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.

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Black Canary is feeling really down on herself after losing a fight to Bonfire, an arsonist who produces her own flames.

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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.

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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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