The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

The Mask: 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

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The Mask is a movie few people may know was based on a comic book. Here’s a look at which creative liberties worked and which didn’t.

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The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

Before the superhero movie exploded into what it is today, comic book movies were already in vogue. While these weren’t the usual takes of heroes and villains, movies like The Crow, Ghost World, and Road to Perdition proved that comics held some impressive stories just waiting to hit the big screen. Enter The Mask, a wacky comedy best known for Jim Carrey and an animated series that few remember was based on a comic book.

To say that The Mask is very different from its source material would be putting it lightly since it really only borrows the gist and a few names. The rest of the story and style were made exclusively for the movie, which for some comic readers was a good idea while others took issue with it. Here are 5 changes that improved The Mask and 5 more that did the opposite.

10 BETTER: Slapstick Violence

The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

The first major difference that comic readers would mention about The Mask is its lack of brutal violence. Originally, whenever someone donned the mask, a massive body count was inevitable. The movie keeps the creative violence, but no one dies. Instead, Stanley’s victims suffer the same injuries that the Looney Tunes do: soot on their faces, lots of lumps, and exhaust pipes shoved in the wrong bodily orifice.

Comical sadism has its place and audience, but it wouldn’t fit with the movie’s story and tone. The Mask’s goal was to make audiences root for Stanley, and turning him into a living cartoon character instead of a psychotic mass murderer was the perfect way to go.

9 WORSE: The Lack Of Satire

The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

Devoid of Jim Carrey, The Mask is your typical feel-good meet-cute movie from the ‘90s. This doesn’t make the movie bad in any way, but it’s undeniable that there’s not much to it outside of Carrey’s antics and wacky facial contortions. The comics couldn’t be any more different, as they were a series of edgy satires that took no prisoners.

Each arc tackled something different, such as the latest one – the four-issue mini “I Pledge Allegiance To The Mask” – which dealt with the current political climate. The Mask comics were known for their darkly humorous jabs at topical issues; something the movie doesn’t reflect.

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8 BETTER: The New Characters Are Fun

The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

Over the course of its decades-long lifespan, The Mask comics have starred a host of characters who range from shady to psychotic. These characters all play an important role in the mask’s long rampage, and its influence can be felt on every one of them.

For practicality’s sake, the movie only makes use of two characters while creating a wholly original roster for them to interact with. The newcomers aren’t half bad and they all bring in some worthy comedic chops, such as aspiring mob boss Dorian Tyrell, Kellaway’s bumbling partner Doyle and Stanley’s love interest Tina. Did we also mention that the movie also has a cute dog named Milo?

7 WORSE: Lt. Kellaway Is A Joke

The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

Lt. Kellaway is Stanley’s obligatory self-serious foil. He’s a good cop, but he’s no match for a living cartoon character who can summon a conga line of Cuban-music lovers and cartoon mallets out of thin air. While he’s the butt of the joke in the movie, he was a lot more competent in the comics.

Originally, Lt. Kellaway is actually one of the series’ longest-running protagonists. He starts out as a cop determined to bring Stanley down, but later evolves into an anti-hero who even wears the mask for a good stretch of time. He uses it to exact some vigilante justice before he realizes that it’s too much power for him (or any one person) to have.

6 BETTER: Stanley Is A Lovable Loser

The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

To this day, Stanley Ipkiss remains one of Carrey’s most beloved characters not just because of his green-faced alter ego, but because audiences just like him. Stanley is a genuinely nice if constantly unlucky underdog you can’t help but root for; someone you hope that he gets everything good he deserves when the end credits roll.

In the comics, however, Stanley is anything but likable. Originally, Stanley was a mass murderer in the making who was just waiting for an excuse to go on a rampage. The Mask lets him live out his darkest fantasies, and he uses its powers to exact revenge on everyone he hates, from the world to his grade school teacher. His eventual death was more cathartic than tragic.

5 WORSE: The Mask’s Origins

The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

While everyone fears the mask’s powers, no one knows what it really is. The closest to an origin story can be found in Kathy’s (Stanley’s girlfriend in the comics) dream in “The Mask Returns,” where she sees a mercenary steal the mask from a tribal ritual. Whether this is true or not is left up in the air, giving the mask an air of mystery.

The movie originally kept this vagueness, implying but never confirming that the Norse god Loki created the mask. The sequel Son of the Mask, however, canonizes this by having it be the entire plot where Odin yells at Loki to get his mask back from Earth. Not only does this remove the mask’s strangeness but worse, it leads to unfunny jokes.

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4 BETTER: Big Head Doesn’t Exist

The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

One of the biggest differences between the movie and the comics is the lack of Big Head. In the comics, the mask is sentient and was dubbed by most people as Big Head: the green-faced embodiment of chaos who takes over the mask’s wearer and tempts them to wreak even more havoc.

This is all but gone in the movie and the mask is just a magical artifact Stanley stumbles upon. Instead, the mask amplifies its user’s repressed desires and personality, unleashing who they really are inside. This is a more interesting take on the concept since the characters have only themselves to blame for their crimes, not a voice in their mind named Big Head.

3 WORSE: The Comics’ Villains Don’t Exist

The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

As mentioned earlier, many of the comics’ original character didn’t make it into the movie. While this led to a set of new characters who aren’t half bad, this excises memorable villains like the Mask Hunters and, most prominently, Walter.

The silent and almost superhuman giant Walter is the closest Big Head has to an archenemy, as he seems to be the only one who can survive Big Head’s murderous antics and insufferable pop culture references. His absence robs Stanley of a worthy, comics-accurate foe in the movie. Walter does, however, appear in the animated series.

2 BETTER: The Comedic Overhaul

The Mask 5 Differences From The Comic That Made It Better (& 5 That Made It Worse)

When New Line Cinema originally got hold of The Mask, their intention was to turn it into the next A Nightmare on Elm Street. The idea was sound: like Freddy Krueger, Big Head was a wisecracking murderer known for creative kills. Problem was, no one could get the script to work.

In a retrospective interview, director Chuck Russel noted that the dark comic-accurate drafts just didn’t click, so he decided to do a complete revamp where the material was repurposed into a PG-13 comedy. The rewrite worked, giving audiences what has since become a nostalgic favorite instead of another disposable edgy ‘90s-era comic.

1 WORSE: The Sequel

Say what you will about The Mask, but its sequel is universally despised for a reason. Not only does Son of the Mask lack Jim Carrey, but it lacks anything that resembles its predecessor and good movies in general.

The Mask comics don’t just have multiple interconnected sequel arcs, but they’re also good. Obviously, some of the mini-series are better than others and preference is subjective, but none of them are as terrible as Son of the Mask. It should be noted that the comics went into a long hiatus because Son of the Mask tarnished the name so much that Dark Horse decided to halt all production.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/the-mask-movie-comic-differences-comparison/

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