New M.A.S.K. Character Designs Revealed For IDW Comic Series

Newsrama just released a first look at the new design for seven M.A.S.K. characters in the upcoming IDW comic series. The new images are the collaboration of writer Brandon Easton and artist Tony Vargas which call the reinvention "contemporary with a slight touch of nostalgia." They were both interviewed in the new article which also gives insight into M.A.S.K.'s connection with IDW's new Revolution team-up series.

First, take a look at the new character designs for the M.A.S.K. team including Matt, Trakker, Gloria Baker, Brad Turner, and Julio Lopez:

(click to enlarge)

And now, here is the V.E.N.O.M. team of Miles Mayhem, Sly Rax, and Vanessa Warfield:

In the interview, Easton tells a little more about Matt's background and his relationship with Miles Mayhem:

The loss of his father at a young age sent Matt sprawling into grief, and because he couldn't handle his emotional pain, he became a bit of a delinquent. However, he was always smart enough to know how to work the system. Right before the M.A.S.K. training begins, he gets himself into some serious trouble so he had little choice but to join the boot camp. A core part of this series will be to chronicle Matt's growth from an insecure recruit to the resolute leader of M.A.S.K. Our version of Mayhem is much smarter, much more respected and incredibly dangerous. The best way I can describe their relationship is to think of Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman from the submarine thriller Crimson Tide. These men respect each other because of a shared world view, but beyond that, when Matt gets in the way of Mayhem's grand design, things go south quickly.

M.A.S.K. will play a vital part in the new Revolution comic says Easton:

The M.A.S.K. team is very much a part of the Revolution story line. The team shows up early in the event and has a major impact on the outcome. I guess you could say that much of what M.A.S.K. will become is tied to the climax of Revolution. The upcoming M.A.S.K. one-shot is somewhat structured around Revolution so you should consider M.A.S.K. a vital element to the new order within the Hasbro titles. Fans will have to wait to see where we go with all of this.

I'm very excited to hear about M.A.S.K.'s larger involvement in the Hasbro universe. I'm also glad that we get to know Matt and Mayhem's past relationship and how that has affected their current status.

As far as the new character designs, the masks and uniforms seem to follow the classic look and color scheme (especially V.E.N.O.M.) The details of Mayhem's military uniform, Rax's sunglasses, and Vanessa's streak of black hair all point to the cartoon series. The M.A.S.K. team on the other hand has mainly a new look, with the most noticeable change being a much younger, African-American Matt Trakker. Gloria appears to have the closest resemblance to her classic look cartoon with Brad missing his rockstar sunglasses and Julio also looking much younger.

I'm assuming that the cover designs from Tommy Lee Edwards we've seen are just that and perhaps variants for this new reinventive look. Tell me what you think of these new character designs for the upcoming comic book in the comments...

Images courtesy Newsarama