A new comic starring M.A.S.K, and a movie adaptation

The Hollywood Reporter announced the launching of a new comic based on the M.A.S.K toy franchise, which also saw an animated adaptation during the mid-1980s, with Robert Kirkman's Skybound publishing outfit overseeing it under the Image banner:

Now, after mostly surviving as an occasional comic and occasional movie development announcement, M.A.S.K. is back in its most high-profile way thanks for Invincible co-creator Robert Kirkman and his Skybound multimedia production banner.

Skybound revealed a new ongoing comic from writer Dan Watters (Batman: Dark Patterns), artist Pye Parr (New Gods), colorist Pierluigi Casolino and letterer Rus Wooton. The announcement was made Friday by Kirkman at ComicsPro, as part of the annual meeting of comic book industry retailers, publishers, and distributors held in Glendale, Calif. The first issue is due to hit comic book shelves via Image Comics June 3.

Okay, good luck to them in following up their acquisition of the GI Joe/Transformers license from Hasbro, which is the main owner of the M.A.S.K toys today, having bought out Kenner in the early 1990s. But I still find it regrettable they're sticking to the notion of producing this foremost as a pamphlet series monthly, and even hinting at a lack of confidence by selling it with variant covers:

The first issue will showcase a main cover by Parr, with a lineup of variant covers from artists ranging from J. Scott Campbell, Cedric Poulat, Mark Spears, Daniel Warren Johnson, among many others.

M.A.S.K No. 1 will also features the first-ever Energon Universe blind bag program that allows fans a chance to get any of the solicited covers, intermixed at varying degrees of rarity. There will also be rare surprise covers that will not be publicly announced in advance of the issue release.

No matter how much I admire Campbell's artwork, I'm not going to soften my stance on why variants have made a joke out of marketing, and if they're concealing the actual covers in special wrapping, that risks making it worse, because it's like they're encouraging everybody to buy multiple copies to see if they can get all variants produced. If that's what they have in mind, it's dishonest and disrespectful to consumers.

And while we're on the topic, Entertainment Ireland says there looks to be a live action movie with one of the most prominent directors from the Fast & Furious series assigned to the job:

...Anyway, a live-action adaptation has been mooted for many years, but now it looks like it's finally coming to fruition as it's been confirmed that F. Gary Gray, director of Fast & Furious 8 and Straight Outta Compton, has been lined up to turn your childhood nostalgia into a workable film.

Gee, what if the finished product is anything but? The Fast & Furious series became tiresome and pointless after 2-3 entries, and when I watched the 8th, what insulted my intellect there was that a murderous criminal was suddenly turned into an ally. That was even more ludicrous than how sexless the approach became by that point. That the franchise even started veering into science-fiction terrain was also pretty risible. I just couldn't take it anymore, so why must we assume Gray will show any sign of improvement with this new movie project?

Yet even the upcoming comics should obviously be approached with a degree of caution, because even if they don't inject stealth leftist politics, that doesn't guarantee the new series will be entertaining. What I do know is that under Skybound, they may have made the Energon universe they've produced more grisly, recalling a page from their Transformers series where it looked like Starscream smashed a human to death. Even if that wasn't graphic or direct, it's still troubling. So what can we expect from a Skybound-helmed M.A.S.K comic? That remains to be seen. For now, let me just say it's insulting to the intellect if anybody thinks new stories based on old toy franchises have to be "adult" in the context of bloodletting, and I'd be much happier if all involved would at least avoid resorting to jarring violence just to "prove" where they can go with older products. It's rather obvious where they can, so they'd do better to avoid being horrific when it comes to mayhem.