The Black Mask is one of those cool Batman villains that never made it to the big screen. Apparently, he was horribly disfigured while Batman was trying to capture him. This disfigurement caused the mask to be permanently attached to his face. He is an extreme sociopath that has tortured ex-girlfriends and apparently is going to go up against the Birds of Prey in their upcoming movie. These Birds of Beauty are skilled at hand to hand combat and consist of Black Canary, Huntress, Oracle, and Batgirl. Black Canary has the only real super-power with a sonic boom voice. This will probably lead to lots of cool martial arts, I am sure it will be fun to watch. Though this movie could get brutal because the Black Mask tortures people as part of his MO. This 1980's villain should be right at home fighting the Birds. In a heads up match which book is the better investment, Batman #386 or Birds of Prey #1? Will the Copper Age be victorious or the Modern Age?
This book introduced The Black Mask to the DC Comic Universe. A character of cunning, vile beginnings and mutilations painful to watch; similar to Rambo 3 back in the day: pure torture. The issue Batman #386 has been recently thrust into the spotlight by the movie Birds of Prey. Those of you lucky enough to own it have made out like bandits. Currently, over the last year, this book has the following positive returns: grade (9.8) +21.1%, grade (9.6) whopping +60.9%, Grade (9.4) +26.3%, even the lower grades have participated with (7.0) scoring a triple at +36.6%. The FMV of this book in mint grade (9.8) is $240. The Black Mask is one of those Batman villains that is going to draw interest as an extreme villain for the beautiful ladies of Gotham to battle. They are going to have to go full Octagon on him to win, and I am sure his torture scenes (he tortures victims) will be chilling, to say the least. This book has been profitable to own and you won't need a black mask to stick up your local comic book store. After all, this book has plenty of profit.
The Birds of Prey #1 came out in 1999 and was created by Chuck Dixon (script) and Greg Land (pencils). "Party like it's 1999 again" and buy a copy while Venom is stealing the show. Once Venom is over and before Spawn, this comic has a movie coming out next year may get more ink. "It looks like Warner Bros. and director Cathy Yan are finally beginning to narrow down the casting for the main roles in the Birds of Prey #1 movie. Several actresses emerging as potential front-runners for Huntress, Black Canary, and Renee Montoya"(CBR). The director is already searching for the heroes and villains to fill out this Gotham tale of sexy birds. Though things still seem to be at the testing stage, both THR and Deadline are reporting that Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Justina Machado, and others are in the mix for the lead roles.
The Birds of Prey #1 has mint (9.8) condition issues going for $90 last sale in August. This book is very modern and you should probably only collect in high grades. The (9.6) near mint plus has positive returns of +55.5%, but not to be outdone the mint (9.8) is returning a Canary kick in the tail of positive +63.5%. Any way you cut it, this book is on the move. Birds were nowhere until they shelved the Gotham City Sirens movie and decided to run with the beautiful Birds instead. In a heads up match, Birds of Prey #1 dominates with their top return at +63.5%. Batman #386 (first Black Mask) only has +60.9% returns. The beautiful birds win, with a +2.6% margin, not exactly a thrilling victory but a win nonetheless. The Modern Age dominates in this head to head matchup.
