Face The Face

Columbia Comics lasted for a good nine years back in the 40's which mainly printed issues of syndicated characters such as Dixie Dugan and Joe Palooka. One of their original characters was a gruesome guy known as The Face whose whole thing as a superhero was wearing a creepy looking mask. He had no superpowers, special gadgets, ninja training, or annoying sidekicks, just the mask and sometimes a gun. The Face was in reality radio newscaster Tony Trent that witnessed injustice in the system, so he took a note from Green Hornet and made himself out to be a superhero that everyone thought was a supervillain. His only real defense against the forces of evil was his rubber mask which he had specially crafted to fit around his own head, the maker of which conveniently died immediately afterwards. The Face's debut in Big Shot #1 has him trying to prove that racketeer Grudge Grogan is pocketing money intended for children in an asylum and replaced their good food with tainted turkey. When he can't scare the con artist into coming clean, he instead leans into Grogan's floozie secretary into ratting out her boss. Years later, Tony Trent eventually ended his secret identity while serving his country as an officer in WWII by framing a Chinese leader killed by Japanese forces, making everyone think he was The Face all along. From that point on, Tony Trent continued his adventures as a foreign military correspondent who unlike most comic book heroes of the time actually got married. The Face had his own brief series, which was later retitled Tony Trent after he ditched the mask. To think that you can just grab a green-skinned vampire Ben Cooper mask at a Spirit Halloween store is all it takes become a feared crimefighter might lead a clueless comic geek in the wrong direction.