Well, this is awkward.

It’s like this, guys: I had the story all set up, ready to finish up on Friday and publish at midnight so it would be shiny and ready for you on Free Comic Book Day … and then Thursday night happened.

Thursday night, as I [...]

The plot of Masks has changed a lot over the various drafts—at one point, the climax involved Captain Catastrophe and an assault rifle—but this little piece has always been there. Always, always, always, Rae rides the Masked Rider’s horse.

Interestingly, though, this was the first version of [...]

At some point, I will probably own a T-shirt that says, “First, we’re going to steal another car. Then we’re going to save the world.”

This chapter was an interesting exercise to write. It’s basically a hyperextended version of the classic phone-booth scene—Clark Kent steps into the [...]

This is probably my favorite chapter in the entire book.

I love the Masked Rider. He never runs out of interest for me. And I particularly love that he’s basically an absolute—when he shows up, Bad Things Are Going To Happen, period. He’s unstoppable, implacable—he’s death on [...]

This is probably the most physics-intensive chapter in the book. That sounds really lame, but I’m a physics nerd. It was my favorite science class in school—even cooler than biology, where I got to sit next to a stuffed owl every day. Something about crash carts and [...]

Ah, Mr. Hawkins revealed. Well, partly. Don’t worry—he’s got lots more layers.

This little piece of the Masks universe came from an interesting place. When I established, early on, that Los Angeles was relatively short on superheroes, and that this was a relatively recent development—it was only [...]

Hey, look, it’s the return of the commentary tracks!

Sorry I’ve been late with these, guys. I got busy with the actual chapters. Oh, well, at least there’s more goodies to fill in the gap between Volume 1 and Volume 2.

John Lawrence’s appearance in this chapter allows [...]

… I’m just going to wait here for a second while you scream at me for how Chapter 32 of Masks ended.

Got it out of your system? Good.

Yes, I will get around to showing more of the Black [...]

Trevor had a lot of experience at getting knocked out; it went with being a sidekick. He was also unusually good at waking up just a little sooner than people expected him to; it went with staying alive. So while he was surprised to open his eyes and find that he was still breathing, he [...]