Other characters who wore the Mask became, regardless of their intentions in donning it, cruel antiheroes or murderous, vengeful villains with ultra-violent tendencies.

Aspiring writer John Arcudi and artist Doug Mahnke were hired to create the new adventures, which became the first popular use of the character, "a combination of Tex Avery and The Terminator".

These series concluded in 2000 with the DC Comics crossover Joker/Mask, in which the magical Mask finds its way into the hands of Batman's arch-enemy The Joker.

Later, Stan breaks into Kathy's apartment to steal it back just as the police arrive in response to an earlier housebreaking call.

Deciding his only way out is as Big Head, Stan puts the mask back on and kills multiple cops during his escape in addition to causing a great deal of property damage.

Kellaway, who had been struggling with both the recent Big Head murders, and organized crime lords on the loose in his city, disregards Kathy's warnings, believing she is stressed and not thinking clearly, and tries on the mask.

City dwellers, not knowing of the magical mask, assumes Big Head is still the same killer whose targets are now high-profile crime lords.

Four friends, named Rick (a disgruntled anarchist), Ben (a failed musician), Hugo (a recovering drug addict) and Archie (a teenage savant), feel that their lives are at a dead end, until Rick, fascinated by the Big Head murders, finds the magical mask by the city pier and brings it home.

By the end, Walter, having recovered since being plowed into by Kellaway, finds the mask in his hands and is unable to use it and, in frustration, throws it off into the distance with tremendous force.

Acknowledging how the main series was dormant for twenty years, the mask had been buried in concrete for two decades, during which Kellaway retired in California and Kathy became mayor of Edge City.

Struggling politician Abner Mead finds it, and as Big Head uses his uninhibited and at times violent outbursts to make himself endearing to the populace and run for President of the United States.

Trouble ensues when one of the tourists ends up with the mask, and Big Head causes a riot at the gun show by pulling a knife.

Dark Horse Comics has published two omnibus editions featuring The Mask stories in chronological order.

[9] A film version of The Mask was released in the United States on July 29, 1994, starring Jim Carrey in the title role.

Directed by Chuck Russell, the film co-starred Peter Greene as Dorian Tyrell, Peter Riegert as Lt. Mitch Kellaway, Orestes Matacena as Niko, Richard Jeni as Charlie Schumacher, Amy Yasbeck as Peggy Brandt, and Cameron Diaz, in her screen debut, as Tina Carlyle.

Executive producer Michael De Luca's suggestion of Jim Carrey for the lead, together with the "Cuban Pete" production number in the screenplay, set the final tone for the film.

Director Chuck Russell, who helmed the original film, expressed his interest in a sequel in his 1996 LaserDisc commentary.

Russell had decided to cut the scenes when Peggy dies and leave the character open for the sequel, which became this film.

Though it does exist in the same universe as the 1994 film, the plot instead focuses on another man (played by Jamie Kennedy) who finds the mask and unintentionally conceives a child while wearing it.

At the same time, Loki (played by Alan Cumming), the Norse God and original creator of the mask, searches the human world attempting to find it.