Some thoughts about Black Mask: Year of the Villain #1

What will be Black Mask's new face?

Black Mask has always lived hidden from the rest of the world but now he will be forced to take new identities if he want to escape from heroes.

Another Year of the Villain one-shot appears and while the one centered around Sinestro was really good, this leaves a bit to be desired.

Tom Taylor handles this story about Black Mask and I tend to enjoy Taylor's work (whenever is not about Earth 2) but this issue emphasizes a lot of his typical flaws. The one-shot is supposedly devoted to Black Mask and what makes him tick as a character but Taylor's writing never goes too deep and his exploration of the villain lacks any subtext with just flashbacks about Black Mask's childhood and the multiple mentions abouts "masks" and "faces", is pretty much taking the character at face value and I'm not even a fan of him but this fails at giving him some respect.

In fact, the best parts of the issue are the ones focusing on Batwoman and Renee Montoya and their relationship which is decently handled (although a bit idealized considering that Renee has never been the best girlfriend) and is odd considering they are not the ones on the title and cover.

Also, the content is rather light and the plot is barely there, it doesn't even contribute to the Year of the Villain event so it fails in that regard too.

Cully Hamner handles the art and this is the highlight thanks to the distinctive style and precise storytelling.

I can't recommend this, is just a simplistic tie-in that doesn't deliver anything memorable sadly.