Laughing Mask

Superherobox|

caption=Cover art for "The Twelve" #4.
Art by Kaare Andrews.
character_name=Laughing Mask
real_name=Dennis Burton
species=
publisher=Timely Comics
debut="Daring Mystery Comics" #2
creators=
alliances=The Twelve
aliases=
powers=Expert marksman and pugilist|

The Laughing Mask (Dennis Burton) is a Timely Comics Golden Age superhero who appeared in "Daring Mystery Comics" #2, and will reappear in " The Twelve". [ [http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=11312 Mystery Men's Dozen: Brevoort Talks "The Twelve"] , July 26, 2007, Comic Book Resources] [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=124744 12 Days of the Twelve: The Laughing Mask] , August 10, 2007, Newsarama] His one Golden Age story was reprinted in "The Twelve" #0.

Fictional character biography

Dennis Burton was a Deputy District Attorney who became frustrated with the American civil justice process and decided to take the law into his on hands. Using the alias "The Laughing Mask", he donned a red suit and phosphorescent glowing mask, plus a pair of .45 pistols. He accepted killing as a means for justice, shooting several unarmed gangsters during his first appearance.

=The Twelve=

Some time after his official introduction as a superhero, The Laughing Mask joins Captain America, the Invaders and a cadre of second-tier superheroes in the Battle of Berlin. There he's ambushed and capured along with Blue Blade, The Black Widow (unrelated to the modern character of that name), Captain Wonder, Dynamic Man, Fiery Mask, Rockman, the original Master Mind Excello, Mister E, Phantom Reporter, the Witness and the telepathically controlled robot Electro. As Electro is deactivated and unable to help the other heroes, they are doused with sleeping gas and put in cryogenic stasis by Nazi scientists, hoping to dissect them and discover the secret of their superhuman abilities. Dennis Burton, along with the others, is "lost" when the scientists are killed during the fall of Berlin, and he's discovered only many years later, in modern time.

Living in a luxurious mansion with his former teammates, he resumes his heroic business, this time in full compliance with the Superhero Registration Act. His trademark pistols become his undoing when he registers them as his weaponry of choice. The pistols are discovered to have been looted from his execution of a mobster during the 1940s, a crime for which the Laughing Mask is still held accountable. He is then arrested.

References

* [http://www.geocities.com/jjnevins/laughing.html A Guide to Marvel's Golden Age Characters: Laughing Mask] , by Jess Nevins

Footnotes