Origin

Tim Holt's life changed when he came to the aid of Don Vicente Gomez, who was being threatened by the bandit El Terror. Gomez told him the legend of Red Mask, a Zorro-like hero from a hundred years past who had helped the poor and oppressed in the Rio Grande with his rapier and gun. Inspired by this tale, Holt adopted the Red Mask identity.

Operating from a hidden cave tended by his aide, Zut, the Red Mask used his unusual arsenal to keep peace in the West.

Creation

Tim Holt (born Charles John "Tim" Holt III on February 5, 1919) was a real Hollywood actor. In 1942. Like many other Western stars of the time, Holt later had a fictional comic-book character based on him. In the comics, he started out as a typical cowboy hero wandering the Old West.

In 1948, he was featured as the hero of a comic book series published by Magazine Enterprises. His film sidekick, the Mexican-Irish Chito Rafferty, appeared alongside Holt's comic-book counterpart in early Magazine Enterprises stories.

Following a pattern seen with other cowboy characters from the company, Holt was gradually reinvented as the masked hero Red Mask in issue #20 (he had played a masked cowboy in the film Red River Robin Hoodin 1942).

Character Evolution

In this initial version, he wore a red shirt, red pants, and a mask that covered his mouth (much like Mr. Justice in Red River Robin Hood and Durango Kid).

Starting with issue #39, the character's costume was redesigned, his mask was changed to a model similar to the Lone Ranger, covering the upper part of his face instead of his mouth.

This new identity lasted until issue #42, when the licensing agreement between Magazine Enterprises and Holt's representatives was dissolved. As a result, the comic was retitled simply as Red Mask and continued publication without Holt's name or likeness from that point onward.

Chito Rafferty was eventually abandoned as well. The Red Mask identity, which originated in the comics, ultimately kept the series going long after Holt's relatively short-lived career, he passed away on February 15, 1973.

Due to the non-renewal of the rights, Red Mask became a public domain character, later being published by AC Comics and other independent publishers.