Expanding on the concept behind Byron Preiss's "Weird Heroes" from the 1970s, George R. R. Martin's "Wild Card" series, and Michael Chabon's "McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales," "The Darker Mask" is a collection of original prose stories recalling the derring-do of the beings we call Superheroes and the worlds they fight to save. But unique to "The Darker Mask" stories is that these plots and characters color a literary universe outside of what has been predominantly white, idiosyncratic, and male in previous homages to pulp. This is the stuff of urban legends, new mythos, and extraordinary folks who might live in a soon-to-be-gentrified ghetto, the dreary rust-belt of the city, or in another dimension. "The Darker Mask" offers an eclectic mix of popular fiction writers exploring worlds gritty, visceral, and fantastic. Including stories by: Walter Mosley, L. A. Banks, Naomi Hirahara, Lorenzo Carcaterra, Tananarive Due and Stephen Barnes, Mike Gonzales, Gar Anthony Haywood, Ann Nocenti, Jerry Rodriguez, Reed Farrell Coleman, Doselle Young, Mat Johnson, Peter Spiegelman, Alexandra Sokoloff, Christopher Chambers, Gary Phillips, Victor LaValle, and Wayne Wilson.