Karnifex - luchador / 1960s / Trenchcoat / Salamander / versus Zigomar

Trenchcoat Karnifex by Terat0gen.

Salamander Karnifex by Seb and Franco.

Karnifex is the supernatural masked killer whose appearance is constantly changing, as his curse moves from one man to another.

Driven by endless greed, lust and thirst for blood, Karnifex hides his face behind a gasmask whose shape varies from the standard item's to skulls, insect-like heads, luchador mask and more. His suit changes shape as well, adapting to the lifestyle of the host: a soldier, a businessman, a politician, a cop, a thug, a student-- each of them has an innermost, disturbing self-image that is just waiting to surface. 

When the Karnifex identity plants its roots in a man, the reptilian brain that is a fundamental part of every living being, becomes dominant. And thus, Karnifex Salamander is born: rubbery and flexible as a salamander, shiny like a wetsuit, sleek and fast, he can bend his body in impossible ways, and only fire can kill him.

In the 1960s, Karnifex looked and acted different: he was focused on his "mission", never giving in to lust and greed. A perfect killing machine, Karnifex changed when the costume moved to a new host: a skinhead bodybuilder who adopted a Skull as a mask.

Body-builder Karnifex clashed with Serbian hero Zigomar, a character freely based on The Phantom. It's a possibility that Karnifex's and Zigomar's powers merged, when Karnifex stole the Zigomar ring: as a consequence, Karnifex was transformed into a new masked being... at least until the real Zigomar took back the ring.

Having lost his skull mask to a collector of arcane items, 1960s' body-builder Karnifex was encased by an extension of his own suit, which replaced the skull mask to hide the identity of the human host and grant him a measure of its fading powers. Influenced by the host, the replacement mask was shaped as a Luchador Mask.

Wrestler Karnifex only had a limited time to get back the Skull, before his powers were completely lost to him.

Check out the Italian Horror gallery for more designs and online comics of Karnifex, the thousand-faced monster that dwells in each of us.