Wild West Karnifex

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

Wild West Karnifex (also known as KowBoy Karnifex) took possession of the young son of a Federal Marshal (or a Ranger?) and a Native American woman, turning the friendly kid into a deadly gunner.
Raping the same women that his father and his uncle swore to protect from the abuse of the white men, Wild West Karnifex is just waiting for the chance to challenge his own father in a quickest-draw contest.
For the moment, though, the kid is just happy to wait for the night, sneak out of the firecamp, don the leather mask of Karnifex and have his actual clothes transformed into the Karnifex suit. That's when the slaughter begins.
Yes, the everyday clothes of the kid are actually a disguised version of the Karnifex suit: in the Wild West, there was just no way to carry around a backpack for the full Karnifex suit without rising suspicions.
How the kid manages to remain so sunny and charming, even if he spends the whole day wrapped in the Karnifex curse, is truly a mystery of its own.

By Franco and Luca.

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

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.

Episode 20 - Industrial Espionage (part 2)

Linda's boyfriend did it. Wearing a nanotech version of the Karnifex suit, he defeated and killed the masked murderer!

But something is not right, as Simon can't take the suit off: who is really hiding behind that full mask that alters even the voice of the wearer?

Only when the onslaught is done, the fate of the real Karnifex is revealed. And The Unseen will shed some light on this mystery!

It's Industrial Espionage (part 2).

Art by Lucas Ferreira Santos.

Story & lettering by Franco Villa.

English edits by Zac DeBoard.

For the whole series, go to the Karnifex Episodes Index.

Episode 20 - Industrial Espionage (part 1)

Craig Clayborne continues to don the uniform and the mask of Karnifex, as he hunts for more technological secrets in Industrial Espionage (part 1).

But Linda Silverstein and doctor Henderson have a new ace up their sleeve-- another Karnifex?!?

Young, arrogant, strong and equipped with a perfect nanotech replica of the Karnifex suit, this upstart could spell doom for Karnifex!

Featuring a cover that is a tribute to one classic Kriminal splaspage!

Art by Sarknob.

Story & lettering by Franco Villa.

English edits by Zac DeBoard.

For the whole series, go to the Karnifex Episodes Index.

Episode 10 - The Unseen

The mystery of the masked man in the business suit is about to be revealed, as he crosses his path with Wetsuit Karnifex--by chance!

In The Unseen, it's Fabian versus Adam, as one masked man forces the other one into submission, threatening to unmask him unless his secret story is revealed!

Why is The Unseen so keen on manipulating the different incarnations of Karnifex? What is the connection between Karnifex, the Unseen and a 1960s masked killer who was brutally murdered by the Police?

This episode is available in PDF and RAR format.

Art by Nathan Anderson.

Cover by James Ed Marsh.

Story & lettering by Franco Villa.

English edits by Zac DeBoard.

For the whole series, go to the Karnifex Episodes Index.