The Mask Returns #3 (1993)

Somewhere in a jungle, a ritual has started and a shaman inside a human circle stands unprotected from the other men, who are heavily armed with swords and daggers. One of the cultists attack the shaman and beheads him, only for the shaman to keep walking, pick up his head and put it back in place. The head in fact is that of The Mask and after the ritual, the shaman takes off the artifact and leaves it on an altar, where it is stolen and replaced by a fake replica. The thief starts running, but he is stopped by a group of gangsters, who demand for him to surrender the Mask as was part of the deal with their boss. The thief called Mitch, gives them a mask and the thugs decide to kill him, but before they could react, they notice the mask they were given was one of the phonies and by the time they realized the truth, Mitch had already put on the real Mask and eliminates the thugs. At that moment, Katherine wakes up, startled from her nightmare and she wonders if the dream is the origin of The Mask. However, she stops thinking about it, because she's had enough trouble already trying to find a safe way of disposing it, after several failed attempts at destroying it. Kathy knows that if she just throws the thing, someone would find it and so far, she is the only person who has not abused of The Mask (except for that time when she killed Stanley Ipkiss). When she reads the news about the crimes of the previous thug who had The Mask, she is tempted to use the Mask to fix things, but only so slightly. Meanwhile, Don Cesare Mozzo is meeting with Walter in order to ask for his protection against "Big Head", although Walter doesn't seem too interested about it. The next day, Katy finds herself walking in front of Mozzo's former hideout, which was claimed by the previous Mask and she bumps into a man that she recognizes, but can't recall where she has seen him. Without much time to think, Kathy notices how a couple of thugs drive up to the building and deliver a "message for Big Head" as they blow up the place with a rocket launcher. Kathy is slightly injured, but others are worse than she is after the attack. For this reason, Kathy gives into temptation and wears The Mask to kill one of the thugs and use the second to track down the responsible for the attack. At that moment, Lionel is at the hospital, visiting the comatose Lieutenant Kellaway, but when his partner doesn't show signs of recovery, Lionel decides to take a nurse out for coffee. At midnight, Don Mozzo awaits the report from his enforcers at his new hideout in the docks, when the body of one of his thugs comes crashing through the glass ceiling, followed by Kathy, still wearing The Mask and ready to cause some trouble. Mozzo gets on his knees and pleads for mercy while his bodyguards are confused at "Big Head" being a woman. Katherine's compassion gets the best of The Mask and she almost shows mercy to the mob boss. However, those few seconds of hesitation were enough as Katherine is shot in the chest and apparently killed with a hole in her body caused by the accurate, yet brutal shotgun shot from Walter, who was waiting in the shadows for the right moment.