BRUCE SATO
Real Name: Bruce Sato
Class: Human technology-user
Occupation: Toy designer, adventurer
Group Affiliation: MASK
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Boulder Hill
First Appearance: MASK special insert in the September, 1985 DC Comics, such as Action Comics I #573
Powers: Bruce Sato drove the Rhino ATV battle truck, and his Lifter mask could create anti-gravity fields.
History: (MASK special insert) - MASK worked with Duane Kennedy of the P.N.A. (Peaceful Nations Alliance) to counter Contra-World, who sought to undermind world order with their agents of VENOM. Kennedy contacted MASK's leader Matt Trakker when VENOM stole a molecular-dissembler from P.N.A.'s sub-atomics lab division. The dissembler had only one shot, so Kennedy wanted MASK to find out who or what VENOM would target with it and stop them. Miles Mayhem announced that he'd stormed Mount Rushmore, taking staff and visitors hostage, and threatened to destroy the monument unless Matt Trakker surrendered himself to him. Matt's son Scott was on a field trip to Rushmore, and Miles promised he'd perish along with Rushmore. Matt and Bruce Sato arrived at Rushmore, surrendering to Miles and his lackeys Sly Rax and Cliff Dagger, but Miles went against his word, saying he was still going to destroy Rushmore. MASK arrived to save their leader, with Brad Turner using his helicopter to fire on VENOM, forcing them to flee. Miles shot the dissembler before retreating in his Switchblade jet, but Brad used his Hocus Pocus mask to create an illusion of Rushmore, so Miles ended up hitting the hologram and not the monument.
(MASK I #1) - Matt Trakker took his son and T-Bob to the amusement park, where Scott bought a snake shaped balloon. An emergency signal from Duane Kennedy came in, so Matt told Scott he'd have to cut their vacation short and asked him to return to their hotel room. Kennedy told Matt that all the gold in Fort Knox had mysteriously disappeared, and asked him to investigate. Matt contacted Sato, Turner and Hayes, telling them to meet him at Fort Knox, and they discovered that VENOM had drilled into Knox using their Mole vehicle, stole the gold and put down quick-drying cement in an attempt to cover up their activities. They caught up to the Mole and recovered the gold, but the theft was meant as a distraction by VENOM while they kidnapped Matt's son Scott. The vendor Scott had bought his balloon from was actually a VENOM agent, and it was filled with sleeping gas, so he was unable to resist when Miles came for him. Matt returned to his hotel to find Scott and T-Bob missing and a picture of Anubis painted on the wall.
(MASK I #2) - Trakker and Sato flew to Egypt to meet Egyptologist Prof. Ginsburg, an expert on Anubis in hopes that the graffiti VENOM left behind would give them a clue about where Scott and T-Bob were. In their hotel they saw a news report about the P.N.A.'s laser grid defense system being implemented and nations in the free world starting a process of nuclear disarmament. Miles Mayhem, dressed as Anubis, alongside Rax, Dagger and Bruno Sheppard, who were disguised as mummies, ambushed Prof. Ginsburg in a temple dedicated to Anubis, and put him in a cell alongside T-Bob and Scott. They then robbed the Cairo Museum, but were driven away by Trakker and Sato. Duane Kennedy contacted Matt, telling him he was sending MASK's new recruit Nash Gorey to assist in finding Scott, although Matt was wary of someone inexperienced going in on such a sensitive mission. Matt called in Hondo, Jacques LeFleur and Julio Lopez to join in on the mission. They traveled to the temple of Anubis where Ginsberg was last seen, but were ambushed by VENOM. During the firefight Gorey, who was providing cover, shot Lopez' Dragonfly jet, and apologized for the friendly fire, but it allowed Miles to run into the temple with his goons. When MASK pursued, with Gorey covering the entrance, they fell through a trap door. In the confrontation with VENOM, MASK prevailed, but Miles caused a cave-in that allowed his team to escape. MASK found Scott, T-Bob and Ginsburg's cage and freed them, but Gorey, actually a double-agent of VENOM, used his Outlaw tanker rig to seal the temple with a boulder.
(MASK I #3) - Hondo used his Blaster mask to free his team, and an angry Matt called up Duane to tell them they'd been infiltrated by Venom. Duane promised him heads would roll, but this Duane was an imposter; the real Duane had been kidnapped after being sent a balloon filled with sleeping gas just like Scott. VENOM broke Charles Bigglesby, a man convinced he was Guy Fawkes, out of Eltham Asylum, and then broke into Arnheim Explosive Works to steal dynamite, telling Charles they were revolutionaries like him, and eager to help him blow up the UK House of Parliament. MASK was called into investigate, and Scott summoned Calhoun Burns, Gloria Baker, and Dusty Hayes to join him and Bruce Sato on the mission. New Scotland Yard Inspector Carruthers was to guide them on the case, and was initially distrustful of their newfangled methods and technology. MASK easily foiled the bombing, apprehending Charles and some low level VENOM henchmen. Bigglesby told them his new friends in VENOM planned on attacking a number of British landmarks simultaneously, such as the Tower of London. New Scotland Yard responded by removing the British crown jewels from the Tower, and sending out an armed convoy to hide them in a subterranean vault in the countryside. Matt Trakker deduced that the jewels were what VENOM was after the whole time. He was correct, and Miles Mayhem, Sly Rax, Floyd Malloy and Vanessa Warfield ambushed the convoy and stole the jewels. MASK confronted them, and after a clash Matt freed the jewels, which were hanging in a crate from Miles Mayhem's Switchblade copter. Sly Rax tried to recover it with his Piranha sub, but Gloria chased him off in her Shark sub. In the end Carruthers had to admit that MASK had the right stuff. Gorey pulled up to MASK's secret Boulder Hill gas station hq and pulled a gun on MASK members Alex Sector and Buddy Hawkes.
(MASK I #4) - Gorey stole MASK's missile-defense satellite and locked Alex and Buddy in a MASK holding cell. The imposter Duane called Scott Trakker reporting that VENOM had stolen a number of valuable paintings from the Louvre. Scott wanted to be at the opening of the P.N.A.'s missile-defense, but the false Duane insisted he and his team go to France. His Spectrum mask revealed that the paintings hadn't been stolen, VENOM had only installed lighting that made the paintings invisible to the naked eye. While MASK was preoccupied VENOM agents Vanessa Warfield, Floyd Malloy and Sly Rax knocked out the NASA astronauts set to put the final satellite in place for the P.N.A. defense system and replaced it with a VENOM satellite armed with a particle death-ray. Alex and Buddy set a fire in their cell, setting off the MASK computer system, which unlocked the holding cell in case of an emergency, and brought Matt up to spread. When President Regan pushed a computer console to demonstrate the defense-system it activated VENOM's satellite, calling down a death ray that would continue firing until it hit nuclear storehouses in the Midwest. VENOM looted Las Vegas casinos as the city was being evacuated, but MASK responded, capturing them all. Alex Sector hacked into the VENOM satellite, shutting it down, and the imposter Duane Kennedy was arrested by the P.N.A.. Matt was proud of his team, but worried that the delay in implementing the space missile prevention program would lead to continued tensions in the world that could end in nuclear war.
Comments: Created by Kenner.
Bruce Sato was a character from the MASK toy line and cartoons. This entry covers only his DC appearances.
The MASK special insert was in Action Comics I #573, Batman I #387, Batman and the Outsiders I #27, Blue Devil #16, Green Lantern II #192, Justice League of America I #242, Superman I #411, Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #327, Tales of the Teen Titans #57 and World's Finest Comics #319.
All characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com