Real Name: Mason Hollis
Identity/Class: Human technology user
Occupation: Professional criminal;
former assistant to District Attorney Franklin Nelson
Group Membership: Leader of a criminal organization (including Charlie, Louie, "Shades" McGraw, Turk)
Affiliations: Stunt-Master (George Smith), Torpedo
Enemies: Daredevil (Matt Murdock), Debbie Harris, Willie Lincoln, Franklin "Foggy" Nelson
Known Relatives: Mr. Hollis (father)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: His headquarters; S.S. Lady Luck
First Appearance: (Mentioned) Daredevil I#57 (October, 1969); (seen) Daredevil I#59 (December, 1969)
Powers/Abilities: Crime-Wave controlled a large network of criminals, and specialized in racketeering. His influence was powerful enough that the people of New York feared to act as witnesses against him, for fear of the consequences.
Crime-Wave employed numerous henchmen with conventional firearms; while aboard his gambling ship, his personal bodyguards were armed with laser rifles, and Crime-Wave himself had a laser handgun (see comments). Crime-Wave also had access to large--but unspecified--electronic equipment (likely 1960s era computers).
Height: Unrevealed (5'10"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
History:
(Daredevil I#57 (fb) - BTS) - The
past of Mason Hollis is largely unrevealed, but using the costumed
identity of Crime-Wave, he eventually established a billion-dollar crime
syndicate that conducted racketeering activities, including extortion to
collect "protection" payments from businesses.
(Defenders I#60 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, under unrevealed circumstances, Hollis also became the assistant of District Attorney Franklin Nelson (see comments).
(Daredevil I#59 (fb)) - While investigating information on Crime-Wave, blind ex-cop Willie Lincoln stumbled across a secret passage to Crime-Wave's lair beneath a nightclub/discotheque on New York's West Side. Willie feigned ignorance and pretended to be just a harmless blind beggar; after testing him with blinding bright lights, Crime-Wave assumed Willie was telling the truth, so he instructed his men to just give Willie a few dollars and escort him out.
(Daredevil I#57 - BTS) - Willie Lincoln informed District Attorney Franklin Nelson about the existence of Crime-Wave.
(Daredevil I#58 (fb) - BTS) - Crime-Wave paid the Stunt-Master $1000 to take out Daredevil, but DD defeated him.
(Daredevil I#58 - BTS) - At Stunt-Master's trial, Daredevil announced to the court that Crime-Wave was trying to take over all organized crime in New York.
(Daredevil I#59) - Daredevil took out a gang of Crime-Wave's racketeers, but they were soon set free when no one was willing to act as witnesses against them. The mayor of New York spoke out against both Crime-Wave and the apathy of the citizens.
Willie Lincoln told Matt Murdoch and Foggy Nelson about his encounter with Crime-Wave, and they had his story published in the Daily Bugle; in response, the angry Crime-Wave tore up the newspaper and sent the Torpedo to silence Lincoln. Daredevil saved Lincoln from the assassination attempt, and Lincoln then risked his life to save Daredevil and finish off Torpedo.
(Daredevil I#60 (fb)) - Hollis advised Foggy Nelson that his survey showed that Nelson would be more popular with the public if he wasn't engaged to Debbie Harris, an ex-convict; the offended Nelson advised his assistant to mind his own business.
(Daredevil I#60) - Daredevil took out two of Crime-Wave's men, and then impersonated one of them--"Shades" McGraw--to infiltrate the S.S. Lady Luck, Crime-Wave's gambling ship. Aboard the ship, Crime-Wave used hidden cameras and watched as the ship served its purpose as bait to draw in Debbie Harris. Crime-Wave had the games rigged so that after an initial period of success, Debbie would end up losing more than she could afford, and they could then use her against Foggy (see comments).
Crime-Wave offered to forgive Debbie's debt if she would help him frame Foggy so that it would appear as if Foggy were taking bribes. But Debbie refused, then she leapt forward and unmasked Crime-Wave--she was shocked to see his [off panel] real identity ("You!!"), just as Daredevil burst in and took on Crime-Wave's henchmen.
Crime-Wave--having put his mask back on in the confusion [off panel]--attempted to fire his laser gun at Daredevil and Debbie, but by then, legal authorities had arrived, and a cop--under Foggy's direction--shot and winged Crime-Wave, taking him out of the fight.
Foggy then unmasked Crime-Wave himself, revealing the criminal mastermind to be his own assistant, Mason Hollis. Hollis was then arrested and taken away by the police.
(Daredevil VI#26 (fb) - BTS) - After getting out of prison, Mason returned to his family, including his father, Mr. Hollis, who worked as a prison warden.
(Daredevil VI#26 - BTS) - Mr. Hollis taunted the new inmate Daredevil with news that he was Mason's father.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan.
A couple of minor points:
There are few good pictures of Crime-Wave, and his mask is a little different in each of them.
His first name was revealed in Stunt-Master's entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z HC#11.
Louie sub-profile and update by Chadman.
I'm guessing that Crime-Wave got the laser guns from the Terrible Tinkerer (Phineas Mason), who would later be known to supply equipment to other criminals (e.g. Big Wheel, Binary Bug, Bruno Caper, Hypno-Hustler, Ringer, Stinger).
And this story reminded me of Daredevil's earlier battle with the Organizer; however, it didn't "challenge" the reader with any clues to guess Crime-Wave's true identity--Crime-Wave was unmasked thirteen pages after Mason Hollis was first seen as Foggy's assistant.--Ron Fredricks
Profile by Snood. Update by Chadman. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Crime-Wave (Mason Hollis) should not be confused with:
Crime-Wave's henchman Turk has no known connection to:
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For his criminal operation, Crime-Wave maintained a headquarters somewhere beneath a noisy nightclub/discotheque on New York's West Side; it was accessible via a chute behind a door inside the club. While at the club investigating the Crime-Wave case, blind ex-cop Willie Lincoln accidentally fell into the chute and came sliding down into the headquarters, where he was confronted by Crime-Wave and his henchmen; but Willie was able to bluff his way out of the situation by pretending to be only a beggar. After they subsequently released him, Willie informed the police about the secret headquarters' location, but Crime-Wave and his henchmen had already abandoned it before the police could conduct a raid. The headquarters included a desk for Crime-Wave, and other large but unspecified electronic equipment (likely 1960s era computers) --Daredevil I#59 |
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Crime-Wave's other headquarters was on the gambling ship S.S. Lady Luck, which cruised off the coast of New York, beyond the 12-mile limit, and thus beyond the reach of U.S. legal authorities. In a chamber below the ship's waterline, Crime-Wave had a bank of video screens to monitor the games of chance; but all the games were rigged so that Crime-Wave would ultimately win. Wealthy patrons were invited aboard to gamble, and Crime-Wave would extort the losing gamblers into cooperating with his criminal schemes. When Daredevil infiltrated the ship, he knocked out the helmsman and set the ship's course to sail closer to the shore, where the police and District Attorney Nelson boarded it to arrest Crime-Wave and his gang. --Daredevil I#60 |
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Aboard the S.S. Lady Luck, Daredevil knocked out the pilot of Crime-Wave’s gambling ship--the unidentified pilot had supposed the hero to only be his coworker Charlie, coming to relieve him of duty. Taking control of the ship's wheel, Daredevil set the Lady Luck on a course to take it closer to shore, where U.S. legal authorities had no restrictions preventing them from boarding it. --Daredevil I#60 (Comment: Charlie's only "appearance" [underlined in red) was in a word-balloon.) |
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One of the Crime-Wave’s henchmen, Louie (last name unrevealed) and a criminal associate were collecting "protection" money from a candy store; but Daredevil arrived and knocked out Louie's partner. Louie drew a gun on Daredevil and was shocked when the hero disarmed him and knocked him down. But when the police arrived, the store owner didn't press charges, for fear of what Crime-Wave would do. As Daredevil rushed off, a woman in a telephone booth told her friend Mabel about seeing the hero. --Daredevil I#59 |
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An unidentified elderly woman was speaking to her friend Mabel from a telephone booth; Mabel's friend told her that Daredevil had just rushed past. --Daredevil I#59 - BTS (Comment: Mabel's only "appearance" [underlined in red) was in a word-balloon.) |
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"Shades" McGraw (so called because he always wore sunglasses) and the bald and mustached Turk were two of Crime-Wave's henchmen. One night, "Shades" and Turk were on a pier and loading boxes of money onto a launch boat, preparing to deliver the cash to Crime-Wave's gambling ship, the S.S. Lady Luck; but Daredevil had overheard details of the delivery at a "sleazy bar," so he went to the pier and easily defeated both of them. Since he had a similar facial appearance to the unconscious "Shades," Daredevil dressed in his clothes and posed as the henchman to sneak on board the gambling ship, where he learned "Shades" had a reputation for being a great operator on the roulette wheel. --Daredevil I#60 (Comment: Daredevil had learned about the money delivery behind-the-scenes--although its name was never mentioned, maybe that "sleazy bar" was Josie's.) |
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images: (without ads)
Daredevil I#60, cover (main image - Crime-Wave)
Daredevil I#60, p6, pan1 (headshot - Mason Hollis)
Daredevil I#59, p14, pan1 (Crime-Wave tears up Daily Bugle newspaper)
Daredevil I#60, p16, pan3 (headshot - Crime-Wave with laser handgun)
Daredevil I#60, p19, pan4 (Crime-Wave gets unmasked by Foggy Nelson)
Daredevil I#59, p11, pan1 (Willie Lincoln slides down chute into Crime-Wave's headquarters)
Daredevil I#60, p11, pan2 (launch boat transports wealthy patrons to gambling ship)
Daredevil I#60, p11, pan3 (Crime-Wave in hidden chamber of gambling ship)
Daredevil I#60. p13, pan4 (unidentified pilot of gambling ship mistakenly thinks approaching Daredevil is Charlie)
Daredevil I#59, p1, pan1 (Louie threatens candy store owner)
Daredevil I#59, p4, pan4 (unidentified elderly woman speaks to Mabel)
Daredevil I#60, p2, pan1 ("Shades" McGraw; Daredevil [background])
Daredevil I#60, p2, pan4 (Turk tries to punch Daredevil)
Appearances:
Daredevil I#57 (October, 1969) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Syd Shores (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Daredevil I#59-60 (December, 1969 - January, 1970) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Syd Shores (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Daredevil VI#26 (February, 2021) - Chip Zdarsky (writer), Marco Checchetto/Mike Hawthorne (pencils), Adriano Benedetto (inks), Devin Lewis (editor)
First posted: 10/28/2003
Last updated: 09/02/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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