History PaperThinDisguise / ComicBooks

** ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} has this as part of her outfit in ''ComicBook/BatmanWhiteKnight''. Instead of the traditional cowl, she merely has a DominoMask and a pair of bat ears. When the Joker publicly reveals Batgirl's identity in ''ComicBook/BatmanCurseOfTheWhiteKnight'', he mocks an embarrassed Jim Gordon for not recognizing working with his own daughter the whole time while the latter and being fouled by a simple mask.

** ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': An early ''Paperinik story has every belittled husband in Duckburg dressing up as Paperinik and playing mean pranks on their Paperinik-worshipping wives to ruin his reputation. Despite the fact that none of them look remotely like him (most of them aren't even ducks!), it works perfectly -- at least until the real Paperinik takes action and exposes them.

* Super Goof is just WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} in long underwear, but only his nephew Gilbert can recognise him.
** On ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'', when everyone tries to figure out who Super Goof is, they come to the conclusion that it's WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}.
* ComicBook/GreenArrow, despite having facial hair that can most kindly be described as 'extremely distinctive' used to hide his identity as Oliver Queen behind a [[DominoMask mask]] that was little more than a pair of tiny, diamond-shaped pieces of cloth with eyeholes cut out. In ''Longbow Hunters'', Shado openly expressed surprise that it was supposed to be a secret. Oliver Queen was also the mayor of his city. So literally the Mayor with very distinct facial hair was fighting crime in a lazy disguise and it worked. It is also recognized in Mia Dearden's origin story.
-->'''Mia''': Oh, ''please''! I'm not a total idiot! That little mask you wear doesn't exactly [[PersonAsVerb Batman]] your face. And the beard's a dead giveaway, too.
** Pointed out by [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] in TheStinger to his review of ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', which features Green Arrow's claim that they had to "work at" keeping their secret identities (through mindwipes).
--->You have a big blond Robin Hood beard as Green Arrow ''and'' Oliver Queen! ''You'' sure as hell don't work very hard at keeping it!
** {{Lampshaded}} in the ComicBook/{{New 52}} ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' series. Green Arrow wakes up in a hospital bed and finds he's still wearing his mask, and is told by Steve Trevor that they left it on to protect his identity. Ollie bemusedly points out that the mask does very little to actually protect his identity if he's not wearing his hooded costume.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern:'' Hal Jordan's disguise consists of a tiny domino mask. Combine that with Hal's usual IdiotHero tendencies, and it's amazing he has a secret identity at all. His buddy the Flash even commented on it at the beginning of ''ComicBook/BlackestNight''.

* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'': Iznogoud's idea of disguising himself as a pumpkin seller is to carry a pumpkin around. And it works, too. It works so well his own guards won't let him back into the palace until he drops the pumpkin!
* In one of the original ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'' comics, Johnny Thunder puts on a cap and gown and an obviously fake mustache (that make him look like... Creator/ConanOBrien in a cap and gown with a big mustache, for some reason) to fool some criminals, who are more puzzled than fooled.

* An early [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Paperinik]] story has every belittled husband in Duckburg dressing up as Paperinik and playing mean pranks on their Paperinik-worshipping wives to ruin his reputation. Despite the fact that none of them look remotely like him (most of them aren't even ducks!), it works perfectly -- at least until the real Paperinik takes action and exposes them.
* The comic book version of Howard Zinn´s book ''A People´s history of American Empire'' has a FBI agent spying on activist Dan Berrigan in 1970, wearing Groucho Glasses and a wig.

** In ''Asterix Conquers America'', Caesar escapes the final battle:
--->'''Gaul:''' Halt! Who Goes there?\\
'''Caesar:''' A barrel you dolt!\\
'''Gaul:''' Oh, a barrel.
** In ''Asterix in Switzerland'', in order to sneak past the Romans, Petitsuix disguises Asterix and Obelix with a ''bow'' and ''arrows'' (in all fairness, the Romans in Geneva did not know Asterix and Obelix by sight, so all the disguise was supposed to achieve was to make them appear like Helvetii, not foreigners).
** In ''Asterix and Cleopatra'', Obelix attempts to disguise himself as an Egyptian worker in order to get some magic potion by wearing an Egyptian headgear. Getafix is not fooled, to Obelix's utter bafflement.

** In "Asterix in Switzerland", in order to sneak past the Romans, Petitsuix disguises Asterix and Obelix with a ''bow'' and ''arrows'' (in all fairness, the Romans in Geneva did not know Asterix and Obelix by sight, so all the disguise was supposed to achieve was to make them appear like Helvetii, not foreigners).

* ComicBook/AtomicRobo's archnemesis, Dr Dinosaur, is capable of disguising himself as virtually anything by donning an appropriate hat and shirt. For the uninitiated, Dr Dinosaur is a ''dromaeosaurid''. He is a rich orange-brown colour, with scales, eyes mounted on the side of his head, and an enormous mouth full of needle-sharp teeth. This is akin to disguising yourself as a wolf by putting on a jumper made from grey wool. It usually works perfectly up until Robo or another major character sees him, at which point he tends to be outed.
* A recurring element of ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' lore is Matches Malone, a cover identity Batman assumes occasionally. It consists of Bruce Wayne with a fake mustache, a plaid suit, and a match in his teeth. It's generally proven effective -- sometimes lampshaded, sometimes not.
** In [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks older]] Batman comics, ComicBook/TheJoker and the Penguin would sometimes go out in public "disguised" by nothing but a pair of RoundHippieShades. It's a toss-up as to whether it's this trope or everyone was just too shit-scared to call the cops anyways.

** ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} has this as part of her outfit in ''ComicBook/BatmanWhiteKnight''. Instead of the traditional cowl, she merely has a DominoMask and a pair of bat ears. When the Joker publicy reveals Batgirl's identity in ''ComicBook/BatmanCurseOfTheWhiteKnight'' he mocks an embaressed Jim Gordon for not recognizing working with his own daughter the whole time while the latter and being fouled by a simple mask.

* For a while, [[{{ComicBook/CaptainAmerica}} Steve Rogers]] disguised himself as a hero known as '''The Captain'''. The costume looked identical to his normal Captain America costume except for darker colors and a slightly different chest-insignia. He even threw a shield around which was also had a slight color-change. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/Captain_America_350.jpg Here is a cover depicting both costumes.]] This costume somehow fooled everyone, including his allies in Comicbook/TheAvengers (for added hilarity, the roster included the supergeniuses [[{{ComicBook/IronMan}} Tony Stark]], [[{{ComicBook/BlackPanther}} King T'Challa]], [[{{ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk}} Bruce Banner]], [[{{ComicBook/SpiderMan}} Peter Parker]], and [[{{ComicBook/AntMan}} Hank Pym]] at the time). The costume would later be worn by the [=USAgent=].

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Queen Clea thought she could trick ComicBook/SteveTrevor by wearing a trench coat and holding the sleeve up over her mouth. Without removing her ''very distinctive headgear''. Steve was not fooled, but pretended to be in order to get her to drop her guard so he could arrest her.

** ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} has this as part of her outfit in ''ComicBook/BatmanWhiteKnight''. Instead of the traditional cowl, she merely has a DominoMask and a pair of bat ears.