The Twelve #3 (Marvel – Straczynski / Weston / Leach / Chuckry)
How will your now-elderly family react when you return to them after an absence of 63 years? That’s the crisis of the soul faced by Mister E, and an emotional confrontation that shines a spotlight on secrets about his past and heritage. Plus, the origin of the Fiery Mask! And golden age Zombies!
Truth be told, zombies do not play that much into the book… but that does not stop The Twelve from being very well written and probably one of Marvel’s most underrated books. J. Michael Straczynski weaves a fantastic tale of these twelve golden age pulp heroes cryogenically frozen and brought into the twenty first century.
After hearing the concept of both books and looking at the timing of the series’ releases, it’s hard not to have the comparison of The Twelve and Project: Superpowers. Even though the concepts of the two books are very similar, the details and the plot flow play out very differently. Even in just the first few issues, there has been a great amount of character development and the plot is almost exclusively character driven. And that in of itself would make this book soar, but add into that some great artwork that supports the pulp-structure of the storyline and The Twelve is on it’s way to the best book of 2008.
I don’t know who else is keeping score out there, but on my scorepad, even with powerhouses like Ross and Krueger on the book, The Twelve has a considerable lead on Superpowers.
Issue Grade: A
