Title:
The Twelve: A Thrilling Novel of Tomorrow, Volume 1
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Chris Weston
J. Michael Straczynski is quickly becoming one of my favorite comic book writers. After
I reviewed the first collected volume of Rising Stars, my blogger pal
Tony Laplume recommended
The Twelve. For this series, Straczynski and Weston resurrected a dozen obscure characters from Marvel's Golden Age, back when the company was known as Timely Comics. With shades of Rip Van Winkle, The Twelve were cryogenically frozen by the Nazis in 1945, forgotten, then discovered and awoken by the U.S. military 60 years later. The story chronicles their adjustment to 21st century society.
Volume 1 collects the first six issues of a twelve-issue run.
The adventure for the reader is in learning more about the individual characters, rather than marveling at the heroic or not so heroic exploits. What I enjoy about Straczynski's work is his ability to dig into the personal insecurities of his super-powered beings. A superhero team is hardly a new idea but the writer's investment in each member is deep in
The Twelve, just as it is for
Rising Stars.
Weston's art is vivid and engaging throughout. I'm also very impressed with the cover art. The image at the top of my post is from issue #1, cover art by Kaare Andrews. Andrews also did the covers for #2-4. Here's #2:
The covers for #5 and #6 were by Paolo Rivera. Here's #5:
Thanks for the recommendation, Tony!