The Twelve (comics)
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| The Twelve | |
 Promotion art for The Twelve #1 by Kaare Andrews. |
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| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
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| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Miniseries |
| Number of issues | Twelve |
| Main character(s) | Blue Blade The Black Widow Captain Wonder Dynamic Man Electro Fiery Mask Laughing Mask Master Mind Excello Mister E Phantom Reporter Rockman Witness |
| Creative team as of January 2008 | |
| Writer(s) | J. Michael Straczynski |
| Penciller(s) | Chris Weston |
| Creator(s) | J. Michael Straczynski Chris Weston |
The Twelve is an American comic book miniseries from Marvel Comics, which the company announced in July 2007 would run 12 issues beginning spring 2008, with the creative team of writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Chris Weston.[1] The series stars 12 obscure characters from Marvel's earliest incarnation as Timely Comics from the 1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books.
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[edit] Publication history
Writer J. Michael Straczynski said in July 2007 that the story concerns 12 superhumans randomly kidnapped by the Nazis during World War II in order to study their powers for the Nazis' "Master Race" efforts. The superhumans were put in cryonic suspended-animation until the present day, when a construction project in Berlin, Germany inadvertently uncovers them. The series explores the culture shock of people from the 1940s being revived in the present day. "I wanted to explore their reactions to us, and our reactions to them ... what was good about the World War II period that we lost, and what was not so good about it that we've eliminated in all but them".[1]
[edit] Membership
The Twelve are:[2]
- The Blue Blade
- The Black Widow (not the modern character of that name)
- Captain Wonder
- Dynamic Man
- Electro
- The Fiery Mask
- The Laughing Mask
- Master Mind Excello
- Mister E
- The Phantom Reporter
- Rockman
- The Witness
[edit] Synopsis
As related by the Phantom Reporter: During the World War II Battle of Berlin in 1945, a dozen of the many superheroes and masked crimefighters of that era are ambushed by Nazis in the basement of an SS building, where the heroes are gassed and placed into cryogenic suspension. In the present day, construction workers find this bunker, and the Twelve, as they become known, are revived. Put into the care the U.S. military, they are housed together in a mansion where receive counseling and support, are gradually made to understand that decades have passed, and are offered a role as heroes in the 21st century.
The Twelve adjust in various ways: The Blue Blade becomes a celebrity; the Phantom Reporter starts a column for the Daily Bugle, Dynamic Man allies himself with the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies and throws himself into heroics; the Black Widow reconnects as the "instrument of vengeance" of an unknown party and begins going on missions; and Rockman bemoans being cut off from an underground kingdom that may or may not exist. On ballistics evidence, police arrest the Laughing Mask for a 1940s murder. In addition, the daughter of the creator of the robot Electro threatens to sue to reclaim it.
In framing story set "much later", the Phantom Reporter, gun in hand, stands over the body of the Blue Blade, regretting the man's death.
