By Jim Beard
 |
THE TWELVE #0
cover by
Chris Weston |
Next year, 11 costumed men (and one woman) of a heroic nature catapult from the nascent days of World War II into a wild and wooly future—or as we call it:
the present!
Writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Chris Weston's new mini-series THE TWELVE kicks off December 5 with a sneak peek #0 issue that gives the low-down on the dozen heroes that make up the Twelve. But in advance of even that, Marvel.com has whipped up a gee-whiz list of 12 things that you
need to know for the ultimate TWELVE love-fest!
And for those of you counting at home, eight of these heroes debuted in 1940, two of them in 1941, six of them in MYSTIC COMICS, one is a robot and one is dead!
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Captain Wonder
design art by
Chris Weston |
12.
Captain Wonder had a youthful sidekick named Tim Mulrooney. The spunky lad wore a costume with colors reversed from that of the good Captain.
11.
Dynamic Man only had four published adventures. Seems "dynamic" had a different meaning back in 1940.
10.
Mister E, conversely, had 16 published adventures, many of them in DYNAMIC COMICS. Maybe the wrong guy got the "dynamic" tag.
9.
Rockman, the "underground secret agent", ruled a place called "Abysmia." Many Abysmians suffered from low self-esteem.
8. Something precious died the day that people no longer
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Laughing Mask
design art by
Chris Weston |
considered names like "
The Fiery Mask" and "
The Laughing Mask" to be the height of awesome.
7.
Elektro, built by a fellow named Zog, was a robot before being a robot was cool.
6.
The Phantom Reporter: a phantom who posed as a reporter or a reporter who reported on phantoms? He's not talking.
5.
The Witness debuted in 1941's MYSTIC COMICS #7. He lasted through three adventures and never once got called up for jury duty.
 |
Blue Blade
design art by
Chris Weston |
4.
The Blue Blade, aka Spencer Keen owned a horse and was one of the first heroes to try and make the "no shirt" look viable for male and female adventurers alike.
3. People often mistook
Master Mind Excello for being French. No records exist of him ever having visited France or even spoken French. He did like to use suction cups, though.
2. The original
Black Widow went by Claire Voyant in her civilian life and rose from the dead courtesy of Satan himself. No, really.
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Black Widow
design art by
Chris Weston |
We're not kidding.
Really. How could we make something like that up?
1. THE TWELVE will be the greatest resurrection of obscure super heroes ever in the history of comics. You'll kick yourself if you miss this one.
There you have it, a marvelous multitude of reasons to embrace this kooky collection of the greatest heroes nobody knows. Straczynski, Weston, Marvel—what more could you want, True Believer? How about THE TWELVE #0, on sale December 5!
