The Twelve are time lost heroes from the Golden Age who find themselves thown together like castaways in time in a United States which has changed mightily since they all fell victim to Nazi suspended animation. Ironically The Twelve, the graphic novel also became time lost when a major delay hit it just after the halfway point, leaving a mystery story merely an annoying enigma for many moons thereafter.
In this story we follow The Phantom Reporter as he tries to solve the murder mystery of one of his colleagues, knowing the murderer is almost certainly one of his twelve colleagues.
He also must navigate affairs of the heart as he finds himself head over heels in love and lust with the enigmatic and dangerous Black Widow.
The Blue Blade is a callow fellow who seeks fame and fortune and seems little interested in deeper affairs of the heart. His story lies at the heart of the mystery we follow.
The robot Electro is a fascinating character, spending almost all of the story inert, a lost artifact who is the subject of court battles. Ownership issues and legalities are no small part of this groups re-entry into the modern world.
Even a hero like Dynamic Man who seems all too ready to find a new role in the brave new world has secrets which might make that difficult.
The story is a thriller and I don't want to spoil it too much for those who might want to take a tumble. The artwork is oustanding and the story is robust. These final chapters though hail mostly from the year 2012, four years after the series went on a hiatus due to writer Stracynski's other obligations. The fracture of this story was the source of no small amount of aggravation on my part at the time and was a major reason I just swore off new comics for the most part. The idea that I'd have to wait years to get the ending of a story which was intended to be a tight coherent whole was extremely frustrating.
Chris Weston was all too ready to continue the tale and he does in a manner of speaking. He wrote and drew a wonderful interlude which predates the events of this series and shows us more about the World War II world these heroes are from .
More on that tomorrow.
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