This is a one-shot written by the series' regular artist Chris Weston, presumably to tide us over until they finally get around to finishing the series. And I have to say, it was really nice to see these characters again. It's been a year and a half since the last issue of The Twelve came out. It was odd to read the little expository blurb at the beginning of this issue:
"They are yesterday's men of tomorrow--today! After being placed in cryogenic suspension by the Nazis at the close of WWII, twelve mystery-men of the 1940s are revived in the far-flung future of 2008."
Hmm. Makes you wonder what they've been doing for the last two years. We don't get to find out in this one-shot, as it's set during the war. It was fun to see a story about them in that setting though. We got a glimpse of it back in the first issue of the series, if I recall, but not a whole lot. And this time, we also get to see them interacting with some of the more well-known Golden Age heroes like Captain America and the Human Torch. We also get an answer to a question that had been bugging me since the beginning of the series: What the heck was a character like the Black Widow doing fighting in World War II? I won't spoil it, but it's definitely a satisfying answer to the question.
One thing that was kind of odd about reading this story was that it reminded me quite a bit of my main problem with Inglourious Basterds: the revisionist history element. I generally don't mind stories about fictional alternate histories, but for some reason it just seems a little off-putting when the subject matter is World War II. Like that event is somehow sacred. I think that's why DC decided to come up with a contrivance where their heroes wouldn't have been able to participate in World War II. There's always something a bit garish about these men and women in brightly colored tights flying around and knocking bad guys silly. But when the bad guys are Nazis, and the superheroes are fighting alongside American soldiers...it's just a little over the top.
Still fun to see these characters again though, and I hope the series picks up again soon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You write a good review. (That's my review of your reviewing. And obviously I do not write a good review, as evidenced by this meta-review.)
ReplyDeleteInteresting, in that I have a different view regarding the heroes in WWII. I thoroughly enjoyed Marvel's story or stories of Captain America in the Warsaw Ghetto as well as the famous cover of Cap punching out Hitler. During WWII over at DC, the covers of Superman often showed him supporting the war effort, although that did not happen inside the book. I think that even though the Timely heroes are fiction and were not involved in the real war, the stories gave support to the troops who were reading the stories, and, perhaps, in that way, they did indeed contribute to the fight for freedom.
ReplyDeleteI think the difference is that those stories were contemporary with the war. It's the fact that it's in the past now that makes the current stories about it seem weird to me.
ReplyDelete