The Twelve #1 of 12

I missed this one last week, but caught a few of the reviews out there for it. "The Twelve" follows twelve World War II era heroes that are awakened from suspended animation in 2008. The events occur in the post-Civil War Marvel Universe as well. In reading reviews on the internet, I had heard that this story might be similar to Alan Moore's "Watchmen" and decided to check it out. As luck would have it my LCS had a couple of copies left when I went for my weekly comics run.

Writer J. Michael Straczynski provides a good setup here. I'm not up to speed on my WWII Marvel superheroes but I believe all of the ones presented here are original. The narrator is Dick Jones - the Phantom Reporter. Dressed like the DC's Phantom Stranger without any powers, he provides the reader's view into this story. I like the tone set here and Chris Weston's character designs are good. Each character of the twelve looks like the could have stepped out of some WWII comic.

The last panel of the book is the reason most cited for the "Watchmen" comparison and I can see why. However, the tone set here really isn't like Moore's creation. I haven't decided whether I'm going to buy the whole series in monthlies or wait for the TPB, but I am intrigued.