Revival From Obscurity II: Project Superpowers

The 1940s comics had an endless supply of super heroes, many of whom had vanished into oblivion by the 1950s. As with Marvel's The Twelve, Dynamite's Project Superpowers is another new comic in which Golden Age heroes are revived from obscurity.

In The Twelve, a dozen of Timely's 1940s heroes are awakened after 60 years of cryogenic slumber. In Project Superpowers, various Golden Age heroes are likewise rescued from obscurity. As opposed to sleeping, they have been trapped in Pandora's box (or in this case, Pandora's urn). Most of the heroes to be unleashed have not been seen in the pages of comics for decades. They include such names as The Flame, Black Terror, Samson, and the Green Lama (although short lived revivals have occurred in a few cases).

And then there is Fighting Yank, who just happens to have grown old without being trapped in the urn. It appears that the Yank actually did the trapping, but was perhaps duped into doing it.

Until Project Superpowers, my only exposure to most of these heroes were in cover galleries of comic book price guides. Now I can see these heroes in action. Project Superpowers appeals to my sense of nostalgia, as does The Twelve.

Project Superpowers also has Alex Ross going for it, in charge of plot, covers, art direction, and interior paintings. But he doesn't do the script or interior art.

A couple of interesting points about Superpowers. First, the revived characters were not originally the property of just one company, but they range from Standard, to Fox, to Prize. I wonder if Dynamite had acquired the rights to many of these characters or if a number of these characters had become public domain, which means anyone can use them.

Which brings us to the second interesting point. Both The Twelve and Project Superpowers each have their own unique version of Dynamic Man. But there is no question that each version is based on the same Golden Age hero since in each book his alter ego is Curt Cowan. Until now I had assumed that Marvel owned the rights to all the old Timely characters, but now I wonder if Dynamic Man had fallen into the public domain since both Marvel and Dynamite are reviving him.

And I wonder how true these versions of Dynamic Man will be to the Golden Age hero, who was originally an android (as he appears to be in Project Superpowers). Dynamic Man's alter ego, Curt Cowan, was also an FBI agent in his Golden Age adventures. I wonder if either company will do anything with that or if we'll just forget it ever happened. (I also wonder how an android passed the physical to become an FBI agent).

So far, I'm collecting both books, but The Twelve stands out as the better of the two. Yet I look forward to the revival of more old characters in Superpowers. It appears that we might see a return of Silver Streak, Cat-man (aka, "the Cat") and Kitten, and the Woman in Red, among many others. I'm excited whenever Golden Age heroes get another shot at the limelight.    

Comments

[stephen]

So it's the same Dynamic Man, I did not know that. I would say that the Twelve is doing a more entertaining job with him, but I can't see them using his robotic origin.

Also I look forward in Superpowers to Alex Ross's redesigns of all the costumes. He made the Black Terror look very cool, so I can't wait to see what he does with the rest of the group.

[Dr. Retro]

Stephen,

Yep. Same Dynamic Man--at least based on the same Golden Age character. I agree that in The Twelve he is much more interesting. I too, look forward to Ross' costume designs. I enjoy his two page spread of various heroes in the latest issue of Project Superpowers.