Breaking Boundaries: An analysis of Superman's first appearance

By Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist)
From Action Comics #1, June 1938, panels numbered 10 to 17
Breaking Boundaries

The creation of a miraculous champion for justice: How Superman shatters comics conventions and social barriers
The creation of Superman changed the face of comics in America. How could a character rejected many times suddenly become the incarnation of a nation?
This page shows Superman racing to the governor to save an innocent life, presumably to ask for a stay of execution. He carries a woman, gagged and with her hands ties. He leaves her outside as he reaches for the governor's house. He doesn't behave as a gentleman but treats her like he would a man.  In the first panel he looks like a giant straddling the landscape as if he wore seven-league boots. This makes him a fantastical character. The shading lines on his costume and the landscape point toward the right and the bottom of the whole page but also to a house in the lower left of that panel. The language is very terse with even the word "through" shortened: "A tireless figure races thru the night." The sparseness of words evokes the urgency of a telegram: “Seconds count: Delay means forfeit of an innocent life.” Superman is always drawn with a leg before the other one and with his chest forward. He’s a motion that cannot be stopped. His supernatural strength and giant leaps make him a force of nature.
The page has three equal tiers. The top tier has three equal panels. When the governor’s butler closes the door on Superman on the first panel of the second tier, the width of the panel is reduced, leaving Superman with very little space. But in the next panel he smashes through the door, and through the gutter as well as the camera recedes to show his whole figure and the whole door. As a result the butler is cornered in the third panel. In fact when one looks at the whole tier one can see that the figures of Superman surround the butler: there’s no escaping Superman.
Having thus been cornered, the butler is now seized by Superman in the bottom tier. In addition the respective positions of the butler, Superman, the door and the wall on the third panel of the top tier, the first and third panels of the second tier as well as the stairs on the second panel of the bottom tier lead us to think the page and its panels are a representation of a house and its rooms. For instance, the right side of the first tier shows Superman on the outside. The next panel on the left side of the middle tier reverses Superman’s position so that the inside stays toward the middle of the page while the outside remains on the borders of the page. The right side of the middle tier depicts a wall. Similarly, the positions of the Superman figure, always seen in profile, help the eye read the page. On the first and second panels of the first tier, he faces to the right. On the third panel he faces to the left as the reader now needs to go to the left of the middle tier. The middle tier repeats this pattern. The last panel of the bottom tier has Superman taking the butler up the stairs, thus leading the eye outside the page and toward the top of the next page. Since the reader’s eye follows Superman, it helps reader identification with the character as well as it teaches the reader to follow Superman’s lead. Superman masters space by swallowing great distances with his leaps and by cornering the butler on the comics page itself but he also masters time.
To the butler’s “See him in the morning” he retorts “I’ll see him. Now!” He swallows time. His dialogue with the butler “Are you going to take me to the governor?” “No! I won’t!” “Then I’ll take you to him!” makes Superman like a prophet as it echoes this exchange, “If the mountain won’t go to the prophet, then the prophet will go to the mountain.”
Superman’s actions are miracles. He’s an agent of divine justice, unstopped by social conventions such as difference of status between men and women or between lower class and upper class. This page shows Superman owning the space of the comics page. Time, space and people submit to his will. He breaks boundaries of the page, moving inside and outside it at his leisure, and is not bound either by social conventions concerning gender or social classes. Right from his first appearance he embodies might in the service of right.

Breaking Bad Finale

Is Walter a bad guy? Creator Vince Gilligan's idea was to tell the story of a protagonist who becomes the antagonist. An idea which seems antithetic to television. But Badger and Skinny Pete in one of their geek conversations, mention JM Straczinsky Babylon 5, the complete TV series which was conceived and told over five seasons, a model for Vince Gilligan.

In his mind, Walt is the hero, he provides for his family. Even at the end, when in a moment of lucidity, he acknowledges that he did for himself because he was good at it and he felt alive, it's hard not to sympathize with him. He has issues common to gifted people, feelings of a lack of recognition which overtime turned into resentment toward his partners Gretchen and Elliott Schwartz. But few of the characters around Walt elicit sympathy.

The character of Skyler White (but not the actress of course) deserves all the illwill she's gotten. Right from the start the handjob she gives Walt as a birthday present while she tracks an ebay auction makes her unlikable. Certainly she is lied to continuously by a manipulative Walt but she's got all the characteristics of a castrating, emasculating personality. The scene with the talking pillow and the one when she goes into the pool show how manipulative she can be herself. As Jesse says, it's her who wears the pants.

The pants is the first image of the show, pants not worn, flying as the mobile home starts in a hurry. At least three male characters are manipulated by their female counterpart. Walt Junior is a study in passive-aggressive behavior. He has none of the smarts of his father (but is Walt his father? Remember when Ted Beneke says the kid has "good genes"?). Yet Walt never shows any of the frustration that he must feel over his retarded son.

Jesse, who becomes a sort of surrogate son, one who learns from Walt, is originally a two-bit loser but due to Walt's influence, he starts having flashes of brilliance. His moral awakening gives him sympathy points but he doesn't find his freedom by himself.

 Hank has moments of brilliance but he's out of his depth too many times and would have lost his life if not for Walt. His inability to face emotional issues makes him putty in the hands of Walt such as in the scene where Walt puts spy software in Hank's computer. This is in stark contrast with his exterior bluster as a DEA agent.

Marie Schrader is borderline crazy (substitute "seems to have unresolved psychological issues" if you prefer politically correct nonsense). Generally speaking, women on the show are often annoying. Consider Lydia Rodart-Quayle.

 The Pinkmans (Jesse and his parents), the Whites and the Schraders show us a very dysfunctional image of the suburbian American family.

So not only Walt's entourage isn't endearing but there are always more unsavory characters: the Salamancos, Gus Fring, the Cartel, Todd Alquist, his uncle Jack and his gang are worse. Mike Ehrmantraut, putting money aside for his grand-daughter and fiercely loyal to his men (therefore very much like Walt) is nonetheless a cold-blooded killer.

Dexter Last Season: What Were They Thinking?

As the last season was announced the series would move toward one of these two goals: the happy end or the death of Dexter. Dexter being exposed was another strong possibility. Yet the writers chose none of the above. While they defied expectations, that may not have been for the best. If there was one continuous thread to the previous seasons, it was the ongoing humanization of Dexter. Certainly this comes up as this season offered what Dexter never had: a mother. Enter: Dr. Vogel, the psychiatrist which developed Harry’s code, who therefore serves as a surrogate mother. Except she’s everything but maternal, even encouraging Dexter’s murderous nature.

Meanwhile, Debra has left the police force and works as a private investigator. Her relationship with Dexter is strained, although Dexter refuses to give up on her as if she was his anchor to his humanity. The return of Hannah MacKay makes it possible that Dexter will have a family. Even Captain Matthews seems to serve as a replacement father as he keeps reminding Dexter about Harry. And then Zach Hamilton is a surrogate son, a serial killer to whom Dexter teacher Harry’s code.

The family angle is paralleled with the supporting cast. Quinn is getting out with Jamie and starts thinking about getting a better situation. Masuka finds out he has a daughter and wonders if he can be a dad. A number of spectators have wondered what was the point of Masuka’s daughter? I’ll offer this: After a long list of Dexter doubles, one can forget that Masuka early on was described by Dexter as another man pretending to be normal. Could he overcome his sex obsession and become a family man? He does and this gives hope for Dexter himself. But Quinn doesn’t come through as he fails getting the promotion and then fails being fair to Jamie after she moved in with him.

Dr. Vogel points out that Dexter isn’t a perfect psychopath because of his feelings. In her view he can’t have empathy and says as much until she begins to revise her judgment. However this may blind her to the danger of her own murderous son and costs her her life as it had cost her charge Zach Hamilton his. Still Dexter lets their murderer go as his happiness with Hannah allegedly freed him of his killing instinct. This proves a dire mistake and costs Debra her life. The lesson doesn’t escape Dexter: he causes the death of all those who are close to him. After so many promises of family, Dexter loses it all: Dr. Vogel, his son, his fiancée, his sister, even the ghost of his father, his job and the relationships he had there.

The scenes where Dexter shuts Debra from life support in the hospital, takes her body to his boat and dumps her body at sea are the more resonant. They remind us of his first kill, the nurse, and of his other disposals. But the final scene, where he’s seen to have survived the storm and working for a lumber company, lacks any such resonance. In the main, the ideas for this season weren’t bad but their execution was ultimately unsatisfying.

Are there too many Avengers books?

Uncanny Avengers: an Avengers team mixing Avengers and mutants to adress storylines from Remender's Uncanny X-Force.
Avengers: The usual Avengers team
Avengers Assemble: An Avengers team for moviegoers with a strong feminine presence
New Avengers: Not an Avengers team, but the Illuminati.
Young Avengers: Not an Avengers team
Secret Avengers: Not an Avengers team, a SHIELD series with some Avengers as operatives
Avengers Arena: Not Avengers, not even a team

Avengers AI: An Avengers team with an artificial intelligence theme. Well, that's stupid, why would an Avengers team limit itself to a specific kind of problem? It's sort of trying to replicate Uncanny Avengers that hasn't been that good because of its narrow focus on mutant affairs. In other words Uncanny Avengers took what was wrong with the X-Men family of titles for the last decades and applied that formula to Avengers. (When Claremont built the X-Men, he did the reverse, he had them as globetrotters handling world crises and saving the universe, exactly like the FF and Avengers). Avengers AI took a similar concept "let's treat artificial intelligence like mutants" thus compounding a bad idea.

Mighty Avengers: We don't know yet but it sounds like a street-level community type team except they assemble to stop an alien invasion (which might save them from a miscasting).

Past writers like Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart have expanded the range of Avengers stories so that we can have sword and fantasy (Arkon), space opera, time travel, etc.

I think there is room for different series, especially with different characters. Hickman is going to tell one story and Avengers fans need more than that one story. But don't put them in a conceptual ghetto.

La mort de Peter Parker

Il y a un mois on apprenait que la série Amazing Spider-Man allait s’arrêter au numéro 700 pour être remplacée par Superior Spider-Man. Marvel avait déjà joué ce tour en 1996 lorsque ASM avait été remplacé par Scarlet Spider pour marquer le fait que Ben Reilly, le clone de Peter Parker, reprenait le flambeau. Les spéculations allaient bon train pour savoir qui était la nouvelle personne sous le masque. Le scénariste actuel avait même lancé une fausse piste selon laquelle c’était le Spider-Man de l’an 2099.

Dans le numéro 698 on apprenait à la fin que le Docteur Octopus avait échangé son esprit avec celui de Parker et  qu’il habitait le corps de celui-ci en ayant accès à tous les souvenirs de son ennemi tandis que Parker était lui dans le corps mourant de son vieil adversaire. L’épisode s’arrêtait sur l’arrêt cardiaque du mourant.

J’avais alors écrit:
« Il me semble évident que Parker va revenir au numéro 700 et perdre. »
Et on m’a répondu :
« Cela n’a rien d’évident. Il arrachera une forme de victoire, très probablement à un coût personnel très élevé. »
C’est la marque de l’ingéniosité de Dan Slott qu’il arrive à concilier ces deux idées apparemment antithétiques (opposées).

L’épisode illustre en effet la notion de victoire à la Pyrrhus. C’est une des marques de la série que Spider-Man remporte ses victoires au prix cher. Cet aspect du personnage est souvent contesté du côté américain qui, vivant dans le culte de la réussite, trouve anormal que le personnage continue d’être un loser après des années. Ainsi on voit des demandes pour que Parker se marie, ait des enfants et que sa tante meurt, autrement dit pour clore le chapitre du drame familial qui est à l’origine du personnage. Une telle évolution a pour désavantage de changer le personnage et de lui reconstituer une famille, ce qui explique sans doute la raison pour laquelle Marvel est toujours revenu sur de telles évolutions.

La nature d’un héros est de triompher en dépit des obstacles. Spider-man dispose d’une force surhumaine mais ses meilleurs combats ne sont pas ceux qu’il remporte par la force. Les fans saluent d’ordinaire son intelligence et dans ce numéro 700 Octopus et Parker rivalisent d’intelligence comme Holmes et Moriarty mais ce n’est ni à son intelligence ni à sa ténacité que Parker arrache une sorte de victoire, c’est grâce à la totalité de son vécu qu’il fait revivre à son ennemi. La vie de Parker n’est plus alors une simple banque mémorielle dans laquelle Octopus va puiser des informations mais une suite de souffrances morales qui lui instillent de façon indélébile le respect de la vie humaine.

Le choix d’Octopus comme successeur
Thématiquement, les adversaires de Spider-Man étaient des versions plus âgés de lui-même, des scientifiques victimes d’expérience scientifique. La similarité des origines entre Spider-Man et le docteur Octopus était telle que John Byrne décida de combiner les deux événements en un seul en 1999 dans Chapter One, sa reprise des origines du personnage. Le docteur avait la distinction d’être le premier super-vilain à vaincre Spider-Man et à le démasquer. Il était aussi proche de sa tante et causa indirectement la mort du capitaine Stacy. Il est donc en bonne place pour être son plus grand ennemi. Et si le docteur Connors, le docteur Morbius, Norman Osborn sont aussi des scientifiques, aucun d'eux n'était décrit comme rivalisant avec Octavius.

Chronology for characters from The Twelve

Here's the chronology for every character:

BLACK WIDOW/CLAIRE VOYANT
TWELVE 8-FB (1928)
[MYSTIC COMICS 4/5]
[MYSTIC COMICS 5/5]
[MYSTIC COMICS 7/3]
[USA COMICS 5/2]
MARVELS 1 (1943?)
[ALL SELECT COMICS 1/5]
TWELVE SPEARHEAD (April 1945)
TWELVE 1 (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 6
TWELVE 7
TWELVE 8
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11 (2009)
TWELVE 12

BLUE BLADE/ROY CHAMBERS
TWELVE 8-FB
[USA COMICS 5/5]
TWELVE SPEARHEAD
TWELVE 1 (1-21) (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 6-FB
TWELVE 7
TWELVE 8
TWELVE 9=TWELVE 1 (22) = TWELVE 2 (1) (dies)

CAPTAIN WONDER/PROFESSOR STEVE JORDAN
TWELVE 7 (5:5-7)-FB
[KID KOMICS 1]
[KID KOMICS 2]
TWELVE 2-FB
TWELVE 7 (8:3)-FB
TWELVE SPEARHEAD
TWELVE 1 (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 6-FB
TWELVE 6
TWELVE 7
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11 (2009)
TWELVE 12

DYNAMIC MAN/CURT COWAN
TWELVE 10-FB
[MYSTIC COMICS 1/7]
[MYSTIC COMICS 2/3]
[MYSTIC COMICS 3/8]
[MYSTIC COMICS 4/8]
TWELVE SPEARHEAD
TWELVE 1 (1-10) (April 25, 1945)
TWELVE 9-FB=TWELVE 10-FB
TWELVE 1 (12-21) (August 2, 2008)
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 5-FB
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 6
TWELVE 8
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11 (dies) (2009)

ELECTRO, Marvel of the Age
Marvels Project 3-BTS (Summer 1940)
TWELVE 9-FB (14:1-6)
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 4/5 (cover dated Feb 1940)
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 5/5
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 6/5
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 7/5
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 8/5
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 9/4]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 10/5]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 11/7]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 12/5]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 13/5]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 14/6]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 15/6]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 16/3]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 17/2]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 18/5]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 19/5] (cover dated May 1941)
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 70TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (Spring 1941)
MARVEL PROJECTS 6 (Summer 1941)
TWELVE 9-FB (15:4) Zog starts working for the military
TWELVE SPEARHEAD (April 1945)
TWELVE 1 (1-10) (= 9-FB 15:6 - 16:6)
TWELVE 9-FB (17)
TWELVE 1 (12-21)
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 7
TWELVE 8
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11
TWELVE 12

PROFESSOR PHILO ZOG
TWELVE 9-FB (14:1-6)
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 4/5
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 5/5
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 6/5
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 7/5
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 8/5
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 9/4]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 10/5]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 11/7]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 12/5]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 13/5]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 14/6]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 15/6]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 16/3]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 17/2]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 18/5]
[MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 19/5]
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 70TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (Spring 1941)
Marvels Project 3-BTS
TWELVE 9-FB (15:4)
TWELVE SPEARHEAD (April 1945)
TWELVE 1 (= 9-FB 15:6 - 16:6) (dies)

FIERY MASK/DR. JACK CASTLE (1912-2009)
TWELVE 9-FB = TWELVE 3 (16:3)-FB, TWELVE 3 (16:5-17:1)-FB
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 1 (1-6:5)
TWELVE 3 (17:2-17:3)-FB
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 1 (6:6-7:3)
TWELVE 3 (17:4-18:2)-FB
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 1 (7:4-8)
TWELVE 3 (18:3)-FB
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 1 (9-10)
Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special
[DARING MYSTERY COMICS 5]
[DARING MYSTERY COMICS 6]
HUMAN TORCH 2/6
TWELVE SPEARHEAD
TWELVE 1 (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 6
TWELVE 7
TWELVE 8
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11 (dies)

LAUGHING MASK/DENNIS BURTON
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 2/6
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 3/3 (as the Purple Mask)
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 4 (as the Purple Mask)
TWELVE 3 (13:3-13:4)-FB
TWELVE 3 (14:3-14:5)-FB
TWELVE SPEARHEAD
TWELVE 1
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4-FB
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 6
TWELVE 8-FB
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11
TWELVE 12

MASTER MIND EXCELLO/EARL EVERETT
TWELVE 12-FB
[MYSTIC COMICS 2]
[MYSTIC COMICS 3/5]
TWELVE SPEARHEAD
TWELVE 1
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 6
TWELVE 7
TWELVE 8-FB
TWELVE 8-BTS
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11
TWELVE 12

MISTER E./VICTOR J. GOLDSTEIN/”VICTOR JAY”
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 2/5
TWELVE 3 (7:4-7:5)-FB
TWELVE 3 (6:2)-FB
MARVELS PROJECT 6 (Summer 1941)
TWELVE SPEARHEAD (April 1945)
TWELVE 1
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3 (1-9)
TWELVE 3 (21:2)-FB
TWELVE 3 (21:4)-FB
TWELVE 3 (10-23)
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 6
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11

PHANTOM REPORTER/DICK JONES
Daring Mystery 70th Anniversary Special-FB-FB (3:6-4:3)
Daring Mystery 70th Anniversary Special-FB (2-21)
DARING MYSTERY COMICS 3/4
TWELVE 2-FB
TWELVE SPEARHEAD
TWELVE 1 (1-21) (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4
Daring Mystery 70th Anniversary Special
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 6
TWELVE 7
TWELVE 8
TWELVE 9=TWELVE 1 (22)=TWELVE 2 (1)
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11 (2009)
TWELVE 12

ROCKMAN
TWELVE 6-FB
USA COMICS 1/4
USA COMICS 2/5
USA COMICS 3/5
USA COMICS 4/6
TWELVE 4-FB
TWELVE SPEARHEAD
TWELVE 1 (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 6
TWELVE 8
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11 (2009)
TWELVE 12-BTS

WITNESS/
TWELVE 5-FB
[MYSTIC COMICS 7/2]
[MYSTIC COMICS 8/4]
[MYSTIC COMICS 9/2]
TWELVE SPEARHEAD
TWELVE 1 (April 25, 1945 - August 2, 2008)
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 4
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 6
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 11 (2009)
TWELVE 12

COLONEL DEXTER
TWELVE 2
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 6

LAURA GOLDSTEIN
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 10 (dies)

ROBERT GOLDSTEIN
TWELVE 3
TWELVE 10

Lt David Rose
TWELVE 7
TWELVE 8
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 12

Elizabeth ZOGOLOWSKI
TWELVE 5
TWELVE 7
TWELVE 8
TWELVE 9
TWELVE 10
TWELVE 12-BTS

TIM MULROONEY
TWELVE 7-FB (5-7)
[KID KOMICS 1]
[KID KOMICS 2]
TWELVE 7-FB (8, 10-11)
TWELVE 7 (dies)

The Twelve Index Second Part

Here's the second part of the Twelve index:
The first part is here http://comicspeak.blogspot.fr/2010/08/marvels-twelve-index.html

THE TWELVE #9 (cover)
Cover Date: April 2012
Cover: Paolo Rivera (cover artist)
Story: No title given (22 pages)
Credits: J. Michael Straczynski (scripter); Chris Weston (penciler); Chris Weston (inker); Chris Chuckry (colorist); Jim Betancourt (letterer)
Feature Characters: Phantom Reporter, Black Widow, Fiery Mask (origin), Blue Blade (dies), MasterMind Excello, Mister E, Captain Wonder (from #7), Laughing Mask, Rockman, Dynamic Man
Supporting characters: Elizabeth Zogolowski,, Professor Zog (flashbacks)
Villains:
Other Characters: Detective Rose
Paraphernalia: Electro the Marvel of the Age
Synopsis:
1 Claire Voyant brings coffee to Phantom Reporterin his room, the bell rings
2 Earl Everett enters the house to join Mister E, Laughning Mask, Rockman and Captain Wonder, then they are joined by Voyant and Phantom Reporter. Mister E is informed of his wife's death
3 Phantom reporter reflects on changing times
4 Blue Blade, Elisabeth Zogolowski discuss the coming show involving Electro the Marvel of the Age
5 Dynamic Man shows up on a stadium, Blue Blade rehearses
6 Dynamic Man addresses the crowd, Blue Blade is attacked by Electro
7-8 Blue Blade is killed
9 Dynamic Man makes a demonstration of his powers. Corpse of Blue Blade under the rain
10 Phantom Reporter gets a phone call from Detective Rose informing him of the murder. PR leaves, he sees MasterMind Excello, Rockman and Captain Wonder in the lobby
11 PR identifies Blue Blade for Rose on the crime scene
12 Rose shows the security camera footage involving Electro to PR and Elisabeth Zogolowski
13 Zogoloski connects PR to Electro's cerebro-records
14 2nd flashback: Zog, Electro
15 flashbacks 3-7 on panels 1-5
15:6 - 16:6 8th fb: The Twelve enter the bunker from issue #1
17 9th fb While the Twelve are in stasis in The Bunker an intelligence (Dynamic Man) connects with Electro
18 Det. Rose disconnects PR from Electro, he faints before he can tell Elisabeth Zogolowski what he saw
19 MasterMind Excello talks with Fiery Mask
20-22 Fiery Mask tells him the origin of his powers

First flashback: 3:1 life in 1940
Second flashback: 14:1-6 Pr Zog talks to Electro for the first time
Third flashback: 15:1 Electro helps two kids (during Marvel Mystery Comics #4-19)
4th fb: Electro fights gangsters (during Marvel Mystery Comics #4-19)
5th fb: Zog talking about his loneliness
6th fb: Electro talks to a general who welcomes him to the war effort
7th fb: Electro looking at a nazi tank
8th fb: same as #1, The Twelve enter the bunker in Berlin
9th fb: The Twelve in stasis
10th fb: Jack Castle saves an injured man and gets his power because he didn't call an ambulance to try to save him (overlaps with Twelve #3 flashbacks)

THE TWELVE #10 (cover)
Cover Date: May 2012
Cover: Paolo Rivera (cover artist)
Story: No title given (22 pages)
Credits: J. Michael Straczynski (scripter); Chris Weston (penciler); Chris Weston (inker); Chris Chuckry (colorist); Jim Betancourt (letterer)
Feature Characters: Phantom Reporter, Black Widow, Fiery Mask, The Witness (from #6), MasterMind Excello, Mister E, Captain Wonder, Laughing Mask, Rockman, Dynamic Man
Supporting characters: Elizabeth Zogolowski, Robert Goldstein
Villains:
Other Characters: Detective Rose
Paraphernalia: Electro the Marvel of the Age
Synopsis:
1-2 Phantom Reporter wakes up in the hospital with Det. Rose and Ms. Zogolowski
3 At Laura Goldstein's burial, Mister E reconnects with his son
4-5, 7-10, 12-22 Phantom Reporter, Captain Wonder, Dynamic Man join Electro, Mister E, The Witness, Rockman, Black Widow, Laughing Mask, Mastermind Excello, Fiery Mask in the lobby where he recaps the events, reveals DM as the murderer

First flashback: 6:1 The Twelve vs Nazis in Berlin (between pages 2 and 3 of #1)
Second flashback: 6:2-4 The Twelve trapped (6:2 = #1 6:6; 6:3 = #1 7:2; 6:4 = #1 8:4)
Third flashback: 7:3-4 (= #1 8:5) Electro alone
4th fb: 9:1-3 Pr Simon Goettler creates DM's body
5th fb: 11 Pr Goettler injects energy in DM and DM is born
6th fb: 14:1-3 (= #2 18:4-:6, 19:1) DM fails to stop a thief
7th fb: 14:5-6, 15:1-3 (= #6 12:1-6) A gay man gets fresh with DM
8th fb: 15-5 (= #6 22:3) patrons murdered in gay bar
9th fb: 15-6 (= #6 21:4) DM's alibi during the murder
10th fb: 16:2 (= #7 16:2) grass is noticed on Electro's boot
11th fb: 16:3 (= #7 3:5) police notice burn marks outside the bar
12th fb: 17:1-2 (= #9 17) An intelligence connects with Electro in the bunker
13th fb 18, 20:1 (= #10 11:1-4) Pr Goettler injects energy in DM and DM is born
14th fb 20:2 (= #6 12:2) A gay man touches DM's butt
15th fb 30:3 Electro in its crate
16th fb 20:4 (= #6 22:4) Electro wrecks the gay bar
17th fb 20:6 (= #9 7:3) Electro attacks Blue Blade

THE TWELVE #11 (cover)
Cover Date: June 2012
Cover: Paolo Rivera (cover artist)
Story: No title given (23 pages)
Credits: J. Michael Straczynski (scripter); Chris Weston (penciler); Chris Weston (inker); Chris Chuckry (colorist); Jim Betancourt (letterer)
Feature Characters: Phantom Reporter, Black Widow, Fiery Mask (dies) (1912-2009 on tomb), The Witness, MasterMind Excello, Mister E, Captain Wonder, Laughing Mask, Rockman (also in flashbacks)
Villains: Dynamic Man (dies)

1-20 Dynamic Man fights the heroes and collapses the mansion on them. Rockman saves them but is buried. Phantom Reporter, Fiery Mask, MasterMind Excello and Captain Wonder track him to the lab he came from. Fiery Man is fatally hurt and transfers his powers to Phantom Reporter who helps Captain Wonder destroy Dynamic Man though the Captain is badly burnt in the process.
21 Back to the collapsed mansion, after clearing the wreckage they find a round hole in the basement and no trace of Rockman.
22-23 Castle's burial, Mister E quits. Captain Wonder is permanently burnt on the right side of his face.

THE TWELVE #12 (cover)
Indicia Date: June 2012
Cover: Paolo Rivera (cover artist)
Story: No title given (23 pages)
Credits: J. Michael Straczynski (scripter); Chris Weston (penciler); Chris Weston (inker); Chris Chuckry (colorist); Jim Betancourt (letterer)
Feature Characters: Phantom Reporter, Black Widow, The Witness, MasterMind Excello, Captain Wonder, Laughing Mask, Rockman (bts)
Guest appearance: Nick Fury
Supporting characters: Elizabeth Zogolowski (bts)
Other Characters: Detective Rose
Paraphernalia: Electro the Marvel of the Age
Synopsis:
1-4 Electro, Laughing Mask, MasterMind Excello, Phantom Reporter have been relocated to an army camp, Black Widow leaves it
5 Detective Rose, Laughing Mask has to make a deal operating Electro for the army, who leased it from its new owner (Elizabeth Zogolowski) but she found remote control systems unstable with their test subjects
6-11:3 MasterMind Excello tells his origin to Phantom Reporter and leaves
11:4-12 Phantom Reporter is contacted by the Witness who is works with Nick Fury
13-14 Captain Wonder gets a message from Rockman when rescuing youth from a cave
15-18 Phantom Reporter moves to a hotel where he's joined by Black Widow
19-20 They go to MasterMind Excello's office to work for him
21 Captain Wonder rescuing people, Laughing Mask operating Electro in Middle East war zone
22:1 Witness frightening a man
22:2 Rockman's voice coming from the abyss
22:3-23 Phantom Reporter (in new costume with a flame) and Black Widow (in modernized costume) (maybe as "Fire and Shadow")

flashback: MasterMind Excello's origin (6-10)

Nick Fury's appearance should probably worked out amidst his 2009 appearances (given the date at the end of issue #11). He mentions SHIELD as paying for the Witness's work.