This was a real deviation from a typical week-to-week read. As it suggests, this is a compilation of 1940's escapist superhero adventure comics that features three of the protagonists of the Twelve: Fiery Mask, Mr. E, and Rockman. The Fiery Mask stories were written and drawn by Joe Simon (Captain America's creator), and one of the Rockman stories was written by a young Stan Lee.

Surprisingly, the best stories feature the unpowered vigilante Mr. E, described as a well-known wealthy sportsman (whatever the heck that is supposed to mean) who dons a costume and chases down crooks. The Fiery Mask stories feature the Mask's origin (he receives some kind of ray that was supposed to have hypnotized him but instead gave him powers) and a subsequent story. No offense to Joe Simon, but it's no mystery that this one didn't take off. The Rockman stories are a bit funny, as they feature Rockman's fellow citizens of "Abysmia", the underground land of the Rock-people. In the latter story, the Abysmians have to fight little underground gremlins who have been abducting humans. Far fetched, but a bit trippy for the '40's.

More trippy, however, is the idea that this may all have been in Rockman's head. From the recent issues of The Twelve, we learn that Rockman's belief in his people may all be an elaborate fantasy. On the other hand, maybe there is an Abysmia. I hope we never find out.

What do we take from these books? First, we learn that today's good writing is something we should not take for granted. Simon's stories are as ludicrous as they are fun. The Fiery Mask is a physician, who is recruited to help the police in a case for unclear reasons. He has no training as a detective, and he does not appear to have any special abilities that would make him useful as anything but a consultant. Still, Simon's tale has the Mask working as a cop-sanctioned vigilante in this case. Huh? In the Rockman stories, contacting Rockman is easy, despite the fact that it is unclear that there are any relationships between humans and the Abysmians. The Mr. E stories are a bit more plausible, simply because we are more apt to accept otherwise "regular guys" acting as vigilantes (see Watchmen for details).

So, we are left with preposterous stories more disjointed than the cheesiest Thin Man or Charlie Chan movie - are they fun to read? I think so. The wackiness is quite enjoyable, and it is clear that this was a new medium. Lettering is awful, pacing is erratic, and plots are thin, yet the action scenes are fun, and there always seems to be a pretty young woman to swoon over the hero. The art is certainly the basis for what is to come in just a few years and then what is to be refined into something special in the early '60's by Kirby and his contemporaries. The colors are almost psychedelic - if they are being reproduced acurately, it's hard to believe that comic book readers of the '40's wouldn't be blown away by the changes in coloring just a few years later.

In summary, this was a fun read, a good complement to the Twelve, and a neat history lesson. It was not, however, essential reading by any stretch, and I suspect that it will appeal only to fans of this kind of material and to those who have fallen in love with JMS's The Twelve.