Marvel's The Twelve

Slightly off topic as it's not public domain characters, but Marvel's The Twelve uses obscure Golden Characters and brings them into modern times, which reminds me a lot of what people are trying to do in here.

I only read the second trade paperback, but liked it a lot and thought some of you might also enjoy it. J. Michael Staczynski doesn't so much update the characters as he pretty much throws them into modern times and lets them deal with the challenges.
The art looks great, too, love the way Chris Weston draws the characters and their surroundings.

Reminds me slightly of Agents of Atlas (the orignal mini-series), Watchmen (though not as deep), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the likes. Interestingly, Amazon reviewers mentioned that you have to read the first volume first, and said that the second one is weaker. But I have only read the second one, and enjoyed it very much. So whad'ya know.

Here's the amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Twelve-J-Michael-Straczynski/dp/0785133747/rAef=pd_sim_b_1

Thanks for the update, Beholder. I remember when this came out in comic form I was interested, but for various reasons didn't get it and figured I'd pick up the trade pb when it came out. But I don't follow Marvel all that much, so I didn't realize that the tpb was out, or that they'd done a second volume. Going to go add these to my "want list" right this moment!

Cool yeah hopefully you'll enjoy it!
I definitely did.

I read some of this when it originally came out, and looking through the issues I did have is what got me interested in these 'mysterious heroes'. They were not exactly the big three of DC, or the powerhouses of Marvel, but they did have character, like Project:Superpowers did.

Absolutely, the characterization is very nice, and the author J.M. Straczynski did a really nice job embracing the old-fashioned / campy or even silly roots of these guys, and playing with it, contrasting them with today's times. But he has genuine admiration for them, obviously, because he says they are "pure" and somewhat innocent. He also didn't make the whole story too gritty or deadly or tormented (for gritty and tormented, please just read any DC or Marvel comic today).

Somehow, a mini-series with unique characters without too much baggage (another great example is the original Agents of Atlas mini-series) is a good format to tell these stories.

Just bought the first volume of the paperback and started reading it, (after having already read the second one), and enjoying it a lot.

Never have looked into project superpowers (I'm not a huge Alex Ross fan…) but perhaps I should give it a try!