MattBrady

Over the course of twelve days, Newsarama.com will be running down the members of the enigmatic group 'The Twelve', part of the new Marvel series announced at announced at Comic-Con International by J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Weston. Each of these characters come from earlier days – pre-Marvel even – when the company was known as Atlas, and before that Timely. This new maxi-series finds these characters brought into the modern age, and artist Chris Weston was tasked with interpreting them to our times.

In this exclusive twelve-part series, we look at character designs done by artist Chris Weston along with a summation of what was in his head when he was drawing out these characters.

Day six, and we're onto Elektro.



CHRIS WESTON: Elektro remains extremely faithful to his original, "robotic-roman-centurion" look, but I took the trouble to model him in a 3D CGI package, purely to help me keep his design and proportions consistent from whatever angle I have to draw him from. He'll still be hand-drawn in the book, though, I hasten to add!

Original:



Thursday: Fiery Mask

Previously:

The Witness

The Black Widow

The Blue Blade

Captain Wonder

Dynamic Man

bignicknewt

At first I didn't like it, but over the course of 30 seconds, it really grew on me fast. Like a rash, but without the itching. I'd like to see what Elektro will look like pencilled though.

Korvac

I like the Roman tunic-like look. I hope JMS explains it!

i_use_tp

This series will be amazingly good or amazingly crappy. The first issue better be one hell of an issue. So far JMS is really letting me down with Thor. Giving it two more issues then I'm dropping it.

CodeGuy

Well, for once we're not seeing robo-crotch. Even Brainiac just wanted a decent pair of pants.

Giorgio

a lot of things are happening in that page!
Something that you don't see so much these days...

Bird Flu Man

Electro, for phylemon (doing my part to "quell" if only but some of the "negative chatter").

KELPIE

Which also makes for a poorly disjointed page in my opinion.

Spy_Smasher

Again, great job with this design. There's a definite Robbie the Robot-mixed-with-Gort vibe in the new design that fits well with the time period Elektro is supposed to have come from. These updates are clearly really well thought out.

Guarmar

is that a pull string on his back?

ZacWilliam1

I like this guy, and I like that he functioned kinda like Godzilla in the old HannBarbara cartoon: Dr. Zog's operatives would go out and look for/fight crime and when they got in over their heads they'd phone up Elektro to fly in like a giant proto-mecha and save the day.

I'm curious how Elektro and Dynamic man will relate to each other, as both are artificial life forms but one is human-looking and one isn't. Camaraderie? Jealousy? Lust?

Honestly though I just looked up tomarrow's "Fiery Mask" and wow he had some of the best villians EVER: http://www.geocities.com/jjnevins/fiery.html

Brand Echh

Some notes here...

First they changed the spelling of his name. Originally called Electro, the Timely-era hero was named for the real-life Elektro who made his smokin' debut at the World's Fair. Given Marvel's other Electro, they don't want to cause confusion, plus the spelling change solidifies the homage.

Second, Electro is not an intelligent android like Dynamic Man or the Human Torch - it's not even quasi-intelligent like Flexo - no, Electro was no more than a remote-controlled tank, operated by Prof. Zog or his assistants.

Who knows... maybe by 1945 Zog and his creation became one?

BanMan

This site is the best.

Elektro fights gun-toting zombies and two-headed monsters!! And look how he handles that plane as if it was a toy. I'm sorry but this is just the pinnacle of awesomeness. This guys deserves his own mini.

BanMan

Go to the Elektro link in my previous post. It'll make you think twice.

phylemon

Thank you for your hardwork in doing this research, Birdfluman. This character looks interesting.

J-Rock

I think I'd prefer this story if it was set in the early 1940's. But I think I'm going to give the first couple of issues a try. It just looks goofy.

Kafka

JMS was always more of a "stellar concept" man for me. I always start picking up his writings, and then usually leave disappointed.

However, I'm going to purchase all twelve issues, as these characters look fascinating (yes, even The Blue Blade). Weston's designs give these "Timely" heroes more personality than the one, or two, issues they originally appeared in. In all seriousness, for art alone, this is going to be fantastic.

Charlie Hustle

I'll pass lol.

Purplestain

I think you mean "especially the blue blade."

Kevin G

Pretty sure that in the teaser image that's been around for a couple months (the one with all 12 in World War II setting), there's a human face visible behind the faceshield/visor.

Can anyone confirm/link to the image?

Personally I'd prefer the antiquated, remote control tank version, but doesn't make too much of a diff. either way. Really looking forward to this series after these preview designs. Nice 3D modeling, Mr. Weston!

MisterClock

Looks cool, but how tall is it?

Are we talking Iron Giant big?

lordlad

can we expect an 'Agent Of Atlas Vs The Twelve' mini by next yr ?? :P

jackaction

Yeah. I'm definitely going to give this series a try. I'm really liking Weston's re-designs and I think the art, at least, will be stellar.

On the other hand, JMS has written some stuff that I just don't like. But who knows? These characters might be a good fit for JMS. It's all about finding the right character / creator combination.

michaelj

yeah this is definately going to be cool, there has always been something great about those old clunky robots. everybody here should remember that old black shiny robot, robbie the robot? he was the bad robot on lost in space, and he starred in EVERY SINGLE SCI-FI MOVIE that ever had a robot (ok maybe not every, but that robot was in alot). those old robots are just cool.

im going to like this series.

and i agreee, the re-designs are nice, they fit nicely with what was there from the golden age and changed just a little without loosing anything. actually i wouldnt even call some of them re-designs, weston has done such a great job fleshing out these characters and giving each one an individual look while staying true to the source. they still look exactly like they walked out of 1935 and into todays world. they look great

artiepants

i think the redesign could have stood to loose the green shorts (just make 'em red or a less "Christmas-y" contrast color ). wonder why the artist did this one CG? maybe just wanted an accurate character study?

and am i the only one who wants to see Elektro -vs- Electro, ya know, just because?