Project: Superpowers Launches Thrilling New Storyline with #0

Perhaps the brightest star in Dynamite's publishing sky has been PROJECT: SUPERPOWERS, a world populated by superhero characters who have fallen into the public domain and repurposed to work in the modern era -- no mean feat, since so may of them were created to oppose the Nazi forces during World War II.

To explain the disappearance of the heroes, and how they return to active duty still in the prime of their lives, we were given a tale of Hitler discovering Pandora's Box, and the heroes voluntarily sealing themselves up within it to save the world, only to be released decades later.

That epic is retold in part in these pages, written by Rob Williams and drawn by Sergio Davila, as Dynamite prepares to relaunch the series with a new #1 issue next month on the heels of this #0 introductory chapter, designed and priced to hook in new readers.

The Green Llama -- the chief magician of the Project: Superpowers universe -- plays the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, while the Death-Defying Devil (originally called Daredevil, but someone's using that trademark these days so he got a name change) takes him to the past and the near future. However, the Devil is dead, and this is merely his suit, magically manifesting intelligence and speech.

The two view their past adventure during the Normandy invasion, when soldiers and superheroes worked side-by-side. Then we're thrust into the near future, where Green Llama sees himself and Devil as part of a newly formed team of heroes, moments before they are all killed -- by the future Devil himself! The present Devil is trying to prevent this, but is unable to find the one thing that might have made a difference -- the spectral hero who embodied the spirit of hope and the American ideal: The Flag!

Is the apocalyptic future immutable? Or will foreknowledge of events give the Green Llama the edge he needs to save the future? It's a brilliant lead-in that teases the import of the tale without giving too much away at once. One thing's for sure, it's got this reader hooked enough to come back for the full-sized first issue of PROJECT: SUPERPOWERS!