Michael's Long Box: The Great Gen13 Re-Read, Part 8 - Gen13 #1 (March 1995, Image Comics)

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In case you missed the announcement, I'm undertaking a goal of re-reading every issue of Gen13 for the purpose of blogging about it now that we're celebrating the 25th anniversary of its publication! Yes, I am crazy. No, I am not going to share--dig up your own insanity.

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Well, class, we're here! We've hit issue #1 of the regular Gen13 series. While it's technically "Gen13, Volume 2", I often refer to it as the "monthly" series. It's not entirely accurate to call it this, since for the first half dozen issues the title still came out every two months, but once issue six dropped, they had built up enough of a following and a demand that they could get a new issue in the shops every 30 days. The mid-90's comics momentum hit just as Gen13 was blowing up. In fact, Gen13's second volume exploded on to newsstands with not one, not two, but thirteen variant covers, each with a cover price of $2.95. A dedicated collector would thus have to drop $40 plus sales tax to acquire a full set. There was also no guarantee your favorite local store would receive the cover you wanted, so this often meant lots of calling around and driving to multiple locations to secure your requested editions. Remember, this was early 1995, and household internet was barely a thing. Worst case scenario, you would hit a convention or dig through back-issue bins of stores as you traveled across the country hoping to strike gold, or you found a friend who had the cover(s) you sought and made a swap. I covered the Gen13 variant cover madness (and a number of other books as well) last year, so to avoid re-hashing the past and saving some space here, I'll let you go peruse that piece yourself. It's got pictures of all the different issue 1 covers.

Strangely enough, unlike many of the other 90's books that people bought by the truckload only to see their value plummet to pennies on the dollar, the Gen13 variant books have been one of those quirky exceptions that prove the rule. While you won't retire as a millionaire off selling them, it's not uncommon for them snag ten bucks or more apiece, depending on how sought the specific cover is. The ones which riff on the Victoria's Secret catalog, the infamous Janet Jackson Rolling Stone cover, and the movie poster for Pulp Fiction can hit $50 or more, depending on condition and whether or not they've been slabbed by CGC. Add signatures and that can push them even higher. What I'm getting at is, if you need some quick cash and have a few of these lying around, this ain't a bad time to sell. Just not to me, cuz I've already got them.

Because nerd.

But that's the last time I'll mention the ridiculous number of variant covers on this book. This is a re-read, so let's make with the reading, eh?

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We open with a casting call for our five plucky heroes, which makes sense since this is an issue #1, but not a first issue. Comic books and logic are kinda like magnesium and water -- expose one to the other and things start exploding.

After that quick re-cap of who our kids are and what they do, we're immediately dropped into the action of a brutal, take-no-prisoners brawl:

Wait a minute. 'Keiko'? 'Ronan'? Who the hell are these people?

Relax, will you? It's just Grunge and Freefall sparring in a deadly game of 'Mortal Conflict'. Freefall, however, bests the Grunge-man at his own game, and wins the match...

Also pictured: 'Kill Crush' and 'Die Fight'.

...which leads to some real-life conflict as Grunge yanks the cartridge out of the system before Roxy can register her victory, thus ensuring his winning streak is unbroken. Roxy responds by levitating Grunge a few feet, then dumping him on the ground. Unfortunately, Grunge's unscheduled landing plops him on some power cables, which disables Fairchild's computer. She keeps backups of her work, so she didn't lose anything important, but she does take the time to lecture Grunge and Freefall about teamwork and how it's a little more important than video games. Grunge agrees, then tries to shift the blame to Roxy. This ends with Fairchild walking away as Freefall drops him on his ass a second time.

Some people never learn.

Fairchild wants to talk with Mr. Lynch, so she enters his office. Lynch isn't there, so she takes a moment to look over some of the pictures he's hung on the wall:

Lynch does a mean Indiana Jones impression, doesn't he?

Take note of those pictures, specifically the one of the creature in the net, as we'll see him turn up again very shortly. Nice blink-and-you-miss-it moment that makes re-reading these books with the benefit of hindsight all the more enjoyable!

When Lynch does come in, he asks what's on her mind, and Fairchild confesses she isn't sure she should be the team leader. She doesn't feel like she has what it takes to command the other four. Lynch disagrees, and explains why he picked her for the role: she could have simply abandoned Rainmaker, Burnout, Grunge, and Freefall when they returned to I.O.'s Project Genesis base and escaped on her own, but she didn't. "A good leader," Lynch explains, "doesn't abandon his or her people." He adds that if her father were alive today, he'd be very proud of who she's become. Fairchild leaves his office with a smile on her face and heads back into the living room.

Burnout's chilling on the couch, picking at his guitar, while Grunge is back to playing 'Mortal Conflict' in single-player mode. Roxy, irritated with Grunge, has left the house to go dance away her troubles at one of the local clubs. While they're explaining this, housekeeper Anna walks in to inquire if anyone wants lemonade. Nobody answers her, because Rainmaker makes probably the most famous entrance in 90's comics history:

Grunge snaps his controller, Burnout breaks a guitar string, and readers like @deadspace feel a curious stirring in their loins. While on the one hand it's amusing to watch Rainmaker turn the boys into drooling idiots, given Rainmaker's characterization thusfar, this seems like a bit of overkill. Yes, it's funny to tease the primarily teenage male audience with this sort of thing, and it's equally amusing to see how Campbell has to cheat a number of frames to make sure we never see any full-frontal nudity, I have a hard time believing Rainmaker would be comfortable strolling around the house in her birthday suit when she knows her male friends are likely to not just see, but openly gawk. This isn't an aspect of her character which survives long into the series, and I think her characterization is better for it (especially given what we find out about her later in the series). That said, if you're going to pander, you might as well go all out in the first issue to really lock in those repeat buyers, right?

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Roxy's taken up refuge in "Soil Machine", the hottest industrial club in the gaslight district of San Diego. She's having the time of her life, dancing it up and catching the eyes of a mysterious stranger who seems to be hypnotizing her, when some rando spills a drink on her. This sends her to the bathroom to wash up. While inside, lightning from a freak storm turns off the power in the club, and a strange cat-like creature slips into her unattended jacket...

The lights kick back on a few seconds later, and Roxy heads back to the dance floor, unaware she's picked up a stowaway. Out in the alley behind the dance club, another electrical storm catches the attention of a hobo, lounging in the alleyway. A beautiful woman steps out of a bright portal of energy...and unfortunately for him, it's not a dream, and she's not alone.

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Back in La Jolla, Lynch is napping on the sofa when the house-wide alarm activates, warning of a crisis situation. Up in an instant, Lynch deactivates the alarm and heads for his study, where the computer shows him four distinct energy signatures of powerful beings, along with a fifth registering as Gen-Active. Fairchild wanders in still clad in her pajamas, telling him she's accounted for everyone except Freefall. Lynch replies he knows where she is, and for the rest of them to suit up, since it looks like she's in danger.

From left to right, that's Jade, One-Eyed Jack, Rake, and Hardball. Much like Pitt from back in issue #3, these four are natives to other Wildstorm Studios books, although we won't actually learn who these characters are, what they're looking for, and why they're looking for it until the massive Fire From Heaven crossover kicks off a year later. The mysterious dude with the hypnotizing gaze is another 'first appearance cameo' like the guy in the net in the photo in Lynch's office. Once again, we'll be seeing more of him later in the series, so no spoilers. Right now, he's just another mystery like the four bounty hunters who've forced their way past the bouncer.

The new guests are looking for something called a Qeelock. Hardball's scanner gets a ping off of Freefall, who has no idea what they're talking about, but decides she's had enough of this nonsense and takes to the air to escape. One-Eyed Jack isn't perturbed at seeing a human suddenly zip into the air though, and he draws his gun, taking potshots at Freefall until she dives behind the bar to take cover. Now that she's back down to earth, Rake and Hardball scoot around the bar to flush her out.

While wincing on the ground from her hard landing, Freefall discovers the mysterious creature hiding in her jacket, and realizes it must be what the four freaks are after:

Hardball and Rake confront her, demanding that she hand over the Queelock in exchange for a quick and painless death, but fortunately for Freefall, the rest of the team bursts through the doors. One-Eyed Jack orders his team to waste the new arrivals, and the battle is on.

Grunge finds himself fighting Jade, in a real-life replay of his 'Mortal Conflict' loss to Roxy earlier. Rainmaker goads Rake into coming at her, then uses her powers to short-circuit him with a blast of lightning. Burnout scores a sizzling headshot on One-Eyed Jack with one of his plasma blasts, and Fairchild finishes him off with a savage boot to the chin. That leaves Grunge to hulk out when Jade mentions slicing up his tattoo, as he bonds himself to her spear, and uses the leverage to toss her ass-over-teakettle across the club. Jade, knowing when to call for retreat, pops open another dimensional portal and dashes through it to escape. Fairchild overhands One-Eyed Jack and Rake in after her, and Grunge punts Hardball through for good measure. Plenty of quick, fun action, even though Brandon Choi lets his dialog pen spill a bit too much ink at times.

Bobby suggests going through the portal to find out where they came from and who sent them, but Fairchild nixes that idea, reminding him they don't know where they'd end up or how they'd get back if they did. Instead, with Freefall out of danger, she calls for a return to home so they can report to Lynch who is very satisfied with their performance...

...but not to satisfied that they've brought home a new pet. And while the team fought well and emerged victorious with only some light injuries, Lynch is convinced that if the four bounty hunters were willing to kill the team to acquire the Qeelock, it's unlikely the Gen-13 bunch has heard the last of them. But that's a story for another time, dear readers, as we head first into a two-page pinup by Joe Benitez and Chuck Gibson, then the letter column to see what the fans have to say about stuff!

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The letter column is the usual praise and questions from folks, although there is one letter which stands out for hilariously ironic reasons: Wes Watson of North Carolina writes that one of the things he loves about the Gen13 book is that it doesn't use gimmicks like embossed covers, holograms, or other schlock to force readers into debt just to acquire their favorite book...a point to which the editors respond by admitting you probably noticed they produced thirteen separate covers for this issue, so, um... sorry about that...? XD

Final Score:

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out of

It's a simple story, it's a basic story, it's the type of story you can tell in an Issue #1 that wasn't the first issue of your comic, and new readers can still catch the gist of everything that's going on. It also lays some groundwork for future interactions with villains, and doesn't explain everything to the reader, leaving that for later. Who are the bounty hunters and why do they want the Qeelock so badly? Who's the dude with the hypno-eyes? Those are stories for another time, dear friends, so make sure you keep reading.

Also, one other thing I'd like to point out about this issue is that there are zero ad interruptions during the story. Most comics of the time toss in an advertisement every 2-4 pages or so, but Gen13 #1 starts on the first page with the video game fight and doesn't stop until Lynch's concluding remarks on page 29. A comic story with no ad breaks is a rarity from this time period, and it isn't a gimmick the book will see used in the future, but it's such a welcome relief from the normal barrage of garbage littered throughout the stories that I would have been tempted to give the book five @blewitt faces out of five for this reason alone.

Thankfully the characters, the story, and the artwork are all tons of fun here, so I didn't have to cheat like that, but still: top marks to whichever editor signed off on that decision. Volume 2 is off to a roaring good start, so we'll have to see how long they can maintain that momentum!

Speaking of momentum, my goal with this series was one issue recapped/reviewed per week, and I've managed to fall slightly behind on that goal. Please bear with me as I'm working to balance some work/life issues while still churning out solid content for my regular readers. One every ten days is less than my best effort, and I'm working to see that doesn't happen too often. Thanks for your understanding, and I hope to see you here within the next seven days for a look at Gen13 #2. Take care, krunk-heads -- May 1995 will be here before you know it!