The Great Gen13 Re-Read, Part 9: Gen13 #2 (May, 1995)

Why's Caitlin standing on her tiptoes, Campbell?

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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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Sure took my sweet time getting here, didn't I? After a couple of in-between stories, we finally get to the second issue of the regular series, which hit stands two months after #1. It's nice to get back to some semblance of chronological order.

Unless, that is, you were trying to follow the ten-chapter Wildstorm Rising crossover story arc, of which this issue of Gen13 serves as chapter four. Since this is a re-read of Gen13 and not Wildstorm Rising, and because the various inter- and intra-studio crossovers deserve their own articles a-la Deathmate, that's all I'm going to say about it here. Suffice it to say the story in this issue stands alone even if you aren't keeping up with what's happening in Stormwatch, Team 7, Grifter, or any of the other books the arc runs through.

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We open to a CNN reporter on location at Ellisberg Air Force Base in White Sands, New Mexico. Ellisberg is only the most recent US military base to be attacked by an unknown entity who arrives without warning, stuffs a metric shit-ton of heavy weaponry into his pockets, sets the munitions depot on fire, and escapes in the confusion. The only evidence they have to go on is this scene caught by the base's security cameras:

Well, shoot, that could be anybody!

But as it turns out, it's some armored armadillo dude named 'Helmut'. How do we know that? Because Lynch knows that:

Helmut swore he'd take revenge on Lynch if he ever got out of prison, and twenty-five years later, here we are. Anna inquires if he thinks the kids are in any danger, to which Lynch replies he always expects the unexpected.

After that Debbie Downer of an opening, we shift gears to a totally excellent outdoor skate park where Percival Edmund "Grunge" Chang and Bobby "Burnout" Lane are schooling the local tweens in the radical art of skateboarding:

The trash talk is coming loud and hard between these two best buds, when suddenly--

Hang on, hang on. I'm sorry. Back up a second. Did you see that?

These girls have the same face!

Well, that's OK. They're probably twins. It's California, you get that sometimes. Anyway, the trash talk is coming loud and hard between these two best buds, when suddenly--

Nope. Nope. Wait. Hold everything. Back it up. Did you see that?

Burnout's teeth have lens flare!

Sorry, sorry. I'll stop. Anyway, the trash talk is coming loud and hard between these two best buds, when suddenly...!

...the groupies get up to leave, making space for some deep bro-versation between our two resident bros. Burnout's down in the dumps: he can attract the attention of the Skater Girls, but he just can't get Rainmaker to give him the time of day. Don't worry...in a few pages, we'll learn why. Bobby won't, but some other member of the team sure will!

Grunge feels his pain, since Caitlin's not exactly breaking down his door either, through Burnout notes that literally melding himself into Fairchild's bed was probably not the best way to get on her good side.

Bobby grouses that Lynch and Anna are always on his case for playing his guitar, but without his music he'd go nuts. Grunge, for once, is the sensible one: "We're all still getting used to each other. But, hey, we've got the sun, the waves, our boards, and some Skate Bettys. Just don't rock the boat, and we're in for some smooth sailing." Wise words from a guy whose code-name was stolen from a Seattle musical style.

The next three pages all have to do with the "Wildstorm Rising" arc: main villain Lord Defile is bitching up a storm to his underlings that he can't find John Lynch. See, one member of Team 7 knows where to find the other half of an artifact he's looking for, and Lynch is the only one unaccounted for. Cue the entrance of a mysterious stranger who claims to have the info Defile wants. It's been a little while since issue #1, but this mysterious stranger is actually Trance, the guy from the nightclub with whom Freefall nearly ended up sucking face before the brawl broke out.

How do I know that, when he's not named in either this book or issue #1? Easy! I read it in this issue's letter column.

In exchange for disclosing Lynch's whereabouts, Trance wants to know more about Miles Kraven, a name which will mean nothing to you unless you're a regular reader of other Wildstorm titles, and which isn't important for the purposes of this review--like I said, I'll get around to "Wildstorm Rising" as its own little story arc in a different article. Lord Defile accepts, and contacts Helmut via the kind of painful telepathic connection used by Unicron to bend Galvatron to his will in Transformers: The Movie:

"Just tell me where the bastard is," Helmut requests.

Defile obliges. They're in a place called La Jolla. Helmut is so there, y'all.

Zipping back to the house, we see Fairchild, Rainmaker, and Freefall hanging out by the mansion's pool, catching some serious rays and swimming some laps. Rainmaker has deigned to wear a bikini this time. So has Roxy, who's hoping her new two-piece will drag Grunge's attention away from Caitlin. Sadly, the boys have gone to Palm Beach, which shoots Roxy's plan full of holes.

While Fairchild continues her exercise routine, Roxy and Sarah continue their conversation. Roxy bitches that she can't compete with Fairchild, given her Gen-Factor gifted her with the body of an amazon. What's worse to Roxy is that Fairchild doesn't seem to realize she's turned into a statuesque hottie:

Totally not pandering for upvotes here, y'all.

OK, so you know how every other week, some celebrity manages to "break the internet" by releasing some scandalous image? Well, if the internet had been anywhere near what it is today back in 1995, Rainmaker's response to Roxy's diatribe would have been the trope codifier:

If I may digress for a moment:

This may not seem like a big deal at all in 2019, but in 1995 there were very few canonical, openly gay or lesbian characters in mainstream comics. Frequently this was due to studio editorial policy (Marvel's longtime Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, for instance, had a long-standing policy against depicting openly homosexual characters), or with the Comics Code Authority which likewise frowned on such relationships. With DC and Marvel both counting on CCA approval for their issues, this severely limited their ability to publish stories where such relationships were recognized. Image however followed the path of other indie studios like Antarctic Press and Dark Horse, and did not seek the CCA's stamp for their books. While Image kept the violence and sexual antics to a PG-13 level, ignoring the CCA meant they had the freedom to explore beyond the fences erected by them.

The history of queer representation in mainstream comics is beyond the scope of this article (though not something I'm opposed to exploring in the future). Suffice it to say, Rainmaker wasn't the first openly queer character in comics history, but given Gen13's target demographic of teenage-to-early-twenty-something readers, she was groundbreaking in this regard, and the first explicitly non-heterosexual woman many readers encountered.

The reaction from a great many readers mirrored that of Freefall herself:

Just wait 'til we get to the letter columns of future issues, fellow re-readers.

In any case, Grunge and Bobby choose that moment to come back home, startling Roxy and earning Grunge an involuntary dip in the pool.

Lynch joins the kids pool-side, asking Caitlin to have a word. Having seen the news and put two-and-two together from the picture in Lynch's office which we saw last issue, she already knows Helmut is the guy ripping off military bases. Given Lynch's mood, she's also deduced there's a chance Helmut's interested in revenge, which puts all of them in danger.

Caitlin, do you ever get sick of being right all the time?

Naturally, Helmut's found just where in La Jolla the Gen13 crew has taken up residence, and what follows is a beach blanket beat-down as the swimsuit-clad ladies and skateboard-attired boys lock horns with a dude in an armadillo costume. Seems like with their powers, the fight should be pretty one way, but...

Yup. Armadillo-boy's got a bit of bite to his shots. What's more, Rainmaker left her power-enhancing wristbands in her dresser, Freefall can't hold her concentration long enough to keep him pinned down, Burnout's plasma blasts can't scratch his armor, and the only thing around for Grunge to meld with is sand.

While Fairchild plays punching bag, Lynch knows just what to do. Ordering Bobby to grab his guitar and amps, the rest of the team holds Helmut at bay while Burnout and Grunge set up the stage. Helmut, you see, is weak to sonic power which his suit amplifies to an absurd degree. And Burnout's not exactly the best guitar player in the world...you can see where this is going. Paralyzed by Burnout's amp-shredding, feedback-ridden chords, Helmut can't defend himself as Grunge gets close enough to smack the release switch on his armor, and...

...well, I think that speaks for itself. Thoroughly humiliated at having lost to a bunch of children, Helmut asks what they're going to do with him.

You probably saw this one coming, but it's funny anyway:

Final Score:

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out of

This is a fairly simple story that doesn't break any new ground, included as part of a brand-wide crossover event, but still stands alone well enough. The kids are still figuring out how to fight as a team, and right now they're working on coming back after making mistakes. Trying to take Helmut one-on-one, even with the nigh-invulnerable Fairchild tanking, is much less sensible than trying to formulate a plan, but that's part of the team's growth arc. Working together doesn't come naturally to most people, and this will be a common theme as the book goes forward.

Most of what makes this story work so well is the humorous script (Grunge, especially gets some great one-liners), but it's Rainmaker's out-of-left-field revelation about her sexuality that everyone remembers. The only irritating thing about it is Sarah asking Roxy, "You didn't know?", as if anything Rainmaker had done in the previous several issues had at all hinted about her preferences. There's no foreshadowing of this like there was with many of the other revelations to come down the road, which is a strike against the writers, but to be fair, that makes Roxy's reaction feel genuine.

The letter column this issue is filled with some great missives too: fans balking at comic shops marking the prices of some of those variant covers up to absurd levels ($45 for the Lin-Gen-Re issue!), fans expressing their pleasure with this or that member of the team (Freefall has a huge number of female fans), requests for official fan clubs and merchandise, and a list of the least-liked elements of that first issue includes "Anna's Arm", "the towel", and "the branch" (all ways Campbell used to cover up Rainmaker's birthday suit).

Also, as a side note, this issue has two covers. Fortunately, Image was kind enough to give them to everybody who bought an issue. The image at the top is actually the back cover of the book. The front cover was drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith, and shows Lord Defile doing a little sneaky-peeky spying:

Finally, a complete issue of #2 includes a sample pack of Wildstorm trading cards bound into the book. I've no idea what they look like, since I never opened mine, but if they're missing, then you don't have a complete copy, and I don't know what to tell you.

No matter how you look at it, Rainmaker's revelation this issue was a keg of dynamite, and there will be repercussions for months to come. I look forward to sharing and exploring them with you in future installments, so make sure you're following. Trust me, you won't want to miss a thing!

'Til next time, krunk-heads, remember that if you eat the leftover chili for breakfast, stay far, far away from Burnout to avoid potential disasters.