The first issue of the regular Gen 13 series wasn't the only Gen-book to hit the shelves in March of 1995. A week or two earlier, depending on where you lived and how fast shipments made it to your local store shelves, you would have seen this quirky critter. Given the #1 on the cover, and that "Rave" appears on the bottom and looks like one of the artwork's background elements, instead of up top with the book's regular title, it would have been easy to mistake for the actual first issue.
An easy mistake, at least until you opened it and saw what was inside. Rave was neither issue 1 of the unlimited series, nor was it a stand-alone story like issues 0 and 1/2, but rather a sort of re-introduction to the characters and creators who made up the book. Seems like a strange choice, given that we just had one of those with Gen 13 1/2, but this is also the company who flooded the market with thirteen variant covers of issue #1, so this is right on brand for Image.
Gen 13: Rave starts with interviews with Jeff Scott Campbell, Jim Lee, Brandon Choi, and Alex Garner. These are basically follow-ups to similar content from 1/2, but it's fun to note how much has changed in one year. Campbell's life essentially went bonkers after the Gen 13 books started coming out -- in the interview, he relates:
The 1993 San Diego Con was the first convention I went to, and I had just started working on Gen 13. Even if I had a badge, it didn't really matter. Nobody knew who I was.
One year later, after five issues of Gen 13 had come out, it was a change. I was surprised by how much attention I received. It was really hard for me to walk around. [. . . ] I had to flip that name tag around because I couldn't walk five feet without someone stopping me. It was pretty overwhelming.
There's some other fun tidbits dropped in these interviews as well, talking about things like how Rainmaker came to be in the book, and also how she wasn't originally going to stick around, but I'm not going to spoil all of that for you. Track down a copy yourself! It's cheap!
After the interviews, we're treated to a two-page Ameri-Manga style pin-up artwork by Michael Lopez and John Holdredge. It's not the worst I've seen, but the only way you can tell who these characters are supposed to be is by their costumes:
Here's the more interesting half. See what you think.
Following the pinup, we've got two pages of info about I.O. and its command structure, explaining where people like Lynch, Ivana, and Miles Craven sit in relation to one another and also the US government. And following that . . . well, I'll just leave this here to explain for itself:
I was going to apologize for the seam, but if I start apologizing for that, I need to apologize for everything else, and that's going to start an avalanche of apology concerning things for which I am blameless. So bite me.
After that living example of why a Gen 13 live-action movie would have been a bad idea, there's another pinup, this time by Paul Pelletier and Cam Smith, which is the best of the bunch thusfar. Bit of a back-handed compliment given what we've seen already, but again, this is not my fault.
We then come to a 'Make Your Own Grunge Tattoo' page, which demands you get your parents' permission to wield scissors if you're under 21, among other bizarre demands, and who on earth was Image aiming this book at again?
The next four pages recap the five-issue mini-series, but do so in the words of the different characters combined with artwork from the original books. This is the most amusing part of the book, as the kids digress, insult, and correct one another about the story so far while Lynch tries to referee. It's a serviceable explanation of what new readers missed, though it's no substitute for reading the actual issues.
After the recap, we get two pages of previews about the upcoming Gen 13 movie:
This actually did get made, though it sat on the shelf for five years after completion, thus showing up well past its prime. Despite the lateness of its arrival, it had a two million dollar budget which allowed them to score some top-notch voice talent, including Mark Hamill as Threshold, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Flea as Grunge, Alicia Witt as Fairchild, and John de Lancie ('Q' from Star Trek) as Lynch. As if that wasn't enough, they got Batman: The Animated Series director Kevin Altieri to helm the project. The Gen 13 animated film isn't the technicolor abomination it could have been, but there are a lot of reasons why it got shelved for years, and rather than digress into that here, I'll instead point you to the massively entertaining "BASED ON A..." video from 2G1 Reviews which just dropped a couple of weeks ago, where they talk about the movie with a number of the people involved in it over on their YouTube channel.
They also got permission to upload the entire 90-minute feature along with their interview as a bonus feature, so you can catch that right here if you want to get some context. How awesome is that?
Right . . . back to the issue. We're almost done.
The next four pages are a "Day In the Life of Jeff Scott Campbell", where Wildstorm editor Sarah Becker describes what happens when she follows him around like a puppy for a look at what he does all day. Turns out, Jeff likes to eat lots of junk food, sleep until noon, and stay up late watching movies. Quick show of hands: how many of us were basically Jeff Scott Campbell for years and never realized it?
Following this not-a-stalker reporting on Campbell's private affairs, we get the final pin-up to the issue, but they've saved the best for last as this one is penciled by Campbell and inked by Scott Williams, so the characters actually look like themselves.
The wrap-up page of Rave is a silly little stick figure fanfic by Matt Feazell (creator of Cynical Man) entitled "Gen 13 and 1/2", where the kids confront a bad guy in a plot similar to what Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants might encounter: a villain has taken over the local TV broadcast relay and is supplanting every program with his vacation slides. Hilarity of the 2D variety ensues:
And that, my loyal readers, is Gen 13 Rave #1. There was no issue 2.
Final Score:
out of
Gen 13 Rave #1 isn't bad, but only about half of it is really worth having. For the time it came out, it served its purpose which was to help new readers catch up on what they missed, while helping them learn more about the people creating the book. It's the sort of thing you don't tend to see nowadays, because there's this thing called The Internet which allows anybody to learn more about their favorite artist or writer than they could ever want to know without having to spend $1.50 and tax.
Rave is best viewed as a cultural artifact, a product of its time. It was released at a time when comics were as big as they've ever been, and I can hardly slag Image for putting it out there. It doesn't add much to the discussion, but it does kind of put things in context, showcasing just how big this series was for Jim Lee's Wildstorm imprint, and Image Comics as a whole. After all, books like Wild C.A.T.s and Stormwatch didn't get booster publications like this, despite their popularity and place in the overall Wildstorm timeline.
It's hardly an essential piece except for collectors interested in acquiring everything Gen 13-related, but that's why it's a sub-class of Part 8, and not its own individual entry. It's neither particularly rare nor collectible, so a copy should only run you a buck or two unless you're dead-set on owning one in pristine, CGC-graded condition for some reason.
As always, thanks for reading! If you see something you like in one of these re-read pieces, hit up @cryplectibles or @blewitt to see if they've got a copy floating around in their back-issue bins. They'll cut you a nice deal on the goodies. We've got one more "special" issue to discuss before we move on to issue #2, and trust me, even though it's out of chronological publishing order, I have my reasons for throwing it into the mix now rather than later. Until then, stay frosty, my fellow krunk-heads!