Holy smokes, my loyal followers, we made it: issue #1 of the regular Gen 13 series. While it's technically "Gen 13, Volume 2", I usually refer to it as the "monthly" series. That's not entirely accurate, since the first half dozen issues came out on a bimonthly basis, but by issue seven, we got a new issue in the shops every 30 days. The mid-90s comics momentum hit just as Gen 13 was blowing up. In fact, Gen 13's second volume exploded on to newsstands with not one, not two, but thirteen (see what they did there?) variants.
The big image at the top is Cover A. Covers B through M are as follows:
Covers G and H were more highly-sought than the rest others for reasons I, a heterosexual male nerd, can't possibly understand. /sarcasm
But hey, which one's your favorite? Did you collect 'em all too? Sound off in the comments!
Enough variant nonsense. This is supposed to be a re-read, so let's get to the reading, eh?
We open with a quick rundown of our five plucky heroes, which makes sense since this is an issue #1, but not a first issue. 90s comics and logic are like magnesium and water -- expose one to the other and things start exploding.
After that re-cap of who they are and what they do, we're immediately dropped into a brutal, take-no-prisoners brawl:
Wait a minute. 'Keiko'? 'Ronan'? Who the hell are these people? I don't remember them from the 'Cast Call'.
Oh, never mind -- it's just Grunge and Freefall sparring in a deadly game of 'Mortal Conflict'. Freefall bests the Grunge-man at his own game, and wins the match . . .
Also pictured: 'Kill Crush' and 'Die Fight!'.
. . . which leads to real-life, not-so-mortal conflict as Grunge yanks the cartridge before Roxy can register her victory, thus ensuring his winning streak is unbroken. Roxy responds by levitating Grunge to the ceiling, then dumping him on the floor. Grunge's unscheduled landing plops him on some power cables, which disables Fairchild's computer, causing her 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 heads to Lynch's office to talk with him, but he isn't there, so she looks over some 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 arrive and asks what's on her mind, 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 ditched Rainmaker, Burnout, Grunge, and Freefall when they fell for Threshold's trick, 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 for failing to notice her interest in him, has left the house to go dance away her troubles at a local club. The team's live-in housekeeper Anna inquires if anyone wants lemonade. Nobody answers her, because Rainmaker makes probably the most famous entrance in 90s comics history:
Grunge breaks his controller, Burnout snaps a guitar string, and readers like @deadspace felt a curious stirring in the loins. While on the one hand it's amusing to watch Rainmaker turn the boys into drooling idiots, given Rainmaker's characterization thusfar this is 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 simply have a hard time believing Rainmaker would be comfortable strolling around the house in her birthday suit. This 'Girls Gone Wild' characterization of Rainmaker doesn't survive long, and given what we find out about her later in the series, it's a good thing it dies early on. She deserves better than this.
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 both breaks the stranger's spell and sends her to the bathroom to wash up. Lightning from a freak storm turns off the power in the club, and a shadowy feline-shaped creature slips into her unattended jacket . . .
The lights kick on again, and Roxy heads back to the dance floor, unaware she's picked up a stowaway. Out in the alley behind the dance club, another freak electrical disturbance catches the attention of a homeless man in the alleyway (shades of The Terminator here). 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.
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 fugitives from other Wildstorm Studios books. We won't actually learn who these characters are and what their mission fully entails until the massive Fire From Heaven crossover kicks off a year later. The dude with the hypnotic eyes is another 'first appearance cameo', and like the guy in the net in the photo in Lynch's office we'll be seeing him later in the series too. 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 take flight and he draws a gun, forcing Freefall to dive behind the bar for cover. Now that she's back on solid ground, Rake and Hardball advance to flush her out.
While wincing from her hard landing, Freefall discovers the creature hiding in her jacket, and deduces it must be the Qeelock the four freaks are after:
Hardball and Rake demand 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 fling her ass-over-teakettle across the club. Jade, knowing when to call for retreat, pops open a dimensional portal and dashes through it. 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 wants to follow the four through the portal, but Fairchild nixes that idea since they don't know where they'd end up or how they'd get back home. With Freefall out of danger, they head for home. Lynch is satisfied with their performance . . .
. . . but less so that they've brought home a new pet. And while the team fought well, Lynch presumes that if the four bounty hunters were willing to kill them to acquire the Qeelock, it's likely they'll be back. 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!
The letter column is the usual praise and questions from folks, although there is one letter which stands out for hilarious reasons: Wes Watson of North Carolina writes that one of the things he loves about Gen 13 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 are forced to respond by admitting he probably noticed they produced, you know, a few different covers for this one, but, uh, no harm, no foul, right, Wes . . . ?
Final Score:
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 lays some groundwork for return engagements, and dangles a few intriguing plot threads. Who are the bounty hunters? Why do they want the Qeelock? Who's the dude with the hypno-eyes? Keep reading to find out!
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 Gen 13 #1 starts on the first page with the video game fight and doesn't stop until Lynch's concluding remarks on page 29. A story with no ads is a rarity from this time period, and it isn't a gimmick Gen 13 uses in the future, but it's so nice that I was tempted to give the book five @blewitt faces out of five for that 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 whomever 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.
I hope to see you here within the next seven days for the next entry in our re-read. Until then, take care, my fellow krunk-heads!