Tag: Percival Edmund “Grunge” Chang

A Look Back at Gen13 #2 (1994)

A Look Back at Gen13 #2 (1994)

carlocarrasco

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back, superhero fans, 1990s arts and culture enthusiasts, Image Comics fans and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the mid-1990s to examine one of the many tales of Jim Lee’s original WildStorm universe through the original Gen13 mini-series.

Historically, Gen13 (stylized as Gen13) was launched at a time when Jim Lee’s company was establishing and expanding the original WildStorm shared universe with such comic book titles like WildCATS: Covert Action Teams, StormWatch, Backlash, Wetworks and the prequel title Team 7. When compared to those mentioned titles that had strong paramilitary elements combined with conspiracy and intrigue, Gen13 stood out with its concept of super-powered teenagers who don’t realize they are subjects of International Operations (IO) which has a long history of abuse, corruption and human rights violations. Gen13 #1 started strongly thanks to the solid writing of Jim Lee and Brandon Choi who challenged themselves to expand the WildStorm lore differently.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Gen13 #2, published by Image Comics in 1994 with a story written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi with artwork done by Jeffrey Scott Campbell. This is the second issue of the mini-series.  

The cover.

Early story

The story begins with Caitlin Fairchild, Grunge, Roxy, Bobby, Rainmaker and Tom Hallinan in the middle of a desert running away from the floating troopers of Project Genesis. They just escaped from the top-secret facility.

Tom Hallinan suddenly uses his power to shock three troopers on a floating craft (gunship) and brings them down to an explosive end. As Caitlin has trouble accepting the fact that the troopers were killed, Tom emphasizes that they can fight back using their super powers and Bobby (Burnout) agrees by utilizing his own powers of flight and flame to confront even more troopers on their gunships.

As the conflict escalates, Fairchild begins to use her super strength to tear off a huge rock and successfully destroys one of the gunships with it. Nearby, Roxy, Rainmaker and Grunge find themselves cornered by armed troopers. Roxy gets hit by the tangler from the troopers…

Quality

Roxy, Grunge and Rainmaker cornered by the armed troopers.

Similar to the first issue, this comic book has a solid plot structure and the writers took their time to emphasize the tale, develop the characters within their limits, and doing both build-ups and pay-offs.

Following the events of issue #1, Fairchild and her eventual Gen13 teammates here are only discovering their respective super capabilities at a time of confusion and desperation. They still have yet to form the rock-solid bond as a team and they are still struggling with the new situation they found themselves in. The tale opened with a desperate escape from the Project Genesis facility (with a clever flashback used to explain what happened) putting themselves into a series of unfortunate events with no guarantee of survival ahead.

While this comic book featured the eventual core Gen13 characters, the tale is still pretty much focused on Caitlin Fairchild and the writers did a really good job developing her with not just the present-day events but also with her own perception of how her life turned out. Apart from being a very smart college student, Fairchild is also very observant and does her best when dealing with the challenges in new situations. At this stage, she has yet to realize her true goals as she deals with the sudden changes and dangers that came with being a super-powered teenager under the grasp of IO.

Grunge, Roxy, Burnout and Rainmaker also got their own shares of the spotlight but nowhere as great as Fairchild which is understandable. At this stage, it clear that the writers had something planned for them for further parts of the story.

More on the story itself, the plot really moved forward without being rushed. The pace moved from medium to fast, and as generous pay-offs to previous build-up’s took place, more plot elements were being built-up. In line with the greater lore of WildStorm, the concept of the government testing drugs on people for decades is raised and it makes the sinister moves of IO on human subjects really believable. Symbolically, the government and IO have affected generations of people with mad science and experimentation, and these are reflected well on the characters.

The plot indeed has intrigue and strong dramatic moments to back it up. However, the storytelling got weakened with the way one of the new characters here expressed himself which made the late-story twist predictable and unsurprising. Along the way, the visual eroticism ramped up here as Jeffrery Scott Campbell went on to visualize the script. The said visual eroticism (perhaps eye candy to those who enjoyed it) is unnecessary in my opinion and they took away from the written dialogue. The sexy imagery is a reminder of the 1990s comic book trends.

Conclusion

For the first time ever, Bobby becomes Burnout.

With the exception of the mentioned storytelling weakness and the unnecessary erotic visuals, Gen13 #2 (1994) managed to be a solid follow-up to its predecessor and is also an entertaining read. The continued strong writing by Lee and Choi ensured strong engagement, suspense and spectacle throughout. Revisiting this old comic book resulted in a fun read in my experience and I am convinced to keep going on with this WildStorm mini-series.

Overall, Gen13 #2 (1994) is recommended.

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. If you want to support my website, please consider making a donation. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco/

A Look Back at Gen13 #1 (1994)

A Look Back at Gen13 #1 (1994)

carlocarrasco

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back, superhero fans, 1990s arts and culture enthusiasts, Image Comics fans and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the mid-1990s to examine one of the many tales of Jim Lee’s original WildStorm universe through the original Gen13 mini-series.

There is a lot to enjoy in the WildStorm comic book universe of the 1990s with such titles like WildCATS: Covert Action Teams, Team 7, StormWatch, Grifter, Backlash and Wetworks to name some. The WildStorm depicts the world as chaotic filled with strong paramilitary concepts, conspiracies and even aliens from deep space.

Along the way, WildStorm has its own take on the sub-genre of super-powered teenagers which was realized as Gen13 (stylized as Gen13). Strangely enough, the team – which actually first appeared in the Deathmate Black crossover comic book in 1993 – was originally titled as Gen X but WildStorm had to rebrand it into Gen13 as Marvel Comics already trademarked the name Generation X for an X-Men-related comic book project. To learn more about production history and background of Gen13, click here.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Gen13 #1, published by Image Comics in 1994 with a story written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi with artwork done by Jeffrey Scott Campbell (ink work by Alex Garner). This is the first issue of the mini-series.  

The cover.

Early story

The story begins sometime in 1979 when a married couple (Stephen and Rachel Callahan) desperate runs away with their two little children. A team of armored troops (the Black Razors) riding two hovering vehicles catches up with them and hit Rachel with bullets passing through her body. Stephen, who is carrying his son Matthew, uses his power to destroy one of the hovering vehicles. One of the Black Razors realized that the husband is gen-active and nobody informed their team that he was with Gen12.

Agonizing with severe head pain, Stephen tells Matthew to take his little sister Nicole with him and run to the trees. As far as Stephen is concerned, he is finished and all he can do is buy time for the two little children to escape. He tells Matthew to protect his sister. Suddenly, the Black Razors killed Stephen right in front of Matthew and Nicole.

Fifteen years later, a young, nerdy college student named Caitlin Fairchild makes her way through the college campus in Princeton. She is a gifted student who has been focused on maintaining a high grade and graduate with her advanced degree in computer science in the near future.

Upon arriving at the dormitory, she meets her promiscuous roommate Alexa who informs her that some guys arrived earlier looking for her. The guys were described as middle-aged suits and they wanted to talk to Caitlin about some internship program. Alexa then leaves.

A few hours later, Caitlin wakes up as the door gets knocked. Special agent baker of the National Security Committee tells her that she has been accepted into the Gen13 program and her presence is immediately required in order to process her into the program before it begins the next day…

Quality

Roxy, Burnout, Grunge and Caitlin Fairchild together for the first time at the secret facility of the Gen13 program. One other member – Rainmaker – has yet to appear.

I enjoyed this comic book the first time I had it in 1994. I can clearly say that it is still fun and engaging to read again today.

This comic book was written with the intention to introduce super-powered teenagers as a new and really distinctive team in one corner of the original WildStorm universe while also expanding the lore by focusing more on International Operations’ unethical covert operations which will easily remind people about government conspiracies, top secret missions and the like. The story has really strong elements about conspiracies, unethical scientific experiments and even human rights violations. The story by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi has a strong structure but what stood out to me was the really creative writing done to bring the characters to life complete with a touch of the 1990s vibe (in reference to comic book trends and real-life society).

John Lynch, a former member of Team 7 and also one of the high-ranking officials of IO who occasionally appeared in prior WildStorm comic books, gets a nice share of the spotlight in the story and indeed he is not full control of his organization. In fact, IO’s execution of a new program about developing people with special abilities or powers (without their knowledge) raises Lynch’s concerns as he himself was a victim of betrayal and exposure to an experimental gas during his time with Team 7. Lynch also appeared in The Kindred mini-series (read my reviews by clicking here, here and here).

When it comes to the characters, Gen13’s members here are introduced with notable differences in terms of personality. The nerdy Caitlin Fairchild is the very promising smart young lady who has the potential to succeed. Bobby (Burnout) is the quiet guy who quickly realizes that true unity is needed in order for a group to succeed under the program they are in. Roxy is the undisciplined and rebellious young lady while Grunge is the loose cannon and has trouble with authorities. While it is clear you won’t see much of their powers yet in this comic book, they turned out to be interesting enough to follow thanks to the strong creative writing by Lee and Choi.

When it comes to the visuals, Jeffrey Scott Campbell’s artworks really stood out mainly due to his distinctive style. If you look closely at how he draws the faces of women – particularly the ones who are young and fit – you will realize the exaggerated look complete with the big eyes and curves seen on females in anime or even manga (Japanese comics). If you are looking visual realism on the characters, you won’t find it here at all. Campbell’s style truly defined the look of the characters and yet he was able to draw armored troops (Black Razors and the armed security guard) with a really high level of details (including their weapons) which really stood out visually. Campbell is also good with superhero spectacle and hard action. Last but not least, there is a deliberate amount of erotic imagery in this comic book which serves as a reminder that this is a story aimed at young adult and adult readers.  

Conclusion

John Lynch and Ivana having a confidential talk about International Operations and its current project about super-powered beings. Even though he is a very high officer at IO, Lynch was kept in the dark about something crucial.

Indeed, Gen13 #1 (1994) remains entertaining to read mainly because of the strong writing. The story moved at a smooth pace, the exposition was done cleverly, and the characters ended up being worthy enough to pay attention to. By the time I reached the end, I am convinced to go on to the next issue and rediscover not only more of the mini-series but also the way it expanded the lore of the WildStorm universe of the 1990s. This comic book alone strongly emphasized the connections with other elements of the WildStorm universe, particularly with Team 7 (its mini-series launched months after this one) and the dark legacy of IO. It is an adulterated superhero comic book that really offered readers something new and intriguing.

Overall, Gen13 #1 (1994) is recommended.

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. If you want to support my website, please consider making a donation. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco/.