Pencils: J. Scott Campbell
Inks: Alex Garner
Colors: Joe Chiodo
Letters: Richard St. Arkings and Comicraft
Review: Art Bee
Jim Lee, one of the seven founders of Image comics, designed the Wildstorm universe, which contained Gen13 and WildC.A.T.s, among others.
When Gen13 first started I was not onboard. The look and feel of it too closely resembled X-men. Just prior to the release of Gen13, the news reached me of Marvel’s lawsuit against Image Comics for originally naming the comic series GenX. This was an almost identical title to the X-men spinoff, Generation X. As an X-men fan I was put off about picking it up. Some years later I found one of the older issues in a box at a convention and realized I was missing out on some serious artistic gold.
More on that later…
This issue starts out with Caitlin Fairchild, one of the five members of the Gen13 team, looking for answers about her father in the computer files of the team’s coordinator/leader, Mr. Lynch. She finds a clue to what could be her fathers’ dog-tags. This clue leads her and her teenage teammates on an expedition to an island off the coast of Africa.
In a nutshell, that is the issue.
The writing of this issue is very bland. The best comparison I can make would be a children’s story book, such as Winnie the Pooh. The story just moves along. It is cohesive and flows well, but it just feels dumbed down and requires little from the reader. As a matter of fact, writers even feel the need to identify what CEO stands for with an asterisk. Who on Earth does not know what a CEO is or stands for? Props have to be given to the writers for targeting the teen angst movement, which was rampant in the mid-90s. That movement drove me nuts, but I think that was the point. I was high often…so we will just leave that alone.
The only reason to own this issue, or any of the original Gen13 comic books, is for the exceptional art. J. Scott Campbell’s cover sets the mood and defines the issue perfectly and is positively gorgeous! The greatness of this art continues throughout the issue. My favorite artwork in the issue is the two page spread on pages 11 and 12 which is a mural of their travels on top of a map.
The artists coordinate their talents very well together to create eye candy for us all (pun intended). When these gents go for detail, they hit the bullseye from 100 yards with a crooked arrow. Everything from backgrounds to characters' features contains an extremely high level of detail bound to send shivers running through you.
As a side note, they are also a little bit pervy with their female characters.
This issue also contains a little treasure at the end entitled,”Gen13 Robot Ruckus Part 1”. This short is created by Tom McWeeney and is very entertaining. McWeeney’s artistic style has a Skottie Young feel to it with a less toony look.
Gen13 will never be a comic series I would collect for reading purposes since my loyalty will always reside with X-men. I will nab up these issues for the astounding covers and excellent artwork, though. Let’s face reality: when a convict gets released from prison free and clear, they like to taste freedom with a beer or something else they have been without for their jaunt. The seven founders of Image Comics needed to do the same thing when they found their freedom. Just as the ex-con wouldn’t tell his parole officer about his, “freedom beer”, these founders are allowed a little leeway in the early days of their creative freedom.
Just a little.
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