Gen 13 was a '90s Sensation...What Happened to the Movie?

 

This week at CBR, I have my first-ever in-depth look at '90s sensation Gen 13, and its doomed animated adaptation. Did the movie nearly sink Jim Lee? 

GENERATION X/GEN 13 - February 1997

 

Harvest of Evil

Credits:  James Robinson (writer), Salvador Larroca (penciler), Troy Hubbs & Al Milgrom (inker), Shannon Blanchard (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary:  Dr. Pretorious creates a scheme to harvest the organs of young superhumans and then sell them to elderly patients.  He lures Generation X and Gen 13 to his “hotel” in Mexico.  Soon, they discover his creations and discern his true motives.  Burnout escapes to get help and is soon attacked by Pretorious’ genetic hybrids.  The teams combine their powers to escape and eventually rescue Burnout.  With the help of Lynch, Pretorious is arrested and placed into custody.

Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  Marvel published this chapter of the crossover, even though there’s no Code approval stamp on the cover.  I think it could’ve been approved, but it is a little racy for a Marvel book of the era.  There are two references to Rainmaker’s lesbianism, Fairchild is allowed to “poke” out in one panel, and in one scene Grunge tries to take Jubilee’s bathing suit off in the water.  (And Jubilee’s supposed to be around fourteen during these days!)

Review:  One day I’ll be free of these Marvel/Wildstorm crossovers.  I didn’t even know Marvel published its own Generation X/Gen 13 crossover until a few weeks ago.  At the time of its release, I was only vaguely aware of the original Image Gen 13/Generation X crossover comic, which had art by Arthur freakin’ Adams yet still managed to fly under the radar.  Marvel clearly didn’t have much of an interest in promoting these comics, perhaps because Gen 13 was already slipping in popularity a bit, or it could’ve been a simple case of a higher-up making the call not to promote the competition’s characters.  Regardless, regular Generation X writer James Robinson, who also did a decent amount of work for Wildstorm, is a good choice to script, and he’s devised a story that doesn’t seem out of place for either team.  It’s a bit Scooby-Doo, but that actually fits Gen 13 perfectly, and it’s not out of the realm of something Scott Lobdell would’ve done in the early Generation X issues.  The only real flaw of the story is Robinson’s assumption that a) you know who all of these characters are (most of the cast isn’t identified by code name or given a clear scene to show off their powers), and b) you know that the characters have already met in the Image crossover comic.  

A larger issue is Salvador Larroca’s art.  There are two inkers on the comic, which might explain why the art is fairly impressive in the opening pages and then grows shockingly inconsistent towards the end.  Even if the book ran into deadline trouble, someone should’ve done something to fix the panels that make some of the cast members look so unrecognizable.  If drawn properly, Jubilee really shouldn’t be confused for any member of Gen 13.  Looking at the various monsters used throughout the story, obviously inspired by old horror movies, also leads me to believe that Arthur Adams was handed the wrong version of the crossover to draw.  Adams could’ve done an incredible job on this comic, but instead he was given a cluttered mess that forced him to pencil one boring talking head after another.  This would’ve been a much better fit; so much so I almost wonder if Robinson heard that Adams was drawing the Generation X/Gen 13 crossover and just assumed he was writing Adams’ chapter.

SPIDER-MAN/ GEN 13 - November 1996

Crossed Generations

Credits:  Peter David (writer), Stuart Immonen (penciler), Cam Smith w/Andrew Pepoy (inks), Joe Rosas (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

The Plot:  While in California, Spider-Man confronts the mercenary Glider.  She injures him in the fight, leading Gen 13 to take Spider-Man to their compound.  Glider’s employer, Bartlett, has Spider-Man tracked to Gen 13’s home.  Soon, Glider, Bartlett’s son, and a brigade of soldiers face Spider-Man and Gen 13 in La Jolla.  A soldier targets a nearby school in order to force Gen 13 to surrender.  When Glider sees her daughter Alyssa has been taken hostage, she snaps and turns against her employer.  She kills Bartlett’s son, shortly after receiving a critical wound.  

The Subplots:  Peter Parker is in California on a Daily Bugle assignment to photograph the band Black Lung Disease.  Glider, in her civilian identity, is fighting her ex-husband for custody of Alyssa.  Later, while recovering from her wounds, her husband uses the traumatic incident as justification for taking Alyssa out of the country.  

Web of Continuity:  The younger Bartlett was a guard embarrassed by Gen 13 in their original miniseries (which chronicled their escape from I/O).  His father has arranged for this elaborate operation in order to assuage his son’s bruised ego.  Spider-Man was just used by Glider as a means to attract Gen 13’s attention in the story’s opening.

Forever Young:  Grunge tells Spider-Man he’s been tracking his career since he was a kid.  Freefall confirms that Spider-Man is the “grand old man of super-guys.”  Spider-Man remarks that he’s been humiliated as a hero but he’s never felt old before.

I Love the ‘90s:  Spidey makes a reference to Bob Dole’s grouchy demeanor.  Freefall refers to Spider-Man as the “Nine Inch Nails of super-guys.”  Spider-Man states that he’s not used to being looked up to by Gen X’ers.  And, finally, Spider-Man makes a Helen Hunt reference when Rainmaker creates a twister.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority:  Grunge is allowed to say “Bitchin’!” once.

Production Note:  This is a forty-eight page, prestige format one-shot.  The cover price is $4.95.

Review:  Further proof that Gen 13 was everywhere in the ‘90s, this one-shot was pretty much inevitable once Jim Lee and Marvel made nice in the mid-1990s.  I don’t think it’s too controversial to say that J. Scott Campbell was the main draw of Gen 13, and had he drawn this one-shot, it probably would’ve been one of the few memorable intercompany crossover comics of the era.  I’m sure Wizard would’ve hyped J. Scott Campbell drawing Spider-Man and Gen 13 in the same comic for about a year before its actual release.  Instead, we get Stuart Immonen as artist.  Immonen isn’t bad, but he’s still fairly generic at this stage, and I can’t get too excited over his interpretation of Spider-Man.  Today, he would probably draw a Spider-Man/Gen 13 comic that could put J. Scott Campbell to shame, but he’s not on that level yet.

Peter David might appear to be an odd choice as writer since he's never worked on Gen 13 before, but it’s my understanding that he was Wildstorm’s first choice to replace original Gen 13 scribe Brandon Choi after he left the book at around this time.  David's sensibilities would seem to suit the series, which was essentially a superhero comedy with some cheesecake thrown in.  There’s not a lot of cheesecake here, but David tries to keep the tone light for most of the issue (until he abruptly decides not to, but we’ll get to that later).  If Marvel published this today, I’m sure there would be an effort to play up the idea of Spider-Man as a “youthful” hero, so it’s amusing to see that almost twenty years ago Peter Parker was already considered too old to be hanging out with teenagers.  

The humor of the story isn’t that great, but it’s about as funny as I recall the standard Gen 13 comic from the era.   The real problem with the one-shot is the ending, as the last few pages of the story take a sudden swerve into melodrama.  Glider (a new character apparently created for this one-shot) receives an inordinate amount of the spotlight during the issue, and while she serves her role as nuisance fairly well for most of the story, the ending of the comic suddenly makes her the star.  Forget about Spider-Man and Gen 13 getting into trouble or having fun during their first meeting; instead, this is a comic about a divorcee making a horrible decision and losing custody of her daughter as a result.  And while the concept of overprotective parents does show up earlier in the story, so this isn’t totally out of nowhere, it’s an odd choice to make such a serious (and adult) topic the main theme.  Doing a Gen 13 story with a depressing ending just doesn’t feel right, and creating a new character specifically designed to explore an adult, serious issue also feels like a bizarre fit for the book.   

GEN 13/GENERATION X #1 - July 1997

Generation Gap

Credits: Brandon Choi (writer), Arthur Adams (penciler), Alex Garner w/Peter Guzman (inks), Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Dave Lanphear (letters), Joe Chiodo & Martin Jimenez (colors)

Summary: Trance and his Freaks kidnap Jamie, a young mutant teleporter, from government custody. Gen 13 investigates the kidnapping, while Generation X detects Jamie’s presence with Cerebro. Gen X arrives as Gen 13 battles the Freaks, and mistakenly assumes they also want Jamie. The two teams fight, until their battle is interrupted by Emplate. When Trance suggests a partnership with Emplate, they teleport away. The heroes convince Jamie to take them to Emplate’s dimension, where they join forces against Emplate and Trance. With the help of Gen 13’s robot, Anna, the villains are fought to a standstill and the heroes return home. Jamie doesn’t join either team, but knows that both are his friends.

Production Note: This is a thirty-two page, standard format one-shot. Rather than twenty-two pages, however, the story runs twenty-eight. The cover price is $2.95.

I Love the ‘90s: Grunge exclaims “You go, grrl!” as Fairchild charges into battle. Also, there’s a character named “Grunge.”

Review: This one should’ve been a big deal. A huge deal. A Generation X and Gen 13 crossover, drawn by J. Scott Campbell’s inspiration, the legendary Arthur Adams? The two hottest teen superhero groups together in one book? People waited years for this comic, and yet it’s been consigned to the dollar bins of history. Perhaps not as embarrassing as the fifty-cent bins that house back issues of Fantastic Force and Doom’s IV, but it’s still a sad fall from grace.

Gen X and Gen 13 have an odd history, one that predates this comic by a good four years. Jim Lee first announced Gen X in a Wizard ad in the early ‘90s, only to be informed by Marvel that while the letter “X” might not legally be theirs, it is closely associated with Marvel, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were also working on a book called “Generation X.” I’m sure Marvel didn’t have a leg to stand on legally (they didn’t invent the phrase, and it was used everywhere between 1992 and 1996), but Jim Lee respected their wishes. When the series launched, it was titled Gen 13, and it became an instant hit. Not only was it a bit racier than anything Marvel or DC were offering at the time, but artist J. Scott Campbell’s amalgam of Arthur Adams and Jim Lee was a revelation to the adolescent audience.

Gen 13 was so big, I would go so far as to say it helped to fend off the inevitable bust of the ‘90s for a few years. Marvel’s promised teen mutant series took a few more months to materialize, and while Generation X was a very successful launch, it never really seemed to have the heat of its Image counterpart. And while it was certainly possible to be a fan of both series, it was hard for the readers not to perceive at least some sort of rivalry between the books. I mean, Generation X “stole” Gen 13’s name!

So, a few years pass, the industry tumbles, and Marvel and Image decide working together is in their mutual interest. Between Wildstorm and Extreme Studios, a plethora of Marvel crossover comics are published, beginning in 1996. Maybe one reason why this comic didn’t have an impact is because it came at the tail end of the fad; its heat stolen by the likes of Spider-Man/Backlash. Gen 13 scribe Brandon Choi’s story, however, probably deserves the bulk of the blame. What do people like about Gen 13 and Gen X? Gen X’s popularity was built on its characters, and while that’s partially true of Gen 13, much of its audience probably came for the T&A and stayed for the sheer zaniness. If you’re pairing the two teams together, your best bet is to create a minimal story that gives the characters plenty of room to interact with one another. With Arthur Adams drawing it, you know it’s going to look good. People probably won’t even miss Chris Bachalo or J. Scott Campbell.

What does the actual Gen 13/Generation X crossover bring us? Plot. Lots and lots of plot. I tried to boil it down to basics in the summary, but a more detailed recounting goes like this:

- A cold war flashback. Interpol agent Banshee and Lynch of the Black Razors stop a terrorist, Carlos Ramirez, from exploiting young Jamie’s teleportation powers.

- Lynch places Jamie in government care, against Banshee’s wishes.

- Today, Trance finds Ramirez and orders him to reveal Jamie’s location.

- Under Trance’s orders, Ramirez kills himself. Lynch is notified of the death.

- Lynch informs Gen 13. They use Freefall’s alien pet, Qeelocke, to track Jamie.

- Emplate senses Jamie’s presence.

- Cerebro locates Jamie, spurring Generation X into action.

- Gen 13 attacks Trance and his Freaks.

- Generation X interrupts the battle. A misunderstanding fight commences.

- Emplate arrives. He decides he’d rather have Qeelocke.

- Trance promises to hypnotize Qeelocke for Emplate if they join forces.

- They escape through a portal. Grunge, who still has Husk wrapped around his back, leaps after them.

- Jamie awakens. The teams convince him to help him locate their friends.

- Trance turns on Emplate, as Grunge and Husk face the Freaks.

- The heroes arrive in Emplate’s dimension, although for some reason they emerge in two different groups a few minutes apart.

- More fighting.

- Trance hypnotizes everyone. Anna is unfazed. She agrees to let him ago if he doesn’t hurt the team while they’re entranced.

- The heroes return home. Jamie is left alone, but decides the two groups of people he’s known for five minutes are his friends.

- Neither team fulfills their mission, as Jamie doesn’t go back into government custody and Generation X doesn’t gain him as a member. No one seems bothered by this.

Who gives something like that to Art Adams to draw -- especially if you know it’s going to be crammed into twenty-eight pages of story? There’s enough material here for at least a three-issue miniseries. In order to make everything fit, Adams has to resort to numerous multi-panel pages. Sometimes he packs over ten panels on to one page. Want those large, bold Adams drawings with insane levels of detail? Look elsewhere. Want to see Grunge hit on M, or Jubilee and Freefall’s trip to the mall, or Fairchild’s reaction to Chamber’s face? Too bad. Want to even see Emma Frost? Sorry, she’s inexplicably away, although having one less character to draw is probably a relief for Adams’ drawing arm.

The story does try to build up a rivalry between Banshee and Lynch, and portray Jamie as conflicted over what to do with his powers (he mistakenly believes Carlos was his friend and distrusts the heroes). Due to the ultra-compressed nature of the story, though, the small character moments don’t have any resonance. There’s simply no room for the characters to express any personality, or to do anything together, which is a shame. That’s what people wanted to see. No one bought either of these books for the plot, so the decision to go with such a dense plot that skimps over the characters was baffling.