Gen 13 created by Jim Lee, Brandon Choi, and J. Scott Campbell
First Appearance: Deathmate Black

Resource:

• Gen 13 Series Index
• List of Gen 13 Characters

History:

International Operations started "government internship" for gifted youths, taking place in an isolated training facility. The project was revealed to be a gathering of the gen-active progeny of Team 7.

Almost all of the Gen13 are the results of International Operations' Project: Genesis program. Its subjects were the children of IO's Team 7, though some, like members of Ivana's Dv8, were the results of controlled experiments in releasing the Gen Factor into populated areas.

A small group of program candidates broke free with the help of former IO director John Lynch and adopted the name Gen13 as their callsign. The name Gen13 comes from the members being a thirteenth generation Americans.

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!

Publishing History

The teens were originally invited to take part in a government project, but when they learned that the project was actually a prison-like testing ground on "Gen-Active" teens, they made their escape, but not before they "manifested" superhuman powers, and they were labelled dangerous fugitives. Their only hope was to rely on each other to fight their foes and unveil the personal secrets that linked them to Team 7 and International Operations.
After a very successful run, co-creator and illustrator J. Scott Campbell handed the reins of Gen¹³ over to other creative teams, and moved onto his own new series Danger Girl.

Following the run of Choi and Campbell were John Arcudi and Gary Frank. Their realistic style, both in writing and art, were too drastic of a change for most fans who had appreciated the title's more fantastical elements. Following their run, Scott Lobdell returned the title to its less serious, more sexual roots, but still fans did not receive the title well.

After Lobdell's run, Adam Warren was assigned to the title. He had previously proven himself writing two miniseries using Gen¹³ characters (Grunge: The Movie and Magical Drama Queen Roxy) as well as a two issue fill-in piece featuring a pop idol who threatened to take over the world with a catchy song. Warren's run was well-received by fans and critics, but sales did not support the title.

Despite outrageous story arcs and many artist collaborations, the popularity of the book dwindled to the point where Wildstorm decided to blow up the entire team with a 6 megaton bomb (#76, July 2002). This served as the catalyst to revamp the series with a new number one issue written by Chris Claremont with pencils by Ale Garza. This title featured an all new team mentored by Caitlin Fairchild, and spawned a spin-off series 21 Down. However, this title was cancelled after barely a year. The final issue of the series revealed that the original team was, in fact, still alive, and that the new series had taken place in an alternate dimension which had in some fashion crossed over with the known continuity.

During the height of its popularity, Gen¹³ spawned two spinoff books, DV8 and Gen¹³ Bootleg as well as a number of one-shots and mini-series. The team also starred in crossovers with other comic book characters such as Superman, Spider-Man, the Maxx, Monkeyman and O'Brien, two crossovers with the Marvel Comics teen hero team Generation X and a crossover with The Fantastic Four. At one point in the early years, Wildstorm and DC were planning a teamup between the team and Batman. However, due to unknown reasons, the crossover never happened, though J Scott Campbell did create artwork showing Fairchild, Grunge, Roxy, and Batman in a promotional image.

WorldStorm
Rebooted in October 2006, the current publication of the title Gen¹³ (vol. 4) written by Gail Simone with art from Talent Caldwell, bears no continuity ties to previous volumes or series.

World's End
The series was involved in the Armageddon crossover event and then re-started again in 2008 with a new creative team, Scott Beatty and Mike Huddleston, as part of World's End.

Ben Abernathy on the new creative team and direction:

With GEN13 21 coming out today, I thought I'd talk about the approach we took with this series, way different than any other World's End title. When we started thinking about how to best show the kids in a post-apocalyptic Earth, we decided they should come upon the scene fresh, not having survived the various horrors. It would be pretty grim to tell the story of 17-year-olds who'd survived Armageddon and had lost all their youthful optimism. So the question was—how do we get them to World's End without them even being aware of it?

As everyone, I'm sure, knows—at the end of GEN13 20 (which shipped in May) the kids were seen chasing a lone Ratcatcher into an I.O. teleporter, with the intent of finally "taking the fight to I.O." Being all wrapped up in Tabula Rasa's last-gasp "15 Minutes" project, they couldn't know that the Number of the Beast bunker had been breached…or that the Reapers launched a counter-attack at the same time. When the kids exited the Coney Island end of the teleporter, it happened to be the exact moment when the High killed a Reaper over the East River—the flash of the nuclear explosion drove the confused teens back into the teleporter…and the subsequent emp blast knocked out the teleporter and all electrical devices in the five boroughs—trapping the kids on an emergency server!

And now we have GEN13 21…months later, a crafty I.O. employee manages to get the devastated Manhattan office's electrical systems on-line and guess who jumps out of the teleporter, thinking only a minute or two has passed?

Bringing this new vision of the classic teen team to life are the extraordinary Scott Beatty and Mike Huddleston. Scott's familiar to all as the guy that co-wrote WILDSTORM: REVELATIONS and destroyed the WildStorm Universe in NUMBER OF THE BEAST. He's got the spirit and voice of these characters down pat and is going to be doing some really cool things as the series unfolds. And enough can't be said about WSU-newcomer Mike Huddleston. Mike's been a star in the biz for years…I think I first became aware of his work when he took over HARLEY QUINN at DC and was thrown for a loop by the style change (as Terry Dodson started that book). Intrigued, I followed his work at Oni Press and his subsequent forays into the DCU and Vertigo. Finally, I had the perfect opportunity to offer him work—I contacted him regarding a FRIDAY THE 13TH story that resulted in one of the more memorable arcs on the book. Interesting—the New Line horror line yielded another artist to World's End…hmmm. It was his approach to the young hikers (who were ultimately slaughtered) that made me think he'd be a good fit for GEN13. He's got a very unique look and approach to his work that I thought would really shake things up on the title.

Controversy
Gen¹³ was subjected to controversy early in its run mainly due to J. Scott Campbell’s depiction of the female form. Although comic books of the time were well known for exaggerating the feminine form to physically improbable standards, Campbell was particularly risqué in that stories often involved the main character, Caitlin Fairchild, a young college student, wearing as little clothing as possible, without causing the book to be forced to show a warning of its content. Sexual content was also depicted overtly in the script (usually written by Brandon Choi) including unintentional groping, intentional voyeurism, and drunken coupling.

In the second issue of the ongoing series, the character of Sarah Rainmaker was revealed as being a lesbian. Criticism came from all sides over this issue. Many suggested that this was entirely conceived to titillate male readers while the following issue’s letter pages were filled with letters protesting that lesbianism was not appropriate for comic books. Meanwhile, critics from the gay community criticized Rainmaker's portrayal as a flighty lesbian when, in the next few issues, she made out with her male teammate Burnout while drunk. Rainmaker was later revealed to be bisexual.

The series also received some controversy from the fans when it was made known that a panel showing Sarah Rainmaker sharing an open mouth kiss with another woman was replaced with one of a tepid kiss on the forehead. However, J. Scott Campbell has commented on several occasions that the editorial move was a suggestion, not overt censorship, and he agreed with the editor that the original version of the kiss did not suit the story.

News

• [Newsarama] The Simone Files IV: Gen 13 (01/31/2007)
• [Newsarama]: Bringing the Kids Back: Talent Caldwell talks Gen 13 (07/25/2006)

Sources

• MySpace: WildStorm