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Gen¹³ #mini
Gen¹³: Who They are and How They Came to Be...
Follows the adventures of five ordinary teenagers who find themselves as unwitting pawns in a covert government experiment.
144 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1994
2 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Brandon Choi
252 books17 followersBrandon Choi is an American comic book writer who wrote several titles for Wildstorm Comics with his friend Jim Lee.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 21, 2009
What can I say about GEN 13?
I guess it's my guilty little pleasure. I was in high school right around the time this book came out. I loved the idea of Image comics--with its larger than life art and characters. I didn't really dig the MTV vibe so much, but I did appreciate the fact that none of the characters tried to imitate gansters like most of the people I went to high school with. Mostly, I was in love with Cambell's illustrations and the idea of a strong and brilliant female leader to superhero team (Caitland Fairchild). Caitland was also the "strong guy" of the team, which I thought was a bit interesting. The book's campy feel was also a plus.
Now that I find myself reading stuff like The Boys and Watchmen--the anti-hero books--it makes me appreciate just how juevenile my tastes were (and are) but also how great it is to return to the fun stuff.
I guess it's my guilty little pleasure. I was in high school right around the time this book came out. I loved the idea of Image comics--with its larger than life art and characters. I didn't really dig the MTV vibe so much, but I did appreciate the fact that none of the characters tried to imitate gansters like most of the people I went to high school with. Mostly, I was in love with Cambell's illustrations and the idea of a strong and brilliant female leader to superhero team (Caitland Fairchild). Caitland was also the "strong guy" of the team, which I thought was a bit interesting. The book's campy feel was also a plus.
Now that I find myself reading stuff like The Boys and Watchmen--the anti-hero books--it makes me appreciate just how juevenile my tastes were (and are) but also how great it is to return to the fun stuff.
July 21, 2020
This collects the five issue series that introduced Gen13, the team that became wildly popular and somewhat controversial in the monthly magazine that followed this origin story. I was a big fan back in the day, particularly of the Gail Simone run, and this is the foundation for all that came later. The characters are a colorful and over the top lot. The story is clever and told with considerable good humor. It can be seen as something of a parody of some Justice or X teams, but I prefer to view it as homage with a wildly individualistic reverence and enthusiasm. Sure, the young women are dressed revealingly and are unrealistically proportioned (as are the young men, it should be noted), but the same thing can be said about most popular entertainments. It's a very well written book with likable characters facing challenges and problems with both doubts and determination, which is more than enough. The art is vibrant and nuanced with rich backgrounds. Caitlin is both the main brain and brawn of the band, a role she has to play despite looking like a hyper-inflated Barbie doll; she didn't ask for any of that, but she deals, as we all must. For me Gen13's not a guilty pleasure; I never felt at all guilty.
November 26, 2014
Oh, for god's sake... Did I use to read this?
I mean, I have positive, Weapon-X style memories of humor and breasts and excellence... But then again that was the nineties: when I read Wizard Magazine like it was the word of John the Baptist, second edition, and Liefeld taught me that men and women were fifteen feet tall with eleven bendable joints in each leg.
You punks don't know how important Jim Lee was to us: he was the legitimacy that turned Image from a middle finger at Marvel and DC to an honest-to-god enterprise. Without J. Scott Campbell's perverted, big-eyed scrawls, you crotch fruit wouldn't have your precious "The Walking Dead".
Ugh.
I'm sorry: I think I'm trying too hard here to justify this particular aspect of my childhood. Let me get back to the point. Yeah.
So... Gen-13.
That was a thing that happened.
It wasn't bad, really: even reading it again after twenty years, it has its appeal. I mean, you lusted after Fairchild and laughed at Grunge's jokes (they didn't really kick in all that well until the unlimited run) and some of us even patted ourselves on the back for supporting a comic that contained an openly gay character (even if it was the sexy, hold-your-breath-and-let's-experiment-because-this-is-college style gay).
Look, if you're younger or more cause-head inclined, I understand why you hate me for giving this even a single star above one, but it was a different time. All the comics had variant, super-collectible covers, and the girls were eighteen feet tall, and all I wanted was something colorful and exciting to keep my mind off of middle and high school awkwardness.
It wasn't all bad. I mean, I probably wouldn't have discovered the more abstract work of Sam Keith or Jeff Smith if it wasn't for this boner-bait.
Gen-13 was that dweeby, uncomfortable moment in our Nerdling history where our picture books were just unironically and unapologetically stereotypical. Between games of Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego we used to stare at books like these until the part in our brain that begged us to find a girl with a nice personality was reduced to a withered, dried-out husk.
So, in the age where Meat Loaf was attempting a comeback, I liked this book. And the fact that I'm not particularly proud of that means (to me, at least) that this is the sort of book that Nerd Scholars should pick up in an attempt to better understand how decadent the nineties were to a niche group that hadn't yet achieved some level of mainstream popularity due to people like Judd Apatow and Joss Whedon.
I gave this book five stars in 1995. Let's just take two of those stars away now that it's 2014 and do our best to avoid calling to attention the fact that it's been nearly two decades since Caitlin Fairchild made our pants lurch.
I mean, I have positive, Weapon-X style memories of humor and breasts and excellence... But then again that was the nineties: when I read Wizard Magazine like it was the word of John the Baptist, second edition, and Liefeld taught me that men and women were fifteen feet tall with eleven bendable joints in each leg.
You punks don't know how important Jim Lee was to us: he was the legitimacy that turned Image from a middle finger at Marvel and DC to an honest-to-god enterprise. Without J. Scott Campbell's perverted, big-eyed scrawls, you crotch fruit wouldn't have your precious "The Walking Dead".
Ugh.
I'm sorry: I think I'm trying too hard here to justify this particular aspect of my childhood. Let me get back to the point. Yeah.
So... Gen-13.
That was a thing that happened.
It wasn't bad, really: even reading it again after twenty years, it has its appeal. I mean, you lusted after Fairchild and laughed at Grunge's jokes (they didn't really kick in all that well until the unlimited run) and some of us even patted ourselves on the back for supporting a comic that contained an openly gay character (even if it was the sexy, hold-your-breath-and-let's-experiment-because-this-is-college style gay).
Look, if you're younger or more cause-head inclined, I understand why you hate me for giving this even a single star above one, but it was a different time. All the comics had variant, super-collectible covers, and the girls were eighteen feet tall, and all I wanted was something colorful and exciting to keep my mind off of middle and high school awkwardness.
It wasn't all bad. I mean, I probably wouldn't have discovered the more abstract work of Sam Keith or Jeff Smith if it wasn't for this boner-bait.
Gen-13 was that dweeby, uncomfortable moment in our Nerdling history where our picture books were just unironically and unapologetically stereotypical. Between games of Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego we used to stare at books like these until the part in our brain that begged us to find a girl with a nice personality was reduced to a withered, dried-out husk.
So, in the age where Meat Loaf was attempting a comeback, I liked this book. And the fact that I'm not particularly proud of that means (to me, at least) that this is the sort of book that Nerd Scholars should pick up in an attempt to better understand how decadent the nineties were to a niche group that hadn't yet achieved some level of mainstream popularity due to people like Judd Apatow and Joss Whedon.
I gave this book five stars in 1995. Let's just take two of those stars away now that it's 2014 and do our best to avoid calling to attention the fact that it's been nearly two decades since Caitlin Fairchild made our pants lurch.
December 13, 2017
No guilt here *shrugs*.
June 27, 2021
When I realized two of my favorite names in the industry were involved in this early 90s project, I couldn't let that chance slip. I've heard about this title before, but I had no idea Jim Lee and J. Scott Campbell were the main creators of this Image series. Better (and strangely enough) yet, Lee worked as as the main writer and co-creator artist, being Campbell the one entirely focused on the pencils. I also had in mind this is early in their respective indie careers, and while Lee had already a complete artistic experience, I wandered why kind of writing traits he'll use as storyteller, since I'm already familiar on Campbell as an artist, however, I also felt the need to check this, since it is quite weird to see a comic book fully draw by him in the interiors, so that already grants this a unique value, if not for the story or the title itself, as a collecting acquisition.
When I think of Image Comics, I think of this early 90s extravagant era in which heroes were drawn excessively muscled and sculped, with guns as large as their bodies and incredibly attractive and shaped female characters, revealing way too much. It is a matter of "love it or hate it" aesthetic situation. Image was the strongest representative of this trending back in the day, since one of the co-creators of the company was Rob Liefeld, who pretty much came up with this style in the late 80s, and it became so popular despite the mockery his over-proportions might've caused years later, so there is no wonder why Campbell's style reassembled that much of Liefeld's. As for Lee's story, it is standard; quite "superhuman-espionage" related, seeing in similar subjects such as the Youngblood title. The story introduces us to the character of Caitlin Fairchild, a college student who suddenly is recruited by the government in order to be part as a member of a selected group of young people, which in reality is related to the secret project of the Genesis Program, in order to become super soldiers. As a quick read, this is simply as good as it could get; generic superhuman plot, but Lee manages to keep it dated and interesting, since some of the traits are entirely 90s-related, even some character designs, but it also goes for plenty of fun. The villains are also quite average and over-the-top, but that is simply a common theme in comic books, specially for he date. But at the same time there are a few turns of events, and a couple of decent twists to engage and wonder for more. The team members are pretty similar to others, specially from titles such as the X-Men, X-Factor or even X-Force, so the character department could be considered one of the weakest elements of this. You have your bad-ass girls, your leader who tries to proof herself better, your big brute and your "radical" pretty boy.
I can see why people might criticize this, or even trash it straight forward, since it's a product of it's time, completely, so at the end of the day it depends on one's perspective whether to accept it or simply let it aside. As for me, I do enjoy this simpler-brainless, colorful comic book stories in which action is entirely the goal, as for some glorification of things nowadays rejected, such as dated slags, big representation of cool weaponry, and, why not?, Some sexy winks at some characters, complemented by some excess in detail and shape. It might suit perfectly for the needs of a teenager who looks for some "cool bad-ass" action with kinky imagery, and for being that, I find myself enjoying of a flawed and dated relic of simpler and more obvious days.
When I think of Image Comics, I think of this early 90s extravagant era in which heroes were drawn excessively muscled and sculped, with guns as large as their bodies and incredibly attractive and shaped female characters, revealing way too much. It is a matter of "love it or hate it" aesthetic situation. Image was the strongest representative of this trending back in the day, since one of the co-creators of the company was Rob Liefeld, who pretty much came up with this style in the late 80s, and it became so popular despite the mockery his over-proportions might've caused years later, so there is no wonder why Campbell's style reassembled that much of Liefeld's. As for Lee's story, it is standard; quite "superhuman-espionage" related, seeing in similar subjects such as the Youngblood title. The story introduces us to the character of Caitlin Fairchild, a college student who suddenly is recruited by the government in order to be part as a member of a selected group of young people, which in reality is related to the secret project of the Genesis Program, in order to become super soldiers. As a quick read, this is simply as good as it could get; generic superhuman plot, but Lee manages to keep it dated and interesting, since some of the traits are entirely 90s-related, even some character designs, but it also goes for plenty of fun. The villains are also quite average and over-the-top, but that is simply a common theme in comic books, specially for he date. But at the same time there are a few turns of events, and a couple of decent twists to engage and wonder for more. The team members are pretty similar to others, specially from titles such as the X-Men, X-Factor or even X-Force, so the character department could be considered one of the weakest elements of this. You have your bad-ass girls, your leader who tries to proof herself better, your big brute and your "radical" pretty boy.
I can see why people might criticize this, or even trash it straight forward, since it's a product of it's time, completely, so at the end of the day it depends on one's perspective whether to accept it or simply let it aside. As for me, I do enjoy this simpler-brainless, colorful comic book stories in which action is entirely the goal, as for some glorification of things nowadays rejected, such as dated slags, big representation of cool weaponry, and, why not?, Some sexy winks at some characters, complemented by some excess in detail and shape. It might suit perfectly for the needs of a teenager who looks for some "cool bad-ass" action with kinky imagery, and for being that, I find myself enjoying of a flawed and dated relic of simpler and more obvious days.
July 16, 2019
Still 5 star. So many memories of when I was big into comics.
October 7, 2019
Ugh.
Read for TLP
Read for TLP
November 4, 2019
Part of what made 1994 the best year ever.
August 23, 2020
Bad beginning.....glad I was reading the graphic novels in reverse otherwise I don't think I would have continued after reading this one.
August 29, 2020
I will forever love this! One of my all-time favorites!
December 2, 2022
Vintage 90's.
August 31, 2025
This can be appreciated for the 90's time capsule that it is.
September 5, 2025
My guilty pleasure comic book from Image Comics in the mid-90’s.
October 24, 2025
Libro de historietas con ISBN propio. Vieja colección Libros Image.
November 25, 2016
Released at a time when new Image titles were literally a dime a dozen, Gen-13 quickly jumped ahead of the pack to become one of the hottest comics around.
Gen-13 (originally titled Gen-X before Marvel's lawyers stepped in) was the first teen hero title in creator Jim Lee's Wildstorm Universe. All Wildstorm titles tie in to the saga of Team 7, an elite military unit who were unwittingly given super powers by government orders. The men of Team 7 were known as Gen-12, and Gen-13 features their offspring.
Like their fathers, the stars of Gen-13 (Fairchild, Freefall, Burnout, Rainmaker, and Grunge) all had their powers activated by a secret government agency. This trade paperback details the team's origins and their escape from government control. Gen-13 isn't too far removed from the early Lee/Kirby X-Men story - 5 teenagers with powers they never asked for, fighting for their lives under the guidance of an older mentor. In this case, the role of Professor Xavier is played by former Team 7 commander Jack Lynch, who I always thought was one of the more interesting Wildstorm characters.
The story may be pretty basic, but the characters are interesting and the dialogue is fresh (at least it was in 1993). The real highlight is the artwork, which was provided by newcomer (and future superstar) J. Scott Campbell. Campbell's dynamic style was bold and exciting, and he could draw stunning female characters like no one else.
Gen-13 became a massive hit for Wildstorm, and it all starts here. This trade paperback collects the entire 5-issue Gen-13 limited series, plus some sketchbook material by Campbell and Lee.
Gen-13 (originally titled Gen-X before Marvel's lawyers stepped in) was the first teen hero title in creator Jim Lee's Wildstorm Universe. All Wildstorm titles tie in to the saga of Team 7, an elite military unit who were unwittingly given super powers by government orders. The men of Team 7 were known as Gen-12, and Gen-13 features their offspring.
Like their fathers, the stars of Gen-13 (Fairchild, Freefall, Burnout, Rainmaker, and Grunge) all had their powers activated by a secret government agency. This trade paperback details the team's origins and their escape from government control. Gen-13 isn't too far removed from the early Lee/Kirby X-Men story - 5 teenagers with powers they never asked for, fighting for their lives under the guidance of an older mentor. In this case, the role of Professor Xavier is played by former Team 7 commander Jack Lynch, who I always thought was one of the more interesting Wildstorm characters.
The story may be pretty basic, but the characters are interesting and the dialogue is fresh (at least it was in 1993). The real highlight is the artwork, which was provided by newcomer (and future superstar) J. Scott Campbell. Campbell's dynamic style was bold and exciting, and he could draw stunning female characters like no one else.
Gen-13 became a massive hit for Wildstorm, and it all starts here. This trade paperback collects the entire 5-issue Gen-13 limited series, plus some sketchbook material by Campbell and Lee.
April 21, 2015
Common misconception, the story is actually "written" by JIM LEE and BRANDON CHOI.
J SCOTT CAMPBELL is the artist w/ ALEX GARNER's inks, and JOE CHIODO's colors.
The artwork is beautiful, heavily stylized. J Scott Campbell is what I would call a Jim Lee descendent with a whiff of Japan. I'm very much a fan of his work.
The Inks are classy. Colors are top notch for the 90's.
The story is absolute cheese but humorous. I always took it as a spoof on superhero teams, specifically X-MEN. If that wasn't what the team was going for then I'm really sorry, guys! haha
It really is a fun comic though, with classic Stan Lee and Chris Claremont influence, obviously rubbing off on Jim Lee, not to mention everyone else who EVER picked up a comic in those days.
The book definitely seems outdated if you can't appreciate the humor. I'd recommend it to any light hearted person though who can appreciate the 90's.
J SCOTT CAMPBELL is the artist w/ ALEX GARNER's inks, and JOE CHIODO's colors.
The artwork is beautiful, heavily stylized. J Scott Campbell is what I would call a Jim Lee descendent with a whiff of Japan. I'm very much a fan of his work.
The Inks are classy. Colors are top notch for the 90's.
The story is absolute cheese but humorous. I always took it as a spoof on superhero teams, specifically X-MEN. If that wasn't what the team was going for then I'm really sorry, guys! haha
It really is a fun comic though, with classic Stan Lee and Chris Claremont influence, obviously rubbing off on Jim Lee, not to mention everyone else who EVER picked up a comic in those days.
The book definitely seems outdated if you can't appreciate the humor. I'd recommend it to any light hearted person though who can appreciate the 90's.
January 12, 2010
A promising beginning that fell short. The team of super humans is not a new concept, but that issue was overcome nicely. It's the execution that was somewhat lacking. The story was all over the place, and I'm still not sure what some of the team members can do or why the teenagers don't have the same trouble the parents had with their powers. And I have no idea where the alien came from or who the kid is--It seems like they're important to the story, but poof! they're gone. Strange.
August 6, 2016
Cómo me entretuvo Gen¹³ en estos primeros y descontracturados números, que en su momento leí en revistas de Ediciones Vid (y marco en el tomo español por aproximación, claro). Lástima que cuando se hizo serie regular enseguida le empezaron a meter crossovers y me aburrió. Pero aunque en retrospectiva puedo ver que no era la gran cosa, creo que fue un buen comic para adolescentes de los 90s.
August 24, 2010
Gen13 was pretty popular in the 90s (I think), but these first five issues haven't aged well. The creators were obviously influenced (in part) by manga, but the storytelling and artwork don't have the sophistication of even a low-level shonen series. I'm guessing the creative team got better over the years. But this first outing is a total mess.
October 31, 2013
Jeugdsentiment. Als ik een persoonlijke tijdscapsule van de jaren 90 had moeten samenstellen, dan zaten de eerste Comics van Gen13 erbij. Juist dat het nu zo gedateerd aandoet hoort bij de charme die ook de jaren 90 leuk maakten.
February 22, 2014
Its a decent book. Only bought it to see Jim Lee's early works, nice drawings. A group of special kids developing special powers and somehow all of them related well with each other. Don't expect much from the plot
March 15, 2007
A lesbian superhero, clothes that barely fit sexy women, quick witty humor and battlescenes: I loved this comic collection when I was a post-pubescent teen, and guilty-ly enough, I still do.
July 12, 2010
This one has potential to be an interesting series.
September 1, 2016
Great art; dialogue and narration right out of campy 1960s Stan Lee with an incredible amount of cliched dialogue. Everything is explained and re-explained.
September 6, 2016
I like the version by Gail Simone better
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews