History
Gen 13 is a team of Gen-Active teenage super-heroes. They are the progeny of Gen 12, also known as Team 7. Burnout is the son of John Lynch, Fairchild and Freefall are the daughters of Alex Fairchild, Rainmaker is the daughter of Stephen Callahan, and Grunge is the son of Phil Chang.
How They Came to Be[]
- Main article: Gen 13: How They Came to Be
The members of Gen 13 were brought together by Ivana Baiul of I.O.. They were told that Genesis was a government internship, and brought to a compound in Death Valley. Bobby Lane, Caitlin Fairchild, Eddie Chang, Roxy Spaulding, and Sarah Rainmaker were put through tests to activate their latent Gen-Active powers.[1] They escaped when they realize the government's true intentions, and take the names Burnout, Fairchild, Freefall, Grunge, and Rainmaker. Bliss and Threshold capture them again, taking them back to be tortured.[2] Fairchild helps the others escape while the building is attacked by the monster Pitt.[3] John Lynch helps them escape, revealing that he was a member of Team 7 and knew their parents.[4] Threshold prevents their escape, as he is the most powerful Gen 13 and wants to build an army of superhumans. Ivana escapes by helicopter as the facility explodes. Lynch has his Black Hammers drive away Threshold, and follows the children to help them escape from the government.[5]
Starting Over[]
- Main article: Gen 13: Starting Over
The group retreated to La Jolla, California, and officially formed as the group Gen¹³. They opposed IO and their ultra violent counterpart DV8. (Gen¹³ loosely refers to the 13th generation of Americans. Team 7 had been part of a project called Gen 12.) The team spent a lot of time delving into the past of Team 7 to learn more about themselves. Fairchild and Freefall learned they were half-sisters and Lynch was revealed to be Burnout's father. Also during this time, Freefall and Grunge began to date, while Rainmaker revealed herself to be bisexual. The team was caught in an explosion of a 6 megaton bomb and believed to be dead. Fairchild was the only survivor and mentored a new Gen¹³ team, effectively taking Lynch's role. However, this team existed in what is later revealed to be an alternate reality which was similar to the mainstream Wildstorm universe except for its point of divergence, the last issue of Volume 1. At the end of volume 2, the rest of the original Gen¹³ team was revealed to be alive and, after a little time-travel to avoid the detonation that 'killed' them, the reunited group returned to the mainstream Wildstorm universe.
Worldstorm[]
Tabula Rasa created series of superhuman beings for military and entertainment purposes. Five of their creations were placed around the United States and provided with different lives. Caitlin Fairchild was placed in Portland, Oregon, where she was raised by her loving parents. Bobby Lane was placed in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he bounced around the foster-care and juvenile hall systems, until he found peace through reggae music. Percy Chang was placed in Seattle, Washington, where he rebelled against the pleasant schoolboy image his parents tried to cultivate, going by Eddie and taking up skateboarding and karate. Roxy Spaulding was the angry, rebellious youth raised in San Antonio, Texas by her mother, Maxine. Sarah Rainmaker was raised by her parents on a Native American reservation in Peridot, Arizona.
Dr. Peter Cross activated the Gen13 project, during which time, he order the assassinations of the kids' parents. The Lane and Fairchild parents were killed, the Rainmaker parents committed suicide, the Chang parents fled, and Maxine Spaulding fought back.[6] All the children were captured and brought to Tabula Rasa headquarters, where they banded together and escaped.[7] Tabula Rasa sent Gen11 to reclaim the escaped teenagers, but they only managed to reclaim Eddie.[8] [9] Eddie's team mates returned to the compound, where they rescued him and witnessed Dr. Cross' destruction.[10][11]
Due to their actions, the base had become extremely unstable, so the teens had to escape through a teleportation device. It took them to a kind of safari, where genetically engineered dinosaurs and monsters were the prey. Caitlin got separated from her team, and had to adapt to the extreme conditions to survive. She and the team were reunited, and they made their way toward freedom. [12]
The team headed toward Tranquility, Oregon, where metahumans are the norm. On their way, Roxy steals from a posh grocery store, bringing the police to them. They evade the police without much difficulty, but then they are tracked down by three members of the Authority. The Authority wanted to bring in Gen13 because their very existence threatened the Multiverse. The Authority clearly had the upper hand in the battle between Gen13 and their would-be captors, but Roxy managed to issue a plea that reached Midnighter. He left and took Apollo and Swift with him.[13] The super-powered teens continued their journey, stopping to spend some time at a farm.
While they were at the farm, John Lynch found them and constantly surveyed them. When Maxine Spaulding appeared to save her daughter, Lynch shot her, thinking she posed a danger to the children. Caitlin attacked Lynch, and together, the team managed to pull the information from him they needed. He confirmed what the Authority said, that their being, including his own, disrupted reality. He gave the kids a Jeep with a glove box full of money, and he and Maxine urged the kids to make it to Tranquility while he and Maxine keep the ratkillers at bay.[14]
While in Tranquility, the team runs into trouble with some local teens, the Liberty Snots.[15] But their troubles with the Snots seemed trivial when the Authoriteens, a version of the Authority from a reality in which there are no adults or mentors, attacked. The Authoriteens, like their adult counterparts, wanted to remove the disruptive existence of Gen13.[16] Eddie absorbs the matter decomposer, and strikes the Authoriteen's most powerful member, Kid Apollo, with it, disintegrating him.[17]
Burdened with the knowledge that he had killed someone, Eddie sank into a deep depression. His teammates did all they could to lift it, to no avail. Even when Gen13 had to defend themselves from evil clones under Megan's control, Eddie refused to fight back, until Sarah got through to him, and he came to her defense. Roxy managed to convince the clones of the error of their ways, but Megan was unable to live with herself and what she had done, so she killed herself and the clones.[18]
World's End[]
- Main article: World's End
See Also
Recommended Reading
Links and References
- Gen 13 at the DC Database
- Gen 13 at the Image Comics Database
- Wildstorm Homepage
- Wildstorm at International Hero