IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: I love Gen13

Yes, it's true, and I'm not afraid to admidt it, I LOVE GEN13!

Sure, for the most part, even though it captured the young, fun, and hip spirit of youth, and had often times brilliant artwork (like J Scott Campbell), it was saddled with some mostly dreadful writing, and was essentially an X-Men riff. But hey, it was the X-Men done right, with cutting edge artwork, and amped up sex, and style to suit the teen themes. Not to mention, Adam Warren turned in some phenomenal scripts towards the end of the run, with his 2 issue fill in (before eventually taking over) that had one of my single favorite issues of all time, the writing litterally had me intoxicated.

So yeah, I love Gen13, unconditionally. I looked past it's faults, and beyond it's shortcomings, because I loved the concept, cast of characters, and what it aspired to so much. So when it was announced we were getting yet another relaunch, and with Gail Simone (who can write some really tweaked, offbeat stuff), and Talent Caldwell (a popular artist in the same vein as the original co-creator Campbell), I was pretty excited, and optomistic that it may get done right!

As we close in on the release, I've learned it's not just a relaunch, but a reimagining. I'd wondered how they were going to bring back the original cast, but I'd never heard it was by wiping away the previous series, so that has me a bit worried. Then Caldwell spoke with Newsarama.com recently about the book, and had some questionable comments about the original series, essentially admitting he was a fan, while somewhat dismissing it as T&A (as well as some other elements that I don't agree with). Now, Gen13 had T&A, and I can see folks dismissing it as such, but if you ever gave it a chance, or really knew the book, you know it wasn't about that, it had a lot going for it besides cheesecake. A whole forest for the trees scenario, that I think Super Real suffers from a bit. But hey, I like my comics loose, and sexy, with pretty art, it's true...

Anyway, I'm excited to see Gen13 back on the racks, regardless. It's one of the handfull of books that got me back into comics, I'll never forget picking up issue 2 of the regular series peeling back the cover and seeing the J Campbell splash page that seemed to just pop right out of the book! So, I'll always hold it in high regard, but mainly, I think it's a concept that's worth continuing, anxious to see if they can ever recapture the magic that I found in that issue, and I'm glad to see it's getting another shot, and eager to give it one myself!

Plus, I really love the new J Campbell cover for issue one!
:)
drool