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Generation X: Issues # 1 - # 4 Review |
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Written by Jordan Lurie
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Tuesday, 30 September 2008 |
 Foreword: Hey everybody, Jordan Lurie here writing this article in mid September; a month younger people tend to associate with going back to school. School is such an integral part of adolescence that the entertainment industry will sometimes revolve entire works of fiction on schoolyard drama. It was only a matter of time until the comic industry decided to create a school for super powered teenagers and thus the original X-men were born. Countless spin-offs later Generation X was released. Generation X was a 75-issue series introduced in the mid-90’s that was mostly known as a “New Mutants for the 90’s” comic. The New Mutants were a popular teenage team in the 80’s that graduated to become full-fledged X-men and now we currently have the Young X-men, a new group of mutant teenagers for the 21st Century. So what happened to Generation X? 1 member is on X-factor, 2 members are dead, 6 aren’t being used, and 2 are de-powered and on a very low-selling title. So what went wrong with the Children of the 90’s? Let’s try to find out as I review every issue of Generation X, broken down into story arcs. Now join me as I go back to school with Generation X.
Pre-school Summer Vacation: Before I delve into the series itself I should take a moment to talk about how the kids spent their summer vacation: fighting aliens in the Crossover in which they were introduced: The Phalanx Covenant. The crossover basically consisted of the alien race the Phalanx trying to figure out how to assimilate Generation X because they don’t understand the X gene. The story starts with Banshee (an X-man wandering around the mansion before finding out that the X-men were replaced by Phalanx clones of themselves. He assembles the only 3 mutants in the mansion: the youngest X-man Jubilee, house guest Emma Frost (who recently lost her students the Hellions to an evil villain from the future) and prisoner Sabretooth. They band together to save the next generation of mutants from the Phalanx and eventually form a rag-tag team that are able to send the Phalanx off the planet and all is well. This inspires Banshee and Emma to start a school for those young mutants to try to teach them how to control their powers.
 The
story itself is pretty light but it does do a good job of introducing
new characters and showing new sides of pre-existing characters. This
is the first time we see Emma Frost as a sympathetic character and
Banshee taking leadership of people he barely knows. X-men artists by
Joe Mad and Andy Kubert also solid deliver solid work even if the
dialogue and plot drag on a bit. The most important part of this
storyline is introducing the new characters for Generation X:
Monet St. Croix, “M”: A mutant whose power is pretty much being
perfect. She’s strong, telepathic, can fly along with being rich
beautiful and smart. But she does have an air of mystery around her.
For reasons unexplained at first she enjoys childish things like
climbing trees and coloring books, she also falls into a catatonic
state every once in a while.
Paige Guthrie, “Husk”: The sister of X-man Cannonball, she’s an
overachiever who tries to break the stereotypes that plague her because
she’s from the south. Her power is strange and frankly kind of
disgusting; she can shed off a layer of her skin to reveal a random
element underneath (metal, glass, etc.).
Angelo Espinosa, “Skin”: A Latino gang member from L.A. that has 6
extra feet of skin that he can manipulate. He’s the most cynical of the
group and always sees the world through a darker lens, but deep down he
clearly wants to change himself and the world for the better.
Everett Thomas, “Synch”: A normal kid from St. Louis who can tap into
the powers of any other mutant by extending a “sync aura” to them. He
doesn’t seem to have much flaws or an interesting back story, he’s
clearly not a main character but is very likeable and adds a good
balance to the team.
Clarice Ferguson was also a member of the team but sacrificed her life
so that the rest could live. She had pink skin and could open
teleportation portals. She was a member of the X-men in the Age of
Apocalypse and eventually became leader of the Exiles. Ironically she
became the most popular of these new kids.
Now let’s quickly run down the veterans:
Sean Cassidy, “Banshee”: Veteran X-man and cop with a sonic scream.
Always shunted into the back round and never really had a chance to
shine next to more popular characters like Wolverine, Cyclops and Storm
Emma Frost, “White Queen”: Former telepathic villain and horse murderer
(see the Firestar mini for details) who reformed after her students the
Hellions were killed.
Jubilation Lee, “Jubilee”: Youngest member of the X-men and sidekick to
Wolverine. She’s a typical 90’s mallrat who has the power to generate
fireworks from her fingers. She also holds the record for shortest
lived X-man spin-off series in 2004 (6 issues, baby!).
But enough on the past, summer is over and class is in session!
 Subject: Generation X #1-4
Course Syllabus:
Written By: Scott Lobdell, Penciled By: Chris Bachalo, Inked by: Mark
Buckingham Lettered by: Starkings & Comicraft, Colored by:
Buccellato & Electric Crayon, Edited by: Bob Harras,
Editor-in-chief: Tom DeFalco, Published by: Marvel Comics.
Generation X gets settled into their new school and pick up a new
student at the airport. The new guy is Jonothon Starsmore, “Chamber”,
an angsty English mutant whose power can only be described as having a
“bio-metric psionic bio-kinetic field” for a lower jaw. He can
communicate telepathically and is pretty upset by his whole situation.
When the kids try to pick him up at the airport they are attacked by a
guy called “Emplate” who feeds off of the bone marrow of mutants and
he’s hungry for Chamber. Generation X is able to stop him and they go
back home just in time for Gateway to show up and leave a mysterious
mutant and says “Penance”. The group is dumbfounded by Penance whose
skin is made of diamond and possesses claws on her hands. Oh yeah and
she can’t communicate orally or telepathically and Gen X. can’t get any
answers out of Gateway. After chilling out at the mansion Gen X. find
Penance has escaped from her holding cell. The team spread out to try
to find the girl before she hurts somebody. Eventually they find her
and Penance breaks Husk’s arm. After doing absolutely nothing, Chamber
calms Penance down with a corny speech about acceptance and everyone is
happy again (especially Skin who tries to get Husk to sleep with him,
without success). By the time Winter rolls around Generation X take a
field trip to Maine to help a mutant named Eliot that has taken his
class hostage and won’t release them until the school board lets him go
back to school (he was expelled for being ugly apparently). In Maine
they are attacked by the old X-factor villain the Orphan Maker. Gen X
are able to take the bad guy down but not all is won, Eliot
accidentally killed his teacher and Gen X learned he wasn’t a mutant,
just deformed. The story ends with reality turning into crystal to
signify the Age of Apocalypse.
Report Card: The first four issues of Generation X are solid but not
strong enough to receive an A. The strongest aspect of this book hands
down is the art; Chris Bachalo delivers some of the strongest art of
his career. From the character designs to the landscapes to the action
scenes everything looks unique and distinctive. Some scenes do look a
little chaotic but everything brings a certain energy that just grabs
you and leaves you wanting more. Scott Lobdell does good work with his
character interactions and making the team interesting. I was
especially amused with Husk and Skin playing Scrabble and Monet
fighting with Jubilee. But Lobdell’s plots suffer from decompression. I
was able to describe 4 issues in 1 paragraph and 2 of those issues were
dedicated mostly to a chase scene. Lobdell is good with setting up
future stories, he leaves you interested in the Penance mystery and
Monet’s origin (but unfortunately a future writer was left with these
stories unresolved). The first 4 issues of Generation X are good enough
for a passing grade but leave you wishing that a little more happened.
Grade: B+
 Mr.
Lurie’s Notes: Somebody once said “every story starts at the same
place: the beginning” well…duh. Before Generation X was released ads
were appearing in every X-book claiming this was going to be the
greatest X-book of the decade and Gen X was probably up there but in
the chaotic time that was the 90’s that wasn’t saying much. So far
there seems to be no evidence of why these characters failed to stick
when they were with the X-men. Every character has the potential to be
great in this book. The team is new, refreshing and experiencing the
world of the X-men for the first time. Maybe part of the problem was
that the kids already mastered their powers, or maybe the problem was
that their powers were “out there” and pretty crazy. I have a feeling
whatever the reason was why these characters ultimately failed will
probably become more evident when a new creative team comes on board
because Lobdell and Bachalo are doing a great job right now. Also I
should add this is the first time I’m reading these issues, I know a
little bit about some of the plots in the later issues but really I’ve
barely ever read some of these characters before and I already like
them.
Due Next Class: Gen X take their holiday vacation in an alternate
reality as a I review Generation Next, the AOA version of the team.
Then when that series is over Gen X take a trip to New York to face
Gene Nation and 2 of the students hook up. Whoooo, see ya next time and
be prepared to take notes!
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 October 2008 )
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