I really hate being confused when I sit down to seriously read my funny books.
I know there are worst problems plaguing our planet. Furthermore I know me griping about it won't fix it. That said, when I set out to do something, I set out to do it properly and correctly. This is why I get my heart broken so frequently by the hobby that I love, and why I should probably do, I don't know, literally anything else with my time besides read 90s comic books. But as a popular cartoon philosopher espoused, "Aye yam what aye yam, and that's all that aye yam!", and who am I to argue with spinach-swilling sailor men?
The conundrum plaguing us me today, loyal 90s comic nutters, is this:
What The F$@% Is Up With Gen 13 0, 1/2, and -1?!
If you hate logic, 90s comics are not for you. You try to understand them, try to appeal to their better nature, and they treat you like customers treat @blewitt's bathroom (so . . . much . . . poop . . . ). Nevertheless, I persist in my belief that despite all evidence to the contrary, I can reach them. I can fix them. I can help them shed that cocoon and blossom into the beautiful works of art they never knew they were until I came along.
It's not their fault. I just, you know, keep upsetting them from time to time. I nag too much after they've had a long day at the office, and sometimes when they're around I find myself running into walls or slipping in the bathtub. Yes, I have Stockholm Syndrome. You would too, if you made these miserable devils your life. I've no one to blame but myself.
So here's the 411. Between the end of the limited series and the start of the monthly regular series, Wildstorm published two different, oddly-numbered books. These dong demons right here:
Those are Gen 13 1/2, and Gen 13 0, and they're proof you should never write "later" stories before your "currently" ones have concluded.
Both of these books show what happened between the end of the mini-series and the start of the monthly series, but Gen 13 1/2 is a mess of continuity problems, because it was created the same time as issue 1 of the mini-series, and printed the same month as issue 2. Why is this a problem? Because Sarah Rainmaker wasn't introduced until issue 2, but she's missing from 1/2, creating a problem the creators have to wallpaper over in subsequent issues.
The read head-scratcher of all this is that Gen 13 #2 wasn't Rainmaker's first appearance in the Wildstorn universe chronology. She first showed up in Stormwatch #8 as a target the Stormwatch team is ordered to bring back to her tribe's reservation. In the issue's conclusion, Rainmaker is returned to her Apache relatives, only for another character to show up and tell Stormwatch to hand Rainmaker over or else. With no choice in the matter, Sarah gets handed off. Though they aren't named, the group taking Rainmaker is International Operations, who have identified her as both a Gen Active, and the offspring of someone from the Gen-12 program. Who could that be?
"Who indeed?" he remarked, with a wild cackle. Guess you'll have to keep following me, reading and upvoting every post until the grand reveal! Oh, who am I kidding -- you're already on Yahoo! (only 90s kids remember Yahoo!) looking up the answer. Fine. Just don't spoil it for anyone else. Deal?
While issue 0 was released as a standard buy-it-off-the-rack comic, if you wanted a copy of 1/2, you needed to use the order form printed in one specific issue of Wizard magazine, which was only valid for a limited span of time. In exchange, your issue came in one of Wizard's own branded, protective sleeves along with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Jim Lee. Enough people complained about not being able to get their own copy of 1/2 via this method that in 1997 Wildstorm re-printed the book as Gen 13 #-1. No wonder the US ranks so low in global mathematical literacy: Image Comics told us all that -1 = 1/2 twenty-four years ago, and we believed them.
So, if for some reason you're trying to collect all the issues and read along, be aware that 1/2 and -1 are the same damn thing, neither one is necessary to understand what happens in any of the other Gen 13 books, and they both ignore Rainmaker entirely. While Gen 13 0 is also an interlude issue, it features a ton of character backstory and development, giving us an insight into each of these kids' lives before Project Genesis. You don't need to read any of these issues, and can skip straight from #5 limited to #1 monthly if that's your thing.
With that out of the way, I'll deliver write-ups on 1/2, -1, and 0 for the next two installments of "The Great Gen 13 Re-Read", then we'll be all caught up and ready to hit issue #1 of the monthly series. Hold on to your butts!
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