review by justin anderson

the overview: This is another one of those intercompany crossover titles, folks. In case anyone wants to leave, now. Okay. Good. Spider-Man meets Wildstorm comic's Gen 13. Yeah, I'm not too thrilled either. At one point, Wizard hyped Gen 13 like it was the best new comic out there. I never got into it when it came out. I was discovering Carnage, Dark Horse's original Mask title, and a few others, decidedly a different set of comics. Now, I'm beginning to show an interest, but still, not a hardcore fan of the series.

Basically, the series has a few similarities to Generation X, but not many (they did have 2 crossovers with Generation X, though). For those unfamiliar, they're basically a mutant team, but received their powers from government experimentation.

the plot: The book begins with shots of Spidey getting a severe beating above a rock concert, where the Gen 13 kids are hanging out. Knocked down from the rafters, he's saved by Freefall's gravity controlling abilities, and is recognized. The three (Freefall, Grunge, Fairchild, Rainmaker), follow him. He's being attacked by a new villain, named Glider, who has an assortment of weapons, as well as a teleportation ability. Not a nice woman. Shot at by fake cops, he's saved by the four (Spidey mistakes Rainmaker for Storm). Fairchild, trying to escape, ends up trapped on stage. A perfect diversion, as Spidey passes out.

Spidey was out in La Jolla, in the first place, as a photographer for the band. As things keep going wrong, he's attacked at the concert.

Taken back to their home, despite arguments from Burnout, claiming the know nothing about Spidey, they eventually decide he can stay. Not as if he has a say. After a short scene featuring Glider and her daughter, He wakes up the next morning, to be attacked by the maid and set on fire. Short conversations aside, we learn Spidey's had a tracking bug planted on him. Glider's been after Gen 13, and Spider-Man was a nice method. We also learn Glider is a personality inhabiting the body of Heather Hite, an innocent woman.

Preparing to leave, all hell breaks loose as Glider, with several guards, attack the house. It all falls apart afterwards.

the review: Okay.... well, story-wise, it wasn't that bad. However, I do wonder why they had to waste the plot on a crossover. Personally, I think the should have stuck with the old formula of having a villain from each meet (I'd prefer Carnage/DV8 myself, to keep things even. But even the Green Goblin or Mysterio could have also made a wonderful appearance). Okay, so we get a new villain. But we get little background. The plot with the divorce and the hidden personality should have been used in the regular Gen 13 series to expand on it.

Not to mention, the writers didn't manage to get the characters right, all the time. If Grunge is supposed to be such a big fan, then why doesn't he seem to know Spidey is a hero? The whole team seems to doubt him for some reason. Then there's the fact Spidey seems to object hanging out with younger superheroes, claiming he feels "old". But, this has never been a problem before (he gets along fine with Synch from Generation X).

They didn't even use any of the comic title logos, for crying out loud.

Okay, so maybe my hopes for this book were doomed when I saw no Spidey villains in it. I was HOPING for Carnage.... but, even so, a possibility that wasn't used well. I actually have to say the Transformers crossover was better. ** out of *****.

send all email to John Cage
this page is best viewed at 800x600, so you can see everything.