So awesome that he got me to read Gen13 on more than one occasion. His Grunge: the Movie arc is a modern classic; but he also had a good run on the last year and a half of the book. Previously, in Gen13 #74, the original team of Caitlin, Bobby, Sarah, Roxy, and Grunge were killed; their bodies used as fuel in a gen-active bomb. Now their powers are destroying the world, and it's up to their friends to put aside their grief and stop it.
Luckily, their friends are also gen-actives, and have more interesting powers: Nate is a quadruple amputee with "psychokinetic phantom limbs." Tommy can draw from the strength of those around him, and is very much this team's Grunge. His sister Sadie is like a voodoo doll: hitting her hurts you. And Leslie can turn her traumatic memories into new superpowers.
The bomb that killed Gen13 was intended to "encode a human personality into the Gen-Factor itself." Which, in theory, would mean not just having superpowers, but being made of superpowers. Um, kay...after a skirmish with hyperevolved skin cancer/guard dogs, Nate puts together the nullifer that will disrupt the energy disturbances; a process that involves Nate cutting even more pieces off himself. ("With no arms, it's not like I'm getting much use out of my deltoid muscle, okay?")
Leslie stays behind to keep Nate from sacrificing himself, creating a shield from the memory of first getting the call about Gen13's death. But in the end, they're saved by Caitlin, now transformed into a "small-g god." She smiles as she rises up and disappears, just like this comic: in the letter's page, Adam Warren gives thanks for Wildstorm not cancelling the book back around issue #74, "or even earlier."
I forget how much later it was, but Chris Claremont would try to bring back Gen13 with a thirteen-cent promo issue...and that's all I remember about his run. And I'm pretty sure the original gang has since been brought back, but I don't know how or care, and neither do you. Go read Empowered instead.
Warren is a great idea man, with a knack for dropping expositional dialog with just the right amount of snide parenthetical asides. I've been a little worried since I saw an interview with him that mentioned that he wanted to get out of pencilling and more into just writing; which would be a damn shame. I do still need to do a write-up on the Fantastic Four three-parter he did a while back; and it's still a disappointment he didn't get to do more.
From Gen13 #77, "Dead Friends and Imminent Catastrophe" Written by Adam Warren, art by Kaare Andrews, Rick Mays and Jason Martin, and Adam Warren. (Wildstorm FX did some of the colors, but Warren credits Ryan Kinnairo for helping out his section, which was done on patterned linen-finish cardstock. Which sounds neat.)
One last "The End" post later today! You'll never guess, don't even try, but here's a hint: it's a DC book, that hasn't been brought back to date.
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