Gen 13 #1 is an issue of the series Gen 13 (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1994.
Synopsis for the 1st Story
In 1979, Black Razors run down Team 7 member Stephen Callahan and his wife Rachel, kill them, and capture their small children Matthew and Nicole. 15 years later, government agents arrive to inform Princeton University sophomore Caitlin Fairchild she has been accepted into the Gen 13 Program and that she must leave with them immediately. In Washington, D.C., John Lynch questions Ivana Baiul, the head of International Operations' Sci-Tech bureau, about the reactivation of Project Genesis as Gen 13 and how the program is selecting its candidates. She reveals they are recruiting the children of Gen 12 and Team 7. At the Genesis facility in Nevada, Matthew Callahan, codenamed Threshold, uses his powers to kill one of his martial arts trainers as his sister Nicole, codenamed Bliss, watches. The next day, Lynch asks Threshold for a favor but is rebuffed. Meanwhile, Fairchild undergoes indoctrination and befriends three other candidates: Eddie “Grunge” Chang, Bobby Lane, and Roxy Spaulding. Over several days, they under go physical and medical tests, unaware that Baiul and the Callahans are evaluating them as potential combat operatives and dosing their food to activate their superhuman abilities. Late one night, Fairchild feels sick and goes looking for the infirmary. She wanders into a computer lab where she finds Grunge and Roxy. An armed guard finds them and attacks them, triggering Fairchild's powers. To her own astonishment, she suddenly grows in height and strength, ripping out of her clothes, and punches out the guard.
Appearing in the 1st Story
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- John Lynch
- Alexandra Gardner (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- International Operations
- Black Razors
- Frank Colby
- Adams
- Briggs
- Project Genesis
- Sci-Tech
- Ivana Baiul (First appearance)
- Threshold (Matthew Callahan) (First appearance)
- Bliss (Nicole Callahan) (First appearance)
- Helga Kleinman (First appearance)
- Gates (security guard)
- Miles Craven (Mentioned only) (Behind the scenes)
- Black Razors
Other Characters:
- Stephen Callahan (Apparent death)
- Rachel Callahan (First appearance; dies)
- Alex Fairchild (Mentioned only)
- "National Security Committee"
- Agent Barker (Single appearance)
- Saburo (Single appearance; dies)
Locations:
- United States of America
- Deadwood, Oregon
- Death Valley, Nevada
- Genesis Compound
- McLean, Virginia
- Princeton, New Jersey
- Washington, D.C.
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Originally published by Image Comics.
- This issue includes a pin-up of Gen 13 by Jim Lee and Alex Garner as well as a five-page Gen 13 Sketchbook by J. Scott Campbell and Jim Lee.
- This issue is reprinted in:
- a second printing (June 1994);
- Gen 13 trade paperback (1995);
- an exclusive American Entertainment Encore edition (August 1997);
- a 3-D edition (September 1997);
- a Toyfare giveaway edition (1998);
- Wildstorm Archives: Gen 13 trade paperback (1998);
- Gen 13 Special Edition (March 1999);
- Millennium Edition: Gen 13 #1 (April 2000);
- Gen 13: Who They Are and How They Came to Be trade paperback (2006).
Trivia
- The shirt Matthew is wearing when his father is killed is Darth Vader from Star Wars.