Now I’ve been happily following Superboy since it relaunched, and the obvious use of Caitlin Fairchild as “Red” was something I expected big pay off on. After all, I was a huge Gen 13 fan as a kid, and Scott Lobdell actually wrote the book for a while. Well, last month in Superboy we saw “Red” hulk out in a green and purple bikini, and it became painfully obvious that it was her. Now, while characters like Grifter, Voodoo, and Stormwatch have their own books (Stormwatch obviously featuring a host of Wildstorm characters), there are several other Wildstorm properties that we fans are still left wondering about.
WildC.A.T.S. and Gen 13 chief amongst them.
Well, in this weeks Superboy #4 Caitlin says something that stands out to me for two reasons. One, it’s an obvious hint towards her origins, but two…it’s not the way we remember it.
See, Gen 13 was what came after Gen 12, in fact, they were the children of Gen 12. Gen 12 and 13 were both short for Gen-Active, which essentially meant that they had powers given to them by I.O. Gen 12 was the first successful attempt at giving people a Gen-Factor, which then carried down to their kids. The number had to do with attempts, not unlike the way Wolverine’s Weapons X has become a 10 instead of a letter. It was never anything to do with having thirteen people.
Though if there are thirteen of them…does this make Rose one? Will we be seeing Grunge, Freefall, Burnout, and Rainmaker soon? And where’s Mr. Lynch?
