Gen12 is a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series from

Wildstorm Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wilds ...

Brandon Choi Brandon Choi is an American comic book writer best known as one of the co-creators of the series Gen¹³ which enjoyed high popularity in the middle and late 1990s. He also wrote several other titles for WildStorm. Choi was born in Seoul, Korea, ...

with art by Michael Ryan. It was a 5-issue

mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

published in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. It featured characters from the series

Team 7 ''Team 7'' is a comic book superhero team that appeared in titles published by Wildstorm Productions. The team has appeared in 3 self-titled miniseries: ''Team 7'', ''Team 7: Objective Hell'' and ''Team 7: Dead Reckoning''. The first 5-issue Gen ...

. It is also the codename for the subjects of a scientific experiment within the Wildstorm Universe.

Publication history

The story takes place in the 90s, but is filled with flashbacks that take place in the late 70s/early 80s, following events in the ''Team 7: Dead Reckoning'' mini-series. After the death of Miles Craven, head of

International Operations International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

, the US government orders commander Thomas Morgan to investigate Miles Craven's secret operation, Project Genesis, the resulting defection of John Lynch and the disappearance of

Ivana Baiul Ivana ( sr, Ивана) is a feminine given name of Slavic origin that is also popular in southern Ireland, France, French-speaking Canada, the Mediterranean and Latin America. It is the feminine form of the name Ivan, which are both the Slavic c ...

. The main subjects of Project Genesis were the members of Team 7 and Morgan tracks down their friends and families to find out what happened between Craven and Team 7. The purpose of the Gen12 series was to provide the connection between the stories in

Chuck Dixon Charles Dixon (born April 14, 1954) is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on the Marvel Comics character the Punisher and on the DC Comics characters Batman, Nightwing, and Robin in the 1990s and early 2000s. Early life D ...

's ''Team 7''-series (taking place in the 70s) and the Wildstorm titles taking place in the 90s. This made ''Gen12'' a very continuity-filled series. The series was filled with references to and characters from

Gen¹³ ''Gen¹³'' is a superhero team and comic book series originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. It was published by WildStorm under the Image Comics banner, which went on to become an imprint (trade name ...

, Divine Right, Deathblow and many more.

Fictional History

Miles Craven, head of

was determined to create superhuman soldiers for his army and therefore started Project: Genesis. The most promising method of creating superhumans was the Gen-factor, a substance with the ability to bestow superhuman powers on people exposed to it, making them '' Gen-actives''. The Gen-factor was discovered by Dr. Simon Tsung, who had extracted it from Ethan McCain, a baby he had found with superhuman powers. Craven used the Gen-factor on many subjects, but all either died, went insane or mutated into monstrous beings. He finally succeeded with

and the survivors of the experiment were labeled Gen12. Later other ''Gen12''-superhumans were seen, but the Team 7 members appeared to be the most successful and the most powerful of the Gen12. A revival of Project Genesis about 20 years later produced

. The name Gen¹³ is only used for the members of the superhero group Gen¹³, while other Gen-Actives of their generation simply refer to themselves as Gen-Active (like

DV8 ''DV8'' is a comic book published by Wildstorm. The series revolves around the lives of a group of Gen-Active people (Called DV8, or referred to as "The Deviants"), initially living in New York City under the supervision of Ivana Baiul, who send ...

) Gen12 and Gen¹³ refer to generations of Americans.''Team 7: Dead Reckoning'' #3

References

Gen12 @ comicbookdb
1998 comics debuts WildStorm limited series {{Image-Comics-stub