Gen 13 is a comic book originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. It was published by Wildstorm Productions. Later writers have included John Arcudi and Adam Warren. The comic features a loosely-organized team of super-powered beings composed of five teens (three girls and two boys) and their mentor.The series takes place in Lee's Wildstorm universe, and Gen13's stories and history intertwine with those from his own works, such as Wildcats and Team 7 (in fact, each of the main characters in Gen13 was the child of a Team 7 member). The title featured flashy graphics and was noticeably more risque than other titles of the time, such as X-Men, so it quickly grabbed the attention of a loyal audience.
The teens were originally invited to take part in a government project, but when they learned that the project was actually a prison-like testing ground on "Gen-active" teens, they made their escape, but not before they "manifested" superhuman powers, and they were labelled dangerous fugitives. Their only hope was to rely on each other to fight their foes and unveil the personal secrets that linked them to Team 7 and International Operations.
After a very successful run, co-creator and illustrator J. Scott Campbell handed the reins of Gen13 over to other creative teams, and moved onto his own new mega-hit series Danger Girl.
Despite outrageous story arcs and many artist collaborations, the popularity of the book dwindled to the point where Wildstorm decided to blow up the entire team with a 6 megaton bomb (#76, July 2002). Surprisingly, the title was not cancelled at the time, and was continued for a few numbers more, but featuring a totally different set of characters.
The original line up of Gen 13 was:
* Caitlin Fairchild: Once an ordinary girl, Caitlin's muscles spontaneously increased in density, granting her superhuman strength, agility, speed, and endurance. The manifestation of her "Gen-active" status caused her body mass to increase, shredding her clothing at the time. Fairchild is by far the most intelligent of the group.
* Bobby "Burnout" Lane: Son of John Lynch (Gen13's mentor), Bobby manifested the ability to generate and manipulate high-energy coherent plasma, which ignites on exposure to oxygen. He later developed the ability to fly, as well as certain psychic abilities.
* Roxanne "Freefall" Spaulding: "Roxy" is the youngest Gen-active teen, with the ability to nullify the effect of gravity on herself. Has a crush on Grunge and is jealous of Fairchild's physique. Keeps Queelocke as a "pet". It was later revealed that Spaulding and Fairchild were half-sisters.
* Sarah Rainmaker: Rainmaker can influence local weather systems, manipulating air currents to grant herself flight and direct water with a gesture. Amplifier bands on her wrists allow her to project lightning. Rainmaker is Apache, and a lesbian.
* Percival Edmund "Grunge" Chang: Able to mimic the molecular structure of any material he touches (and partially bestow this effect on others), Grunge is a surf rat who enjoys sleeping in. He possesses brown belts in five martial arts styles, and has few if any redeeming characteristics - though he does possess a photographic memory that allowed him to take the same classes as Fairchild does (much to her surprise) during the period that the team went to college.
* Anna: a heavily-armed covert-assassination android programmed to serve Gen13 as a maid, and to love them as her own children.