Generation "Next" fights for their freedom!
Originally Published October 1994
We begin in the depths of the secret base of the Phalanx, where young Paige Guthrie awakens to find that her kidnappers have, at the very least, supplied her with a blanket.
Well, at least, she initially thinks it's a blanket.
This is Paige's introduction to her fellow Next Generation of Mutants: Angelo Espinoza, who has too much skin for his bones, catatonic Monet St. Croix, pale-faced Clarice, and Aw-Shucks All-American Beefy Boy Gregor.
Paige is resolute that the X-Men are on their way to rescue them, which is a pretty bold assumption since she's met them, like, once at most, and there's no way to know they know she's been kidnapped and in fact they themselves have been kidnapped. Keep dreaming kid.
What's worse is, Paige is fighting a nasty bout of the Techno-Organic flu, the precursor to being full-on-Phalanxified.
As we know, and the young mutants have deduced, mutants are resistant to the assimilation process, but the Phalanx are working on that.
Not far away, Banshee, Emma Frost, Jubilee and Everett make their way to Emma's San Francisco house to get out of the rain and try to find somewhere they can use to figure out their next steps. Sean and Emma do some "Moonlighting" schtick.
They determine they can break into a SHIELD Safe-house nearby and use their technology to figure out what's next. Eazy Peazy.
Back in the dungeon, the kiddoes get a visit from their tormentor, the Phalanx Entity known as Harvest.
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| Why does that name make me think less "Deadly Villain" and more "Part of a Balanced Breakfast"? |
Reactively, Clarice -- precious Clarice to whom nothing bad better ever happen -- starts to use her powers, seemingly slicing and dicing Harvest into itty bitty pieces with her mind.
Gregor holds her back, however because gosh darnit, that's just wrong -- Harvest exists to go put himself back together.
In the San Francisco rain, Jubilee mopes to Everett about how useless she feels as one of the "X-Men." Sure, it all used to be fun and games when she was palling around with Wolverine, running for her life from the Reavers or the Chinese mafia, but what's a firecracker next to Storm?
Everett concedes: yeah, your power is pretty lame. I wouldn't talk though, if my power was just whatever the nearest mutant next to me happened to be.
Back in the kiddie jail, Monet reveals she has awakened from her nap and apprised the situation. Using the technically-advanced longjohns that the Phalanx have suited them in, she's created a device that will get them out of there pronto:
Oh, actually, it's to fry Gregor, who was an undercover Phalanx all this time. Yeah, all that "gee whiz" stuff was very sus.
At the SHIELD base, Sean and Emma have ghosted their way in using a combination of their powers. Unfortunately, as they start sweeping for advanced alien technology signs in the vicinity, they learn they failed to cover their tracks -- literally.
Emma threatens to fry all the SHIELD guys' minds so they can get away but before she can, Sean takes care of it.
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| Sure you were, Em. |
Monet runs down the plan: set up a fake surveillance video of them just chilling in their cell, while they escape. Only she uses a lot more words.
Using her phenomenal strength -- because didn't you get the memo, Monet is great -- she punches a hole in the wall and the Generation N (for Next) kids are on their way.
Paige, however, initially opts to stay behind due to suffering the effects of the techno-organic virus. Monet agrees that that is an eminently logical decision.
Which is all well and good, but when they find out where they are they have to figure out... now what?
Further Thoughts:
Hello, yes, this is exactly what I want. We get to know this new batch of characters and what their dynamics will be like when they start in their own series, which I'm sure is coming soon. Their powers, their attitudes, their back-and-forth. Is there a bit of shilling on Monet as the teenage superwoman who is hyper-intelligent, strong and impervious to harm? Yes, but she has a neurological disorder -- that counts as a personality trait, right?
Okay, well, it's not that bad, I've seen worse.
The pacing of this issue is exactly right on: not fast-paced and frenetic and not stuffed with filler material to stall for time, which you can't always count on from comics in this era. For comparison, I've just written up another branch of the Phalanx Covenant, the "Life Signs" arc that runs through X-Factor, X-Force and Excalibur, (Which you'll be able to read about on Ko-Fi for just a small donation). While I found it ultimately enjoyable, it was more than a bit messy. This strand of the story is considerably more lucid, whether due to the narrow focus on just a few X-People and the GeNext kids, or because of the symbiosis between Lobdell and Madureira being right on for the moment.
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