''Gen12'' is a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series from

Wildstorm Wildstorm Productions (stylized as WildStorm) is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi to publish through Image Comics, Wildstorm became a publishing imprint of DC C ...

Brandon Choi Brandon Choi is an American comic book writer best known for his work for WildStorm Productions, in particular for the series '' WildC.A.T.s'' and Gen13 artist/publisher Jim Lee. Biography Choi was born in Seoul, Korea and came to the U.S. whe ...

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

mini-series In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

published in 1998. 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 Gen13 ...

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

Publication history

The story takes place in the 1990s, but is filled with flashbacks that take place in the late 1970s and early 1980s, following events in the ''Team 7: Dead Reckoning'' mini-series. After the death of Miles Craven, head of International Operations, 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. 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 1970s) and the Wildstorm titles taking place in the 1990s. This made ''Gen12'' a very continuity-filled series. The series was filled with references to and characters from Gen¹³, Divine Right, Deathblow and many more.

Fictional history

Miles Craven, head of International Operations 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 Gen¹³. 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) 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