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GENERATION
X
Reviewed by Brent A. Keane Teen alienation; it's a familiar theme. Been there, watched it, read it, lived it. You'd honestly think that there would be little more anyone could add to the subject. Sometimes, though, it takes just a small moment of insight, and you begin to remember what it was like: 'I don't have a clue about how to talk to normal kids my own age.' Jubilation Lee, the self-described 'poster child for accidental alienation', comes to this realization while breaking into a typical American high school, in order to find out why teenagers are being abducted and relocated to the shadowy House of Correction. An unusual moment for an epiphany, but there you go.GENERATION X , like the other books under the 'Counter-X' umbrella, is not the book it used to be. The staple notions of teen coming-of-age stories still have their place in the book – growing up, fitting in (or not), finding one's place in the world – but they are now coached in real-world terms, not in the all-too-common cry of 'humans si , mutants no! ' That overused theme has been displaced from the foreground; the emphasis has been shifted. Jubilee, Husk, Skin, Chamber and M are portrayed as teens first, mutants second; their youth defines them, not their powers. Banshee and the White Queen, too, are characterized according to their senior status: Sean is brusque and regimented, while Emma is appropiately frosty. They still attend their school, but the campus appears to be closer to a battlefield than classrooms and libraries, and this is only right; the children and their teachers are playing for higher stakes. To borrow (and mangle) a catchphrase from another of Warren Ellis' books: it's a harsher world, and they don't want to keep it that way. I mentioned in my review of X-MAN that I was looking to that book the most; I must make the confession that I wasn't even planning to pick up GENERATION X. But, as someone once put it, 'Life is what happens when you make other plans,' and besides, the siren call of Ellis couldn't keep me away for too long. I knew of Brian Wood, but I hadn't had the chance to check out CHANNEL ZERO , so this was my first exposure to his work. I was impressed with his naturalistic dialogue and subtle characterization; no forced exposition here. When it was made public that Steve Pugh was to be the primary artist on GENERATION X , I was somewhat skeptical; he is an excellent artist, but I didn't think his style would fit. I was pleased to proved wrong, as his fluid pencilwork is what the book needed; flashy when it needs to be, but places storytelling above all else. (Witness the sequence when Jubilee attempts to pick up the limo driver; my favourite bit in the whole arc. I don't know what that says about me, though...) My one real criticism has to do with the colouring, which seems just a tad bright in places, but this is a minor quibble on my part.Despite the radical changes that had some fans up in arms, the revamp of GENERATION X is really about getting back to basics, on a couple of levels: the 'power and responsibilty' theme that has defined Marvel's body of work these past forty years, and the 'coming of age' tenet that seemed to be pushed aside in the series' early going. As I appreciate the former and am a fan of the latter (hey, 'Dawson's Creek' has been my favourite show two years running…), I am glad to see them back in place. Recommended
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Writers:
Warren Ellis & Brian Wood 
