What’s Covered?
Generation X # 12 - 17
Roster Watch
Synopsis
Generation X # 12 - 14 (Emplate)
Writer - Scott Lobdell
Pencils - Chris Bachalo
Banshee ties to spend some quality time with Monet, but when he starts pushing about her family, she gets flustered and flies away.
This is one of those issues (which I feel like we've been seeing a lot lately where the members of the team are picked off and captured 1 by 1. Here we see Synch, Jubilee, Mondo, and Husk being gassed at a restaurant.
Chamber and Paige are still crushing on each other, but clearly not ready to admit to each other (or themselves) that they like each other.
Chamber meet with an old flame, Gayle, who he hasn't talked to in years. He injured her the day his chamber exploded, destroying his mouth and chest.
Gayle reached out to him hoping to re-kindle things, but it was all a ruse as she is part of operation capture Generation X.
At the end of the first issue, we see that Emplate has been behind the kidnapping. All of the team members are incapacitated except for Monet. This is where we learn that Emplate is actually Monet's twin brother!
The whole next issue is focused on Monet fighting each of Emplate's minions. Here she is fighting with a big, likely forgettable, villain named Bulwark.
Later she battles with Vincente, who if you recall was a member of Generation X in the Age of Apocalypse.
Bishop shows up to help Monet fight Emplate and his goons.
Bishop's appearance is actually really interesting. He talks about how Emplate's impact is a huge problem in his timeline where there is a large population of those affected by him. I found this pretty interesting, actually. At the very least, it's an interesting way to take this new villain (who I had never heard of) who is supposed to their big Bad and make him more interesting.
I think this Jubilee rant is supposed to be a play on David Letterman's top ten lists. I think he was still on the air in 1997. Regardless, it turns out that her goal was to annoy him so bad that he would lose control of his powers and they would go free. Surprisingly, it works, creating a blast which frees everyone.
Emplate disappears with Penance, going into his timeless void. Eventually she betrays him and leaves.
Generation X # 15 - 16 (Synch Possessed)
Plot- Scott Lobdell
Script - Todd DeZago
Pencils - Tom Grummet
The next two issues focus on Synch (finally, he gets some attention) as he was impacted by Emplate and is currently on a rampage in his home town of St. Louis.
Husk, Jubilee, and Money (the three candidates for leadership) confront him.
In a cool scene, Banshee and Emma are flying around looking for Synch and Emma decides to get in his head to force them to the ground, something which pisses off Banshee.
Jubilee surprises everyone (including me) by coming up with the plan for stopping Synch. I think Lobdell has finally decided to have her shape up to be team leader.
In the end, Synch tries to take over Monet's power and is immediately brought to his knees, further teasing us about her mystery, which I'm ready to officially learn about.
Generation X # 17 (X-Cutioner)
Writer - Scott Lobdell
Pencils - Chris Bachalo
So this is a weird Stan Lee issue. For some random reason, Stan Lee shows up as a character and this whole thing is drawn goofy and it's kind of weird. There's technically a story with the X-Cutioner showing up looking for Skin, incorrect thinking he killed...himself. Once again Jubilee is the leader and we see her comforting Synch at the end of the issue.
My Connections
I don't have a whole lot to say here. I'm really glad there was more plot and they brought back Emplate, their main villain. I'm ready to learn about Monet's secret and am getting a little frustrated that this hasn't happened yet. I am happy to see that Jubilee is separating herself as the team leader, but it makes me realize that I was actually pulling for Husk.
Chris Bachalo is back. I was thinking that I didn't miss him, but I have found a newfound appreciation for him this time around. Here is a Chris Bachalo quote from Comic Creators on X-Men about working with Stan Lee for Generation X # 17:
“That issue was a blast to work on because the editors gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted. …I thought, well, you know, Stan Lee Presents, why not have Stan Lee present the issue? Host it, like Rod Serling in the Twilight Zone.
Scott had the idea of calling Stan and he ended up writing his own dialogue for the book. He was such a great sport. ”