Gen¹³ (1998)

Gen¹³ (1998)

Dir. Kevin Altieri

An animated movie based on the WildStorm superhero comic of the same name. Originally published in partnership with Image Comics, it didn't become a DC Comics imprint until 1999. That's enough of a connection to warrant a post, but I won't give it the DC label. [1]

Although ultimately a team set-up, the movie's main character is red-haired Caitlin Fairchild (Alicia Witt), who at the story's beginning is a college student with no super powers. She's recruited by a military organisation with a vested interest in activating the latent abilities in what it calls SPBs (Super Powered Beings).

The situation had the basic foundations for a superhero-themed coming of age drama, but it pushes frenetic action scenes and one-note villainy to the fore instead. The end result is an odd mix of teen cartoon clichés and immature adult happenings, with various profanities and at least one purposefully pronounced reference to characters having sex, which is probably what earned it its 15 rating.

Or maybe it was the bloody executions and scenes of torture that are used to evoke sympathy, neither of which are something that parents of the very young will be able to discern in advance from the kid-friendly movie poster that IMDB and Wiki currently display (see above).

Wiki reports that the movie received a commercial release in Europe and Australia, but not in the US, where it was shelved by Di$ney. I've very little good to say about Di$ney as a company, but in this instance I don't feel that they denied the world a classic of the genre. The animation has little to offer anyone who isn't already invested in the WildStorm / Gen¹³ universe.

[1] A number of reputable online comic databases state that DC's acquisition of the WildStorm roster occurred in 1999, which is the date that I've used. Wikipedia disagrees, giving the year as 1998. Either way, the movie itself wasn't a DC production.