Credits: Story Brandon Choi, pencils by Randy Green, inked by Sal Regla and edited by Mike Heisler.
Cast: Gen-13 (Freefall, Burnout, Grunge, Rainmaker & Fairchild), Crimson, DV8 (Frostbite, Sublime, Copycat, Evo, Ivana Baiul, Powerhouse and Threshold) Deathblow, Jack Lynch, Dr Simon Tsung, Ethan ‘Sigma’ McCain, Maggie Monroe, Miles Craven/Gen-Omega, Kaizen Gamorra, Spencer, Zach McCoy, Jocelyn Andrews, a Reaver, Alex Fairchild, Lucius, Weatherman, StormWatch (Batallion, Flashpoint, Fahrenheit, Cannon), Aries. Damocles and the Sword of Damocles.
Plot: As TV news presenters talk about the situation in Gamorra, Sigma, Tsung and Maggie following on from Gen-13 10, are face to face with Gen-Omega who wastes no time in monologuing as Tsung points out how much danger they are in from Damocles and we learn that the Gen-Factor was distilled from Sigma so that they could have a super-powered army in place when Damocles arrived, but Gen-Omega draining the power from Sigma puts them all at risk. Gen-Omega blasts Sigma, hurting him, but Tsung tells him to heal himself by acting as though in the VR chamber at home Speaking of, sub-plot time. Back in Berkley, Spense and Zach who were introduced in the prologues are discussing Ethan/Sigma and see Ethan’s crush Jocelyn. Zach wants to set them up, but Josie’s friend aims her at Zach instead. Oooh high school drama. Elsewhere in town, a doomsday weapon from a doomed world arrives and kills a passer by. It’s called a Reaver and it has a job to do.
Above Gamorra, Lucius and his friend Alex Fairchild (I know it’s not stated, but it’s a little on the obvious side) are parachuting in, Alex cloaking the pair from Gamorran aircraft. Up in SkyWatch, Weatherman fields a report of the attack on Kaizens lab by Gen-13 and others and he contacts StormWatch and sends them in. As the team are dispatch, a survivor from the moonbase alerts him of the Sword’s attack. Weatherman calls for a medic and prepares a strike force.
At Kaizen’s complex, the battle between Gen-13 and DV8 is heating up, but Alex and Lucius arrive and start turning the tide. Alex punches Ivana out, freeing Rainmaker from her cybernetic coils, while Lucius distracts Evo long enough for a freed Rainmaker to deliver lightning upon him. Alex sees Lynch and thanks him for freeing Caitlin. Ivana tries to attack someone else, but it’s Grifter who just shoots her. Alex finds Caitlin and helps her defeat Powerhouse by taking him out telepathically. He doesn’t tell her who he is, but admits he was in Team-7. Deathblow seeing everything being under control walks on and finds Gen-Omega and learns that Gen-Omega is Craven. Deathblow lunges at Gen-Omega and is joined by Sigma.
On the moon, the Sword welcomes his master Damocles who is informed that Sigma has been found and Damocles instantly teleports to Earth as on SkyWatch, the staff learn of the rift over the moon. Damocles arrives at Kaizen’s base and reads his mind and learns that Sigma is there and walks on, uninterested in the tyrant.
Gen-Omega is winning his fight, but something is wrong. It turns out that Backlash’s Gen-Factor had a virus and that has been carried into Gen-Omega’s system. This gives Sigma the chance to absorb the untainted Gen-Factor from Gen-Omega, reducing the body to dust and killing Craven a second time. Tsung warns Sigma to calm himself, rather than activate a safety cocoon. But that doesn’t matter, because Damocles has arrived and wants his revenge.
Notes: This issue is where we continue the story of Sigma and Craven. We also have more Gen-13 and Team-7 stuff as they are all very linked things that connect to the as yet unknown history of Ethan/Sigma. We get Craven being removed from the board very quickly as Ethan realises he can just absorb the power from Gen-Omega. After the spectre of Miles Craven being around in the prologue, his actual appearance is a bit of a damp squib. We get subplots which lend us the idea that this is going to be an ongoing series, but I honestly don’t think that happened.
This crossover has done well with converging the several plotlines towards a finale that is sure to be about Damocles. My problem here is though, that we’ve got the three main characters on the first splash page and I know just as much as I did when the issue ended. I care more for Alex, trying to help his own team-mates and save his daughter than the star of the book and that’s the problem. Craven/Gen-Omega isn’t an interesting character, neither is Sigma himself and we don’t get to see enough of Maggie to care and all Tsung does is whine about the approach of Damocles. Speaking of, his arrival is also almost an afterthought, rather than the big gear change that it could have been. As a story it moves things along, but honestly as an issue in and of itself, I was underwhelmed.
Verdict: Writing 2 out of 5 – Lacking depth and pathos, this issue did not really hold my interest.
Art: 3 out of 5: The story-telling was good and everyone looked very much on model and in a crossover with many artists, that’s not to be sniffed at.
Overall: 5 out of 10 – A middle of the road issue that does it’s job, but genuinely nothing more than that.
Next Time: What does the world look like without Supeman?
My Marvel Life 