Lesser Known Joe Casey Comics: Gen13 #42

[Continuing my look at Joe Casey comics you probably didn't know exist. Oh, I'm sure you had a vague idea that Gen13 #42 existed, just not that Joe Casey wrote it. Well, he did. How do you like that? Me, I like it a lot, but let's not get into that just yet. As always, I will conclude my post by deciding if this comic deserves to remain forgotten. New posts Monday, Wednesday and Friday.]

Joe Casey. Kevin Maguire. Hells yes.

Did you read how the Casey/Maguire Velocity was the big winner of Top Cow's "Pilot Season" contest? It kicked the crap out of every other book in the voting. So, sometime this year, we'll be getting another Joe Casey book.

But that's then and this is now and now it's time to look at Gen13 #42, a fill-in issue that bridges John Arcudi and Scott Lobdell's runs on the book (oh, Adam Warren has two issues in there, too). This one involves secret agent men of action and wrestlers. It also involves Grunge being retarded and dragging Bobby along. The rest of the group barely shows up.

It's a pretty light issue that is a lot of fun. I like the wrestling bits (particularly some of the names Casey comes up with: Nelson Full Nelson, David Goliath and Kingsnake Jake all crack me up), and the discussion where Grunge claims his long hair will get him more women than Bobby's soul patch. Throw in Kevin Maguire's mastery of facial expressions and, hot damn, it's some good stuff.

I'm not sure where this issue fits in with Casey's other work. Maybe the inclusion of wrestling as another form of popculture, demonstrating the relationship between the two. Mostly, it just demonstrates Casey's ability to write young, stupid people. Actually, the way Grunge and Bobby act here leads in pretty well to The Intimates (with a little Children of the Atom thrown in).

Should this book remain forgotten? No! Go pick it up! Will it change your life? Of course not! But is is a good read--of course it is!

Okay, on Monday, I'll get into Batman: Tenses #1--for serious this time (I had planned on it for today, but I picked up this issue of Gen13 yesterday and figured I'd end the week on a one-shot rather than spread out a two-part story over the weekend like that).