108. Generation Next #1 to 4 ... Marvel ... Chris Bachalo

A loooooooong time ago, Marvel did something rarely done. They made a huge storyline that actually resulted in some ongoing titles being temporarily cancelled for a few months to be replaced by some other titles before returning and this is one of the better ones

The original title is Generation X (a newer incarnation of New Mutants) ... spinning out of the world of the Mutants ...

And here, following from the mega storyline of Age of Apocalypse, all the mutant titles were stopped and relaunched with new artists, new storylines, new world ...

And in this world, as the title implies, the age of humanity is over ... Apocalypse the villain rules the planet with a select crew of omega level mutants ... and supporting them are other mutants. For those who do not know, Apocalypse is a mutant bornt hundreds of years ago who over time seemed to develop shape changing ability, regenerative ability, power beam shooting ability and whatever else each writer who uses him can think of ... so you can forget his real history except that he is really old and was born in Egypt probably during the days of Pharaohs

Here he rules based on a silly old premise, the strong survives and the weak deserves whatever shit the strong shovels on them. So he uses his mutant gang to rule with an iron fish. In Generation Next, they are still a group of younger mutants but who fight for right. Unfortunately, this means carrying out expeditions against the bad guys. What is charming about this book is the costume redesign done by artist Chris Bachalo

And the outstanding simple storyline of where the kids are growing up, trying to learn their lessons, learn to use their powers and yet be kids at the same time. As for their mentors, unfortunately they are not from the regular Marvel 616. Here is a group of hardened mutants

What will leave an impact on you is the end of this mini series ... what Colossus did in his rage to free his "heart" ... was awe-inspiring ... and then what he did in terms of sacrifice to continue to free his "heart" is absolutely shocking ... I actually was stunned and saddened and wished the outcome had been told differently

It is that strong a tale for me

Ratings: 8/10