(No Spoilers)

This issue was not as fun as the last issue but that is not a bad thing in this instance.  In balancing the humor with the dark nature of post-Armageddon Earth, Beatty and Huddleston bring us to some more serious situations this time.  It’s mainly evident in the continuation of the “soup” story (although this more dark humor, than just plain dark) and also we get to really see what Holly Denton (aka Breakdown of Gen 14) can do.  And her powers are made much more scary in this issue (and the cover to the issue should give you a clue to this fact) in that she can pretty much neutralize any member of Gen 13.  This is not helped by the fact that the Gen 13 kids already don’t trust her, thinking she’s from Tabula Rasa.  I like the fact that it’s obvious that she is going to have to earn the trust of the Gen 13 gang.    

But amidst some darker story elements, there’s still a little fun to be had.  Such as how Dr. Cross and Megan capture Freefall or what Freefall does to Dr. Cross when she finally realizes it’s them.  Huddleston’s art continues to shine in this issue too as his little visual cues (even a cool little panel that introduces us to the Gen 13 members at the beginning) really add to the story.  There’s a nice little cliffhanger with Grunge and the whole “soup” story which I can’t wait to see the resolution to.  And we get a cool cliffhanger for the issue overall that involves Dr. Cross.  And Rainmaker is not forgotten either.  We get a little nugget concerning her as well.  I am definitely liking this second half of Beatty and Huddleston’s run on the book.    

The Defile backup story is still leaving me wanting a little bit though.  I’m finding it really hard to follow what’s going on and that shouldn’t be the case 3 parts in.  I am curious to see what finally happens in part 4 when Defile will finally go against Rapier, the Daemonite Lord who threatens Defile’s rule on Earth, but I’m worried that it’ll either go by too fast with only one part remaining, or that it won’t be as satisfiying as some of the other backup stories have been.  But I’ll wait and see how it all comes together.

Synopsis:

http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com/page/Gen+13+World%27s+End+%2328