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Three Generation X novels to date have been published. Here are brief descriptions of each in case you're too lazy to read them yourselves.

Generation X
Crossroads
Genogoths

Other Novels

Generation X: The Novel
Written by Scott Lobdell and Elliot S! Maggin
Click here to buy from Amazon.Com

The story begins with Generation X discovering that they're not alone in the school. There's ghosts. The ghosts of the Hellions. They haunted Generation X, scarring them and attacking them. Durring their reign of terror, a young boy dying of the Legancy Virus named Walter Nowland, aka Statis, with the ability to make static electicity joins the team for the remainder of his life. Later in the story, for some reason or other, everyone was sad and full of despair. Synch and Skin leave the school for a small vacation in Boston and hook up with two college girls, who turn out to be members of the Friends of Humanity. Durring this time, Statis and Chamber, the two members of Gen X who are always full of dispair, notice that everyone's not just sad because Walters going to die. Their sad because of an unknown entity. Jono and walter figure out that it's D'Spayre, a former X-villain. Unfortunately, they figured it out too late. D'Spayre kidnapped Gen X and then ate off of they're sadness. Synch and Skin then returned, helped Jono and Statis defeat D'Spayre. In the end of the book, Walter dies.

Here are some bonus points about the book:

  • Statis, I think, was awsome. Too bad he didn't live to be in comics.=(
  • We finally get to see Chamber use his flying machine and find out a bit more about his past.
  • The art is by Tom Grummett!
  • We learn in the story that Jono's powers allow him to do things that he doesn't know he can do: flight, prescience, long-distance viewing, remote voice-casting with his real voice, the ability to create life, time-travel, the ability to alter the fabric of reality, and he may regenerate his face and give himself a better chin or create six heart chambers. Cool, huh?

  • Generation X: Crossroads
    Written by J. Steven York
    Click here to buy from Amazon.Com

    After touching down in Seattle, land of grunge and Starbucks, in a private jet, and battling some terrorist nasties, Emma (The White Queen) and Sean (Banshee) decide to take the Gen X kids on a cross-country trip over summer vacation. They use Emma's vast purchasing power to pick up two RV's for the trip, one for the gals (a large and luxurious ride: The X-travagent) and one for the guys (a custom job chosen solely for it's massive stereo and other neat-o accessories: The X-abago.)

    On their trek across America, Sean and Emma, acting as ambassadors on behalf of Charles Xavier, plan to stop by the many safe houses along what will someday be the Mutant Underground Support Engine (the true purpose of the trip.) On their first stop Gen X meet Chill, Recall, and Dogpound of M.O.N.S.T.E.R., a type of college fraternity for mutants and mutant supporters. They bond with their new friends and party down. Through what can only be described as a twist of fate (or a convoluted plot device) the boys of M.O.N.S.T.E.R. are also planning a road trip. However, all is not as kosher as it appears!

    A former KGB Agent known only as Ivan (who's working for a diabolical Genoshan arms trader known as the Expatriate) is following our heroes! As the trip progresses the Gen Xers discover (and subsequently become obsessed with) Walter Norman, a talk radio hack who uses his show as a single platform, mutant bashing machine. Paige takes it upon herself to call in and defend mutants from his verbal slander. She then finds herself in a web of intrigue worthy of James Bond! It would appear that Walt Norman's station manager, Trent McComb, is in fact the dreaded Expatriate. Bittered over the X-Men's toppling of the government of his homeland, the Expatriate is secretly using Walt to advance his own cause of spreading anti-mutant sentiment. Paige continues to call Norman, and each time he twists her words to reflect his own mutant-hating rhetoric. It is not until after the Gen Xers rescue the M.O.N.S.T.E.R.s from an assault by bigoted rednecks, that we see Paige (with the help of Recall's broadcasting and oration knowledge) begin to get her point across. As Walt Norman's ratings skyrocket, the Expatriate is pleased that his plan is unfolding so perfectly. Paige accepts an invitation to the show's studio for a face-to-face interview. The Expatriate plans to have Ivan and his other operatives kill Walt and place the blame on "Peg" (Paige's pseudonym), further enraging the country against mutants. This plan must be reevaluated when Walt unexpectedly fires Trent. An angry Expatriate decides to kill the host himself.

    While Sean and Emma are away at a meeting, the other Gen X kids sneak off to accompany "Peg" to the studio. On the way they are ambushed by Ivan and co. who, clad in S.H.I.E.L.D. Mandroid armor, seek to destroy the troublemakers. A super-butt-whoop-kung-fu-action-fight results. Of course, our heroes are triumphant and, upon discovering the Expatriate's plan to commit murder on live radio and blame them, attempt to save Norman's life. They succeed with the help of Sean and Emma (who found the kids thanks to Recall's powers). In the end, though Walter Norman is in no way enlightened by the experience, Generation X has succeeded in at least presenting a moderately good example of mutants in the community. Recall takes a job opposite Walt on his show, providing a pro-mutant counter-point to the host's views. Not a "happily ever after" ending, by far, but one that is both realistic and satisfying.

    Here are some bonus points about the book:

  • Paige and Jono's "relationship" was neither brought to the forefront, nor ignored. It was presented not through affection between characters, but through conflict.
  • Recall, Chill, and Dogpound. Really likeable characters that serve to show that not all mutants have earth-shattering powers.
  • Believable villians. There really are bigots, terrorists, and loud-mouthed radio hosts that make life hard for people who are different from them.
  • Humor. Yes, even Monet gets off a good one-liner or two.
  • Fair time for all characters. Writing a novel with this many primary characters could not have been an easy task, yet we still got to see plenty of each of our favorite mutants.
  • Steady plot advancement. I literally couldn't put it down.
  • Great cover art by Joe Jusko and interior illustrations by Mark Buckingham.

  • Generation X: Genogoths
    Written by J. Steven York
    Click here to buy from Amazon.Com

    I honestly don't know a better way to describe this book than the way York did in an interview I did with him, so I'm going to just let you read what he had to say about it.

    "The book should stand alone just find, but there's some continuity from Crossroads. If Crossroads was "Mutants on Summer Vacation," this is more like "Mutants on spring break."  As it is, they only make it half-way to Florida, but...

    "Elements from the first book are back, such as M.O.N.S.T.E.R., the campus mutant organization founded by Beast and Iceman back in The New Defenders #142 and not seen in the comics since.  I'm using some of the original elements too, the Xabago (which turns out to have blown a head gasket fifty miles from home, and has been quietly rusting off-panel somewhere behind the biosphere) and the guys from M.O.N.S.T.E.R., Chill, Recall, and Dog Pound. A character only glimpsed in the party scene at M.O.N.S.T.E.R. house in the first book plays a VERY important role, and I pull in a number of elements from what Kurt Busiek calls his worst work of all time (it isn't that good, but I'll read third-rate Kurt Busiek before I'll read half the people working in the industry today), the Spider-man/X-Factor miniseries.

    "Basically, Chill, Recall and Dog Pound are captured before the book begins by a secret government organization that plans to expoit mutants with "lesser" powers to hunt other mutants.  The technology to boost their powers comes from Kurt's mini-series (and has a connection to Synch's powers too), as does the man in charge.  The mystery character from Crossroads shows up on Gen-X's doorsteps just as they've been left "home-alone" by Emma and Sean and told to stay home and stay out of trouble.  So naturally, she tells them their friends are in trouble, and they fire up the Xabago and head off cross-country to effect a rescue.  Unfortunately, our mystery character is a renegade member of a secret organization call the Genogoths.  Since the time of Darwin, they've been the secret guardians of the X-gene.

    "Seems that most people who carry the gene don't have showy, useful powers like the X-men.  They have weak or useless powers, and the Genogoths have been watching over them and working to keep their profiles low, hiding them from the government, Magneto, Sinister, even Xavier.  They're a pro-mutant organization, but one with a very narrow agenda, one that puts them at odds with any mutant that draws attention to themselves.  That includes the X-Men, the Brotherhood, and because of his radio talk show, Recall.  Gen X is probably on the cusp as far as they're concerned.  They think the rescue will draw too much attention to mutantkind and they'll do anything it takes to stop the rescue and guard their secrets."


    Other Novels Featuring Generation X

    Star Trek: The Next Generation/X-Men: Planet X
    Banshee appears in this book with the X-Men, though he is a teacher at the Massachusetts Academy. The book, honestly, is terrible; please, only read it if you're a huge, gigantic Gen X fan, because it reads worse than most fan-fiction.

    X-Men: Codename “Wolverine”
    Banshee appears in this book in the “then” portions as an Interpol agent and in the "now" portions with him teaching Generation X. He is kidnapped, along with several Weapon X members and the Black Widow, due to connections to a top-secret mission they were all in some way connected to.

    X-Men: The Phalanx Covenant
    A kids book version of the comic event. Features some new art, though it's all based on the stuff that appeared in the comics.