X-GEN: The Unknown Generation

Let's get the obvious out of the way.  X-Gen (The Unknown Generation) was a very blatant knock-off of the X-Men.  There's no getting around it.  Written and drawn by Gilbert Monsanto, it debuted on May 14, 1995 in the first issue of Dragonboy Z Komiks, a magazine whose main feature was a knock-off of Dragon Ball Z.  It was published by Infinity Publishing Inc., which was of course known for its Street Fighter-knock off (inventive though it may be), Kick Fighter Komiks.

Anyway, X-Gen is a team of mutant heroes, products of genetic experimentation, who are gathered together by one Dr. Joselito Javier, the scientist who developed  the X-Genetics process that created them.

DR. JOSELITO JAVIER
I guess they would have called him Dr. J, but they never did.  The leader and father figure of the "X-Gen-ers," he creates the team to combat the evil mutants created from his stolen research.  Like Professor X, he possesses vast psychic powers.  Unlike Professor X, he is not crippled and has a full set of head and facial hair.

ALAMID

Named after the Asian palm civet or the toddy cat.  After eating food contaminated with a mutagenic chemical, scientist Tony Berg was transformed into a mutant berserker with razor sharp claws and the ability to heal rapidly from any injury.  He also wears a symbiotic costume which can repair any damage that it sustains, though I suspect the reason for that is so the artist wouldn't have to redraw his torn up costume from the previous issue. 

 Gotta give some credit, at least they tried to make Alamid's back story as far as they possibly could from Wolverine (never mind that he basically got his powers via food poisoning).  Also, that's a pretty cool costume redesign, which kind of resembles the Ultimate Wolverine look that would appear years later.

  CYCLON
The field commander.  Fires powerful blasts from his eyes.

  
STEEL

The team powerhouse, Steel has superhuman strength and can turn his body into--well, steel.

RAJA

She has super strength and the power of flight.  Doesn't seem to have Rogue's absorption powers.

PSI-LOCK

Gee, I wonder who she's supposed to be?  A female ninja with psionic abilities.

  

HAMOK

Cyclon's brother, a secret agent who can generate devastating waves of energy from his hands.

SERAPH

Born with six wings on his back, the boy named Serapio was abandoned as a baby and raised by Alamid's sister, Lanie.  Aside from the ability to fly, he can also create powerful winds by flapping his wings.

VILLAINS

MAGNO 

Dr. Javier's evil twin brother, who gains his powers from his sibling's stolen research.  He possesses powerful psychic abilities and can produce destructive energy blasts.

 SAURUS

A human pterodactyl with hypnotic powers.  Formerly Alamid's rival scientist, Saurus was responsible for spiking his food with the chemicals that mutated him.

GIGANTO

Saurus' cousin, the "executioner" of their family.  Born with "super-flexed muscles" which give him his enormous size and strength.

KADYO

Short for Arcadio, a crooked "showmaster" who uses a carnival as a front for his kidnapping operation.  Has access to an alternate dimension where cartoons become real.

  

DOK BOOM & VOLTAR

Dok Boom (man, they're not even trying with these names) is an armored crime lord who teams up with Versus' electric-powered villain Voltar.

  

SHADOW CREEP

A mutant who worshiped a "dark being" in order to attain more power.  He has the ability to possess other people and transform himself into a giant shadow creature.

HOJO

Reality-altering being from another dimension who challenges the X-Gen to appear in his movie (really, I should just say based on Mojo and you'd get the picture).  Appears at the end of the strip's second run in Kick Fighter III Komiks which we will look at later on.

TARI

Hojo's sharp-clawed (and probably saber-toothed) henchman, leader of his team of enforcers, the Ravagers.

SPECIAL GUEST STARS

BLADES AND BULLETS

 Kick Fighter heroes Biotrog, Angel and Jolas Zuares (starring at the time in Kick Figther II Komiks' Blades and Bullets) team up with Alamid and Psi-Lock against Dok Boom and Voltar.

THE DRAGONBOY Z CAST

The team meets Vigita and other characters of their magazine's co-feature in Kadyo's cartoon dimension.

 X-GEN: APOCALYPSE

X-Gen's original run lasted until Dragonboy Z Komiks #17 (September 3, 1995), the magazine's final issue.  But the series returned in the pages of Kick Fighter III Komiks early in 1996.  Dar Medina took over as writer with Jim Jimenez as artist.

The revived series departed drastically  from the previous one, recasting the X-Gen as genetically-engineered youths placed in cryogenic suspension and awakened years later to a post-apocalyptic world.  It would seem that the new writer wasn't all that familiar with the original strip, so he just decided to change the premise from scratch.  In fact, aside from Alamid, the rest of the characters suddenly had their names changed.  For instance, the Colossus knock-off was now Bagul (whatever that means), Havok was now Javoc (which is about as clever as "Psi-Lock"), and Rogue became Rougue (how do you even pronounce that?).

X-GEN: THE LAST STAND

The last two installments of the series appeared in KFIII#26-27 (July 15-22, 1996), written by Jay Jimenez and illustrated by original artist Gilbert Monsanto, ending the strip on a familiar note.

COVERS