Issue: #12 - February 1996
Title: The Return of Emplate
Creative Team: Scott Lobdell & Todd Dezago (writers), Tom Gummett (guest artist), Buckingham, Sellers, Morales, Milgrom, Rubinstein (inks - five people? Egad!), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters), Steve Buccellato & Electric Crayon (colors).

Summary/Review: "Just a trip to Boston? Sure. Maybe later we'll all get ambushed by Emplate and some new friends. That'd be swell." Yep, that's what happened. First, Skin dropped Jono off to meet an old friend, then Espinosa got smashed in the head by an unidentified fist. Back at the restaurant, Jono is greeted by his friend, a girl named Gayle Edgerton, who was put in a wheelchair by Chamber, accidentally, of course. The she pulls an Emplate and knocks him out (she's got one of those mouths on her hand like Emplate, see). Jubilee, Husk, Mondo, and Synch are ambushed by purple smoke and Banshee scares M off by bringing up her family (read: older brother and two twin sisters). Then he gets ambushed. Same with Ms. Frost, she tries to check out Penance's mind and is shocked by visions of war, the she gets ambushed. Nicely planned, eh? It ends with Monet returning to the school, seeing the cars, then seeing the fire, going closer to the fire, seeing her friends unconscious and Emplate (and company) greets her by saying, "I was wondering if you were ever going to join the party ---LITTLE SISTER!" Doo doo dooooooo!

Quick Thoughts: Hey, I liked this one. It seemed short and sweet, but it was still good (hence the 'sweet'). It seemed very cinematic in some ways, most notably the way it brought everyone together via the tricks and traps, yet it also had a sort of classic style feel about it (namely the end of the issue, with the big revelation). Perhaps that was Dezago's influence there, or Lobdell was just going back to his roots, so to speak. Still, it was keen and it really got me ready for the next issue.

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