Greetings, I finally decided to take the plunge and write a blog. I recently finished reading the first volume of DC Rebirth's Cyborg stand alone series, which collects the prologue as well as the first five issues, and thought it deserved a bit of attention and discussion. Rather than going issue by issue I'll just talk about some of the themes/areas that stood out to me as particularly interesting.

Victor Stone

The most important thing that this volume achieved in my opinion was the proper introduction and development of Victor Stone. As a reader, if I'm going to maintain long term investment in a superhero then I also have to be invested in their secret identity. This isn't true for everyone, such as Green Lantern, but in general when I look at Superman, Batman, Flash and Spider-Man, they all have secret identities that I feel engaged with. Cyborg is obviously a unique case as it's almost impossible for him to separate being Cyborg and being Victor Stone. This issue proves that it can be done though and overcomes the largest obstacle that was preventing me from being interested in a stand alone Cyborg book.

This volume primarily deals with the issue of whether Cyborg is more machine than man. Obviously this is his "thing" and for long term Cyborg fans it might be a bit too familiar. As one of the new Cyborg readers I must admit I do appreciate seeing a story about his oldest and most fundamental problem. I'm aware it might seem mundane for some fans but I think it is necessary if DC hopes to establish a larger Cyborg fan base. The way he engages with other people around him and the city of Detroit is interesting and the problem provides a good excuse to really show off Victor's personality.

It was very satisfying to get a bit more context as to why he and has father have such a strained relationship and to be introduced to his mother. Prior to reading this volume, Cyborgs relationship with his father seemed rather two dimensional. There's was clearly more to it than just his father being a giant douche but a comic like Justice League obviously never had the time to get into it. This volume gives a bit more depth to the relationship and expands on their history together, as well as dealing with the loss of Victor's mother and Silas's wife. Their relationship is clearly something John Semper wants to expand on further down the line and I'm interested to see to what extent they can properly resolve their issues. The loss of his wife took a large toll on Silas but it certainly isn't the only reason for the rift between the two of them.

The other major figure in Victor Stone's life is Sarah, the love interest of the book that also serves as Victor's best friend. From the start their chemistry was obvious but it didn't feel forced. Sarah is one of the few people that brings out Victor's sense of humor and I think she plays a crucial role in humanizing Victor and making him relatable. She's also his strongest connection to the outside world and provides an excuse for him to leave the lab once in a while.

As the story progresses, Victor discovers that some of his memories have been erased. One of these memories is of a woman that he loved very deeply but he is unable to remember her face. This is one of the flaws with the story in my opinion as it seemed immediately obvious to me who the woman was. Now I'm not expecting Victor to realize it's Sarah completely but I'd certainly expect him to at least consider it could be her. Furthermore, at the end of the issue we see Sarah crying over photos of the two of them together. Logically, there there must be a reason as to why she doesn't simply tell him they were once in love, however, that then begs the question as to why she's trying so hard to spend time with him now? If she doesn't want them to be together again it would make sense for her to distance herself from him. The whole situation is a little bit frustrating. Hopefully it will have a satisfying explanation somewhere down the line rather than being a poor attempt at forcing unnecessary drama.

The stand out sections of this volume for me were when we got to see Victor go out into Detroit. Despite growing up in the city it's clear he's an outsider. That doesn't mean he doesn't belong there though and it was an important step for him to be able to see the city for what it is. Yes it has it's dangerous parts, as a result of both the gangsters and the cops but underneath the issues there is a good community that's worth defending. In particular, I thought it was a nice move to make him a symbol of War Veterans. The scene wasn't overdone or drawn out unnecessarily but spoke a simple truth that Victor Stone lost a lot of himself in the accident and had to be put back together with parts that aren't necessarily "him." Now of course not every war veteran gets to become a bad-ass Cyborg, just as not every blind person develops sonar vision, but it's fitting that Cyborg is the champion for those people that have sacrificed so much of themselves. It's clear they've decided to make Detroit Cyborg's city and have already begun to establish a few side characters that can help guide and inspire Victor to be a great hero.

As you can tell, I really liked seeing this side of Cyborg and I hope it's something they continue to develop on.

Cyborg

I know I've already written a lot about Victor Stone but I just want to briefly talk about Cyborg as a super hero. Most, if not all, of this volume deals with Cyborg's own personal problems and villains that target him specifically. As a result, we don't get to see him go out and save the day in the typical manner. The villains aren't attacking the city, they're attacking him. Like many heroes, Cyborg is currently spending more time dealing with his own issues than actually being the typical hero that watches over his city and stops danger. As I've said before, I think this is a perfectly reasonable approach for the first story but as a hero that is typically isolated from humanity, it would be awesome to see him become the guardian of the city and develop some deep connections to the people of Detroit.

Admittedly there is one scene in the first issue where Cyborg manages to stop some armed robbers, which I thought was a nice touch. Personally, I always enjoy having a nice reminder that these people are heroes first regardless of their personal rivalries with villains or relationship drama. At the end of the day they're here to save people from all kinds of threats, no matter how large or small they may be. Even Cyborg, who's in the middle of questioning his humanity, instinctively knows to help people and to do the right thing. Perhaps I'm over selling a very simple scene but I feel the story benefited from a heartwarming moment and it's a good sign of things to come.

I've always thought Cyborg has one of the coolest looking outfits and that's certainly true in this volume. He's already incredibly powerful and John Semper doesn't feel the need to make him any more powerful, at least for the moment. The only new feature that's teased is his ability to transform into his human self for a very limited amount of time. This could have some serious implications for his secret identity down the line but ultimately isn't too beneficial to his role as a super hero unless he needs to go undercover. Similarly, the fight scenes were cool but didn't show off anything new. With the new Justice League film teasing a new mask/helmet, I thought there was a chance the comic might follow suit but for now one side of his face remains fully exposed to metal fists, bullets and explosions.

The Villains

Nothing beats a good villain. While they're not essential to having a good story, a stand out villain can really send a book above and beyond and really help it stand out. In this first volume Cyborg battle's three villains, Malware, Kilg%re and an unknown villain behind the scenes pulling the strings. As you might imagine, they are all machines of some kind.

Let's talk about the man behind the scenes as he appears to be the major villain of the arc. Somehow he has established himself as the leader of a group of machines, that have all been lost or abandoned at some point. Some of them he may have designed himself, it isn't currently clear. He has his eye on Cyborg as both an incredibly powerful machine and also perhaps as the future of robots. The kicker is that he also looks exactly like Cyborg's dad. His motives and even his existence isn't fully explained within this first volume but I will say he's certainly an intriguing villain that's got my attention. During the story he manages to switch himself with Cyborg's dad and I'm a sucker for seeing a villain infiltrate a group of heroes, knowing that they could strike at any time. Whether he stands the test of time is entirely based on how well his origin story is explained in later issues so I'll refrain from passing too much judgement.

Malware and Kilg%re are both somewhat generic machines that Cyborg has to punch and blast his way through. They're entertaining enough for what they are and provide some decent fight scenes but they certainly aren't the highlight of the volume. Kilg%re definitely seemed a bit more menacing and I wouldn't be surprised if we see him again soon but ultimately he's not going to pose much of a threat.

The main reason I wanted to right about this area, however, is the man himself T. O. Morrow. He's currently just a lab assistant for Silas Stone, a role he's had since the beginning of the New 52 if I'm not mistaken. Now I don't believe he was put in this position by mistake and DC must have plans for Morrow. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up being the real villain behind everything in this first volume.

My hope is that Morrow will be given time to breathe. Maybe we'll get some hints at his more sinister nature and be left guessing as to whether he's his old evil self or just a simple scientist in this universe. Either way I want to see him getting more involved with everything that's going on rather than taking a back seat. This version of Morrow knows almost everything about Cyborg, given the proper motivation, he could be a terrifying villain that can really push Cyborg to his limits. Getting to see his descent into madness would be an added bonus in my opinion.

Artwork

I've left this section for the end as I don't know much about art and have very little of actual value to say on the matter here. Most readers will probably benefit from skipping the next section but if some of you reading are really into art then I'd appreciate you taking the time to read this and giving me feedback on what little analysis I have to offer.

Now I'm not normally fussy about art and I'm certainly not qualified to judge it as an expert or anything but on this occasion I couldn't ignore the topic. There are some jarring differences in the tone and style of the art throughout this volume that I thought couldn't go unmentioned even by a casual such as myself.

The first two issues are drawn by Paul Pelletier and to my untrained eyes I believe they are quite standard as far as art goes. They have a serious tone but it still felt like a comic book if that makes sense? If the entire volume had been draw in this style I'd have had no complaints.

Then the third issue really steps up the quality of the art for me and is drawn by Will Conrad and colored by Ivan Nunes. The issue is very nicely detailed and the colors really suit the art style. I'm not sure why they chose this specific issue to let them try but I'm glad they did as the best fight scenes of the volume take place in this issue. As one of the founding members of the Justice League, I also feel he deserves to have some of the best artwork going and his costume and fight scenes clearly benefit from it a lot.

It was therefore quite strange that issues 4 and 5 revert to more of a cartoon style. I'm aware Cyborg is an inherently fun and action packed character and that perhaps this style better reflects that. I could be taking this all way too seriously but personally I would prefer the more serious style and feel it makes sense to utilize it while DC are trying to sell Cyborg as one of their major characters. Maybe I'm just being too fussy or missing the point but I thought I'd at least see if other people had a similar reaction to mine.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately the reason I decided to write this blog is that for the first time I became interested in Cyborg as a stand alone character. I think this first volume was far from perfect but it did it's job, and then some, by making me attached to Cyborg as a character and the people around him. If anyone else has had a similar desire to get to know more about the character I would say that this is the right point to jump on. How successful this run ends up being depends very much on how satisfying volume 2 turns out to be but I'd say there's a lot of potential for a really good story to come out of this.

If I had to give the volume a rating I'd give it a 8 but first I feel I should explain how I rate things. I'm normally quite generous when it comes to ratings and internally consider 7 to be average when logically 5 should be an average score. In general if anything gets over a 7 then it impressed me in some way and if it gets below that then I was probably disappointed, I rarely give out 10s and it's equally rare for me to consider something a 1-4 out of 10. The reason I give Cyborg volume 1 an 8 is that I felt it was a good introduction to the character, that went above my expectations. They did a good job of establishing Cyborg as a hero, Victor Stone as a man and his supporting cast. The villains were a weak point for me and a lot of the volume is set up for the next so it's hard to justify giving it anything higher than an 8 but I feel it did it's job well.

On an unrelated note, this is my first attempt at writing a blog. I'd love any and all feedback on ways to improve if I do try writing another one. I'd also like to hear if people agree with my assessment or if you think I'm way off the mark. Thanks for reading!