CREDIT: DC Comics
Rating: 3/5 – Art Changes Plague Cyborg…Again!
By ComicSpectrum senior reviewer Shawn Hoklas.
Over the course of its first five issues, Cyborg has had its shares of ups and downs in both story and especially art. During the New 52 Cyborg series, I eventually lost interest in the book and dropped the title when I didn’t enjoy a certain change with the character and all the different artistic teams. While I’ve enjoyed this series more than I did the New 52 run, some of the same things that made me drop the last series are happening again.
Let’s start with the character changes. Since it happened over a year ago I think it’s fair to discuss here, but Cyborg now has the power to change his appearance to be all human. While this power can only be used for a limited time, it takes away from the struggle Vic Stone (Cyborg) has in dealing with his appearance and his desire to be more human than machine. Thankfully that new power doesn’t appear here in the fifth issue, but writer John Semper Jr. has introduced it once again. The reason I bring it up is that much of this issue is devoted to Cyborg as Vic Stone, living a normal life until he’s called into an emergency with an all new character who looks as though she may play a major role in the series going forward. I enjoyed the quieter moments with Vic in this issue, as it humanized him without the need to alter his appearance to be more human.
A key reason I left Cyborg the first time was because of the numerous art changes and there’s plenty of them again not only in this series, but in this issue! With five issues of Cyborg, we’ve had five different artists on the book. Paul Pelletier kicked off the series with the first two issues, then with each subsequent issue it has been a different artist with this fifth issue having two artists, Allan Jefferson and Derec Donovan. While Jefferson’s art works for this book and the first half, Donovan’s art in the second half really misses the tone with its cartoony and blocky style. It ends the book on a low note for me as the art does not match the dark and climactic ending. I’m not sure if Cyborg will stay on my reading list. I hope it does, but with all the changes in art and character I’m not very confident.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas
(shawn@comicspectrum.com)
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