CyberForce #1 - #4

Top Cow always placed second in my mind to WildStorm in the earliest Image days, even if they were still all the same studio at the time. You know what I mean...

I enjoyed Marc Silvestri's work on "Wolverine" an awful lot, but wouldn't read his X-Men issues until years later.

When Image started, I was excited for "WildC.A.T.s" and was merely interested in "CyberForce."

Like all Image team comics in the earliest days, Silvestri's excitement and enthusiasm gets the better of him. The initial four part mini-series he kicked things off with features at least three different superpowered teams of characters, one decidedly good, one decidedly bad, and one you're not entirely sure of at first but become good and the stars of their own spin-off series very quickly.

The stars of the issues were the superpowers and how they fought. There's some attempt at personalities by way of quips and woefully unsubtle dialogue, but the whole thing is a bit of a plot-jammed mess. People keep running around, running into each other, and fighting. Others brood in the shadows, waiting for their chance to strike. They have some kind of connection to someone, but who knows what, exactly?

Yeah, there's just too much stuff in these issues.

The Good News

It's a very pretty book, particularly in the first two issues when Silvestri inks himself. His scratchy inks are a big part of his art's flavor. Scott Williams is a great inker, and a fit for Silvestri in many scenarios, but can't help to pull the book in a different visual direction. Things look a little more angular and cleaner with an inker. I like scratchy better.

The design aesthetic carries over well across all the characters. The amount of armor and cyber-stuff that Silvestri drew in here is tremendous. He has the knack for drawing shine off metallic body armor, that's for sure. He combines it well with the spandex costumes and the big sleeves and collars and jackets (and great hair!) that accompany it to give CyberForce its unique look in a crowded superhero market.

There's a great visual dynamic in much of Silvestri's work on this mini-series. When characters come charging towards the reader or leaping across the page, or just throwing a punch, there's a dynamism at work that's impressive. It works even better with a couple of panels leading into one of those poses that set it up. Silvestri tells certain story beats as strongly as he does the flying leap kicks and triple gun firings. I just wish there was more of those character moments and beats.

Crossovers

There were lots of little crossovers in the earliest days of Image. "Savage Dragon" and "Spawn" shared a near-miss scene. The news lady from tv in "Spawn" showed up in just about every other comic, including "CyberForce." It looks like Emp from WildC.A.T.s is in an early scene here, still drunk in the alley.

And, of course, there was Pitt. Everyone wanted Pitt in their comic, I guess. That included "WildC.A.T.s," "The Maxx", "Spawn" (as a pin up), "Youngblood", "Badrock and Company", "Gen13", and, yes, "CyberForce." It made sense here, as both titles featured a lost little boy accompanying the superpowered individual named Timmie/Timmy.

Is Pitt just that much fun to draw? Did everyone really want to draw Hulk at Marvel and now took this opportunity to get the next big muscled thing?

But, Really, Aren't We All Just Reinventing the X-Men Here?

Kind of, yes. Silvestri even goes so far as to use the word "mutants" in this series pretty freely.

You can do your comparisons between teams to see who takes which roles. Ripclaw is pretty obviously Wolverine, who is also a lot like Warblade.

Velocity is Kitty Pryde, the viewpoint character entering a strange world. But she never gets used for that purpose very strongly. She just keeps running away from bad guys.

Heatwave is likely Scott Summers. Cyblade is pretty blatantly Psylocke.

Some of it is just the tropes of doing team titles in the shadow of Chris Claremont's X-Men. Some of it, no doubt, is from absorbing that material while working on it. The origins don't matter so long as the characters are interesting and memorable.

Looks like I only collected the series for about a year, so I guess it didn't catch on with me even then.

Fancy Covers

Silvestri released an open letter/ad to declare he wouldn't do any more fancy metallic covers after he did one with "CyberForce" #4. The crazy thing is, a metallic cover is the perfect fit for a series with metallic characters like CyberForce.

What made me laugh, in retrospect, is the "huge" tax the fancy cover put on the comic. It's the difference of 55 cents -- between $1.95 and $2.50. In today's market, we rarely deal with comics at a 50 cent price. They're all at $2.99, $3.99, or $4.99. (A couple still carry $3.50 price tags, I believe, but they're the oddballs.)

In 1992, you still moved prices around in 50 cent increments. Prices didn't jump from $1.99 to $2.99. A 50% price hike would have been scandalous. $2.50 was the resting place between those two numbers, instead.

Today, we do anniversary issues that are $9.99, and regular issues of big crossover series for $4.99.

Really, though, a foil logo for "CyberForce" makes perfect sense. It's just incredibly tough to get a good scan of.

More to Come

That leaves me with two more series to talk about. I think we'll look at "ShadowHawk" next week, and finish things off for this series with "YoungBlood."

And join me at PipelineComics.com for more on Image's 25th anniversary, including more on CyberForce in the days ahead... There's always more to say!

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