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A review by bgibs122
Cyborg, Volume 1: The Imitation Of Life by John Semper Jr.
3.0
I picked this up at a comic shop on a weekend trip about a month ago. Along with a choice baked good, we'd had a lengthy stay at a brewery earlier that day, and I grabbed this 1. because I like Cyborg well enough that I bought the #1 issue of his '14 or '15 run, despite not reading comics with any regularity, and 2. as a way to placate the impulse-buy part of my brain that saw a D&D published adventure and started rubbing its hands together.
I watched the original Teen Titans as preteen (quick side note: the OG Teen Titans feels like a sneakily influential show. Any kids/YA show that does the whole "This episode is the goofy lark where the villain has a funny voice; the next episode is a deep dive into a character's insecurities or traumas" thing has TT's fingerprints at least in the corners), and you figured out pretty quickly where each Titan's pathos comes from; Starfire gets the fish-out-of-water stories and puberty metaphors, trad superhero stories tended to be Robin's, Raven's episodes featured horror and gravitas, and Cyborg's mined his half man/half machine nature for all it's worth.
The Imitation of Life goes someplace similar. Driven by a reveal from the villain known as Malware, Cyborg worries that his upgrades stripped him of his humanity (and he's not the first to worry about such), fears exacerbated once he finds out that some parts of his memory are quite literally locked away from him. In between the action setpieces, Cyborg pals around Detroit with STAR scientist Sarah and a jazz musician named Blue, who tries to get Cyborg out of his head and get him to connect with the city. Things go from bad to worse as Cyborg has to contend with an infection and nightmares in his system, all while there's a body-double plot happening in the background that pushes the trade to a somewhat rushed but intriguing finish.
There's a lot to like here. The fights with Malware and Kilg%re are splashy affairs that convey the size and power of all involved, and the book's quieter moments are lovingly rendered, as well. The father-son relationship between Silas and Victor shines through, particularly in issues 2 and 3, I want to say, and while other reviews chide this book for being navel gazing and slow, I appreciate a superhero story that isn't trying to punch its way out of a problem, especially since so much of what makes Cyborg tick is literally internal. The trade's 4th and maybe 5th issues inside the mind are visually inventive and endearingly sci-fi.
All that said, some things don't really work. The Justice League tie-in feels needlessly busy (did the entire JL need to make an appearance? I don't even think Aquaman gets any lines), and there's a plotline introduced in the last issue that feels like it comes from left field. The last issue overall feels a bit condensed, like a story trying to catch up with itself, but at least the Detroit stuff is nice.
Overall, I'm happy with this one. Not my favorite read of the year, but certainly a fun enough read, and probably a better use of money than another D&D book I haven't run yet.
I watched the original Teen Titans as preteen (quick side note: the OG Teen Titans feels like a sneakily influential show. Any kids/YA show that does the whole "This episode is the goofy lark where the villain has a funny voice; the next episode is a deep dive into a character's insecurities or traumas" thing has TT's fingerprints at least in the corners), and you figured out pretty quickly where each Titan's pathos comes from; Starfire gets the fish-out-of-water stories and puberty metaphors, trad superhero stories tended to be Robin's, Raven's episodes featured horror and gravitas, and Cyborg's mined his half man/half machine nature for all it's worth.
The Imitation of Life goes someplace similar. Driven by a reveal from the villain known as Malware, Cyborg worries that his upgrades stripped him of his humanity (and he's not the first to worry about such), fears exacerbated once he finds out that some parts of his memory are quite literally locked away from him. In between the action setpieces, Cyborg pals around Detroit with STAR scientist Sarah and a jazz musician named Blue, who tries to get Cyborg out of his head and get him to connect with the city. Things go from bad to worse as Cyborg has to contend with an infection and nightmares in his system, all while there's a body-double plot happening in the background that pushes the trade to a somewhat rushed but intriguing finish.
There's a lot to like here. The fights with Malware and Kilg%re are splashy affairs that convey the size and power of all involved, and the book's quieter moments are lovingly rendered, as well. The father-son relationship between Silas and Victor shines through, particularly in issues 2 and 3, I want to say, and while other reviews chide this book for being navel gazing and slow, I appreciate a superhero story that isn't trying to punch its way out of a problem, especially since so much of what makes Cyborg tick is literally internal. The trade's 4th and maybe 5th issues inside the mind are visually inventive and endearingly sci-fi.
All that said, some things don't really work. The Justice League tie-in feels needlessly busy (did the entire JL need to make an appearance? I don't even think Aquaman gets any lines), and there's a plotline introduced in the last issue that feels like it comes from left field. The last issue overall feels a bit condensed, like a story trying to catch up with itself, but at least the Detroit stuff is nice.
Overall, I'm happy with this one. Not my favorite read of the year, but certainly a fun enough read, and probably a better use of money than another D&D book I haven't run yet.