Glad the thread is back. shakes angry fist of rage at Kilg%re Cyborg shall not be thwarted. Here are my answers to the questions, as best as I remember them.
Is this your first time reading Cyborg Rebirth?
Yes, I had never read a solo Cyborg story previously.
What was the most memorable or surprising story twist to you?
There was a panel that had all the robots that the main villain had taken over. I loved seeing some characters that don’t always get a ton of love on that screen. I wonder if those characters come back up at some point in the rest of the series. Since the thread was sent to the phantom zone, I am going to state further that I am actually going to buy the first three volumes of this series because I liked what was here so much.
What do you think of Sarah? Did your view of Sarah change by the end of the story?
I read this question before reading and I thought for sure Sarah was going to be a villain. Her story took a drastically different direction than I thought it would. When it arrived at the ending, I felt myself crying for this character. I am glad I misinterpreted her place in the story. I am intrigued by the character and am interested to see how that is resolved, if it does.
Who would you like to see team up with Cyborg in a story arc?
Starfire! I don’t think he gets a lot of time with this former “New Teen Titan” member because they are often linked to other characters. It would be interesting to see how they would play off each other because they are such distinct people and they don’t often work together. Maybe this has occurred somewhere and I am just not aware of it, but it would be fascinating to read.
I loved reading Cyborg this week and looking forward to seeing other’s opinions of these issues. I fell in love with a character that I didn’t think I would from this book club reading. Glad I joined up this week.
@PrincessAmethyst
Thanks again for letting us know the original thread had mysteriously vanished! And a HUGE thank you for reposting your response.
I liked Sarah from the start. She clearly had a crush on him and really cared for him. But by the end of issue for my heart ached for what she must be going through!
Starfire / Cyborg would be a fun arc! They both have strong and charismatic personalities, and as you mentioned they don’t often work as partners. That would be fun to read.
I’m glad you enjoyed it and I hope you like the rest of the series! This arc had a lot of heart, IMO.
Yes. My first time reading any kind of solo Cyborg comic.
There were 2 things that surprised me the most. First, Cyborg likes to wear sweatpants when he works out. He doesn’t need sweatpants. He just picked up a van and busted 2 robbers without them. But when it comes to training, he needs his pants. Second, the fact that Silas blocked out old memories from before the accident was pretty shocking to me. He already has concerns about Vic’s spontaneity. But to block out important memories because he is afraid of how he will react emotionally goes beyond being protecting his son. I think it shows a bigger risk of Silas being Dr. Frankenstein than it does of Victor being the monster.
I really like Sarah. Very early on she seemed to be mostly concerned about Cyborg the machine and how he performs than she did Victor the human. But my opinion changed once she suggested taking him out to clear his head. She was definitely more interested in helping Vic regain his sense of humanity, to the point that she was obviously heartbroken when the old girlfriend appeared. I am excited to continue on with the story and see if Vic can eventually unlock the old memories he has with Sarah.
Maybe this is unlikely and obvious at the same time, but I’d like to see a story arc with Cyborg Superman. Whether it is as a team up or a battle, it would be fun to see which Cyborg comes out on top. Both have similar backgrounds in that their perfect lives we turned upside-down by an unfortunate accident. Both lost loved ones in said accident. Both rely on alien technology to keep them going. But each one took a significantly different path. This being my first experience with Cyborg, maybe this has already happened. Either way, the parallels between the two would make for a very interesting read.
@410Supes “Knowledge is knowing that Frankenstein isn’t the monster; wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein IS the monster,” right? Silas can definitely fit into that paradigm at his worst!
Also, I’ve always wanted to see a story where Vic Stone and Kal-El team up to fight Hank Henshaw. Superman/Cyborg vs Cyborg-Superman! Partly because I think it’s kind of clever, but mostly because I really think all the characters are great and would interact in interesting ways.
I love that you called out the sweatpants! I didn’t even think about that. I see it like @MattMcDonald as a comfort thing.
IMO, by blocking out the memories, Silas contributed to making Cyborg less human. Our pain is part of what makes us human. We grow and learn from pain. By removing the painful experience that made him who he is, he lost so much of himself.
@hannahward1850.60572
I’ve never heard that saying before about Frankenstein, I like it! And I agree, Silas can be one or the other. But I truly believe he loves his son.
I totally agree that it’s a comfort thing. Maybe he’s just superstitious (or even a little stitious) like most athletes. Even Michael Jordan didn’t feel right about taking on the Monstars in Space Jam without his lucky shorts. Just funny seeing Cyborg go from no pants to sweatpants.
2.) I guess the most memorable twist would have to be the body swapping of Silas. I really didn’t see that coming.
3.) I like Sarah, but i actually don’t like that she is hiding her past with Vic. To be honest i don’t really understand the whole memory wiping thing, and it’s purpose.
4.) My answer for any team up is Green Arrow.
I liked this book, but it did kinda wear out it’s welcome towards the end. I don’t like a lot of artist switching and it was pretty noticeable here. Also the writing was kinda, weird? Like what was up with young Vic calling his mom ‘Mummy?’ I will forever give Vic a terrible british accent in my head.
Just small nitpicks. I liked him battling with his humanity. That is always a really touching them that runs through a lot of Cyborg stories. I cannot imagine how hard living his life must be. Also Killg%re was pretty neat. I liked when they punched. Overall a solid 6 or 7 out of 10 from ya boy Matt.
Dude, I literally yelled in fear when I read the attached panel of Kilg%re appearing and talking to Silas in the car. That experience would’ve been terrifying! How did Kilg%re get there? He just appeared outta nowhere. It was a scary-fun moment for me.
I think the art was inconsistent. Some panels were excellent, then others were less than excellent.
The Silas switch was my most memorable twist too. Well played, didn’t see it coming!
I’m curious about how Sarah’s story (and the consequences for her role in keeping the secret) will play out in the series.
I believe i had read the first issue or two back when I was collecting all the floppies for Rebirth.
“What was the most memorable or surprising story twist to you?”
Like others have said, definitely Sarah, because while this is the first time reading this book for a considerable amount, she has been around since the very beginning all the way from the first arc of Justice League. I THINK Sarah was even the name of the girl who Cyborg had an on-off relationship with in Wolfman/Perez’s TT comics, so I could be wrong there. I think the chemistry for it was there, I probably assumed they would do something like that somewhere down the line, but the idea that it had happened before and he doesn’t remember was a surprise.
Since I feel like I kind of accidentally mixed #3 with #2, I’m going to go ahead and skip that.
“Who would you like to see team up with Cyborg in a story arc?”
My first thought before reading the book and the discussion was Barbara Gordon, either as Oracle or Batgirl. I think having two characters who are both very adept with technology would be really interesting. I think Cyborg would naturally assume that he would run circles around Barbara because, well, he’s part machine and he’s used to being the smartest guy in the room, and I would imagine being around someone who in some ways could be a peer, if not an equal would surprise and intrigue him. Plus I think both of them could relate to what it’s like to have their worlds completely changed and having to deal with certain disabilities. Honestly, the more I think about it, if DC ever wanted to give Barbara a different love interest outside of DIck, I think Cyborg would be a really strong candidate.
Another one I thought of while reading the discussion was Frankenstein of SHADE, because of the whole Frankenstein talk before, how they do both kind of relate to being created in a way they never expected or really wanted, but learned to live with themselves. Plus the more Frank there is in comics, the better things are, it’s just straight up science.
I can definitely see what you mean with the writing and the art jump.
All the artists, Paul Pelletier, Will Conrad, and Timothy Green II, are solid artists who each do really solid work, but I kind of wish if they were going to do that much artist rotation that they split it up more evenly. Like, maybe have Timothy Green do the dream sequences and Pelletier or Conrad do the real world scenes. But most likely it was done this way because Cyborg is one of the lower tier characters and could switch things around too much without a lot of complaint.
As for the writing…it feels like a really solid bronze age book written in 2016, for better and for worse. It’s good in that unlike some more modern, decompressed books which just feel like a selection of scenes, each issue of this book was old school in it’s structure where each issue had it’s own hook, and was able to explain what happened before in case someone picks it up for the first time, and still forwards the story. It can be awkward in that it makes the dialogue feel very clunky and awkward compared to the more naturalistic dialogue style that’s more popular nowadays. Personally, as someone who has a lot of appreciation for those older comics, I can stomach the occasional groaner line or two for a book with such a great structure, but I get that another fan might feel the opposite.
Speaking of, fun fact I realized while looking things up: John Semper, the writer of this book, was mostly known for kids televison before writing for Cyborg, his most fameous work definitely being writer and story editor for the 90s Spider-Man animated series. When I saw that, a lot of things fell into place and explained A LOT about this book.
@Jay_Kay
I am floored and sooo intrigued by the idea of Cyborg as a potential love interest for Batgirl, outside of Dick. I would read that so fast! I like to read story arcs where DC goes outside of the box for the established tropes of their characters.
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