Book Review: Cyborg vol #2 (DC You)

Book: Cyborg volume #2: Enemy of the State (issues #7-12) by David F. Walker (#7-9) and Marv Wolfman (#10-12)

Illustration by Claude St. Aubin (#7), Felipe Watanabe (#8-12), Daniel HDR (#8, 10-12), Julio Ferreira (#8-12) and Ivan Reis (layout #10),

Ink by Andy Owens (#7), Oclair Albert (#8-12), Julio Ferreira (#8-12) and Daniel HDR (#11-12)

Color by Adriano Lucas (#7-12) and Letters by Rob Leigh (#7-9, 11-12) and Corey Breen (#10)

Edition: Single Print Issues


Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Cyborg volume #2 has a good balance of good story telling, humor, sci-fi and action. I love seeing all the moments between Victor and his father because they were very fun and heartwarming. The writing is good and the plot seems to be very thought out and although the writers may have changed midway, there is no difference in the writing.


In the first story (issues #7-10), politics and cybernetics are the focus with Cyborg caught in the middle. Just as everything was getting back to normal following the alien invasion and defeat of the Technosapiens (see Vol #1), the government was using the attack as an opportunity to try to take over S.T.A.R. Labs and their cybernetic program. They are also pushing a new legislation, the Cybernetic Regulation Act that if passed will allow them to control all aspects of cybernetics which includes Cyborg to whom they wants to examine and perhaps control and if not dismember.

Not willing to become government property or have his advanced alien cybernetics wind up in the wrong hands, he came up with a plan. It was an interesting plan in which he got a little input from the Justice League with assistance in carrying it out from Shazam. I didn't really like how Superman was portrayed in this, he was shown as being unbelievably naïve. He couldn't believe that the government would try to take Cyborg in (since he's a member of the Justice League) to acquire his cybernetics nor believe a bill such as CRA would ever pass. He was the only team member who seem to lack any intelligence. There was another factor at play here that was a little too close to home for Victor Stone and his father Dr. Stone but was tied into everything that was going on including the Technosapiens.

Following his ordeal from the first story, issue #11 has Cyborg undergoing a 20 hour diagnostics over at S.T.A.R. Labs. And just when he thought he would get a little down time, that's when cyber attacks started going off around the world including one targeting a jet plane that S.T.A.R. Labs employee and Cyborg's friend Dr. Sarah Charles was on board. Although Cyborg was physically unable to leave his restorative pod he did everything he could digitally to help. I like that Sarah was helping him in trying to save the plane. Terrorism sits at the forefront of this story but also address how sometimes people are quick to jump to conclusion before all the facts are known.

In the finale issue, two intruders broke into S.T.A.R. Labs leaving Cyborg to stop them but it was more than a simple break-in. The intruders were the adult children of a former S.T.A.R. Labs employee who were dealing with a mutation caused by an accident in their father's lab years ago. They needed help stabilizing their abilities and thought a project their father had been working on could help them. But they were also mad and resented the company for firing their father who at the time had been trying to test an experiment in hopes of saving his wife. Too bad for Cyborg, he had the disappointment in realizing that sometimes being a hero means you can't always save everyone. 

Ever since I read the Teen Titans comic books and watched the animated series, I've been a fan of Cyborg. When DC Comics rebooted for the New 52 I was surprised that Cyborg had been placed on the Justice League. It seemed weird at first but he turned out to be a great addition to the team even if I wish he still had more interaction with the Titans. Although it took awhile for Cyborg to get his own series these two volumes were worth reading. I'm looking forward to reading the Rebirth series to see if there are any changes to Cyborg's story.