Cyber Force #9
Creator, Writer, Character Designer and Art Director: Marc Silvestri
Artist: Marco Turini
Colorist: Andy Troy
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Editor: Betsy Gonia
Publisher: Top Cow Productions
On Sale May 7, 2014
Price: $2.99
Format: FC
Rated: Teen Plus
Pages: 32
RIPCLAW UNTAMED!
Ripclaw had a wife, a son, and his anonymity before Velocity stumbled into his life with a trigger-happy convoy of S.H.O.C.s on her tail. Now it’s time for payback.
Or in the words of Top Cow:
With Killjoy running rampant, all of our heroes’ lives are at risk – especially the already-critically-injured Ripclaw, old foe of this particular scythe-wielding psychopath. Spoiler Alert: things don’t look so good.
Before I get into the review I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the elephant in the Top Cow room… waiting four month from issue 8 to issue 9 is just too damn long a wait. I love you Top Cow but please get the artists on this title sorted out and the book coming out on a more regular basis please… I need my Rip Claw fix and can’t wait that long between books. Ok now that what I didn’t want to have to say is out of the way (come on you know you were thinking it too, even if it was for a different character)
Did you read issue 8? If not you may just want to skip all the way down to the end of this review to see the score because there will be issue 8 spoilers if I am to talk about issue 9. And wait, you’ve had 4 months to read issue 8 so why haven’t you?
At the end of issue 8 Marc Silvestri had my favorite guy in a world of hurt. Would he live or had he died? I even messaged to try to find out and well needless to say Marc enjoyed knowing I was just a little bit worried about the fate of Rip Claw.
If you read the text above then you may have guessed if he survived the events of issue 8, but that doesn’t mean that Rip Claw and the team were out of the woods. No it is out of the frying pan into the fire with this team. They never seem to lack for a fight.
Though I may fault Top Cow for the delays on this book, I can’t fault Marc for his story telling skills. He knows these characters well, he should he is their designer after all, and nobody knows how to ‘push their buttons’ or make their fans gasp as well as he does. His stories though they may make me want to give him grief, well more grief than I do, for the pain he causes my favorite character I also know it is part of building strong fully developed characters. Without this development they would be flat one dimensional beings, something I have never found in a story written by Marc.
As for the art, I am having mixed feelings. When Marco Turini first took on the art duties for Cyber Force I had very high hopes and said he looked like he would be a good fit. I even asked only one thing of him, don’t make Rip Claw ugly. Maybe it was what was happening in the issue he started with that made it seem like his style would work well with this story. But he has done the one thing that was asked he not do, he has made Rip Claw ugly in so many panels. Even when he did the sequence where Robert is not all cybered up, he did not look like Robert. Robert is native american, and he most definitely does not look native american to me in this issue. Just giving him long black hair does not do the trick. And come on, he would have better taste in clothes (sorry couldn’t resist). I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about his art that is disappointing me, but I have noticed that in some scenes it is hard to recognize the characters, and that should never be the case in a comic book. After all at least half, if not more, of the story is told through the visuals. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not giving up yet, I am still hoping that he will find his footing, but my faith is beginning to weaken.
How to score this issue? This is a tough one. For story a 10+, it was another excellent read so Marc once again escapes without any penalties (for the time being). Art this is where it gets difficult… sadly there were to many elements in the art of this issue that disappointed me and thus I can’t give it more than a 6 and that is being generous. For delivering what was promised (even if late) an 7. Am hoping this is the only time I will have to give this title such a score as I do love the characters and the story as a whole but I had to be fair, and to be fair I had to call a spade a spade. So please don’t make me do it again Top Cow.
Final score? 6/10
Related Story:
Yes it is painful to see any aspect of a beloved comic be less than wanted. SIGH I’ve had my heart broken too many times to count (yes I’m looking at you MARVEL)