Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Review: Cyborg #20

By Philip Schweier
January 3, 2018 - 13:57

Our two-part story resumes, with Victor Stone in Africa, where a mystical rhino horn has turned him completely human. Of course, as soon as he loses all his cybernetic abilities is when he needs them most. An African warlord has enslaved whole villages, and thinks nothing of sacrificing anyone’s life to fulfill his own ambitions.

 

The story devolves into a comic book version of the famous monkey’s paw fable: “Be careful what you wish for.” One variation on film I saw years ago featured a widow wishing her recently deceased husband were there, at which point the mortuary arrives with his embalmed body. Realizing her wish was less than specific, she wishes he were alive, only to see him writhing in agony for the embalming fluid in his veins.

 

So Vic’s sometimes-girlfriend Sarah lectures him on the advantages he had as Cyborg. Maybe it hasn’t been long enough since his transformation in the Rebirth era, but I would have thought he’d come to terms with his “non-conformity” long enough that he didn’t need such a lecture. The story might have been easier for me to swallow if it were set earlier in Cyborg’s career, but who’s to say it isn’t? Maybe I missed that part.

 

This leads to a confrontation with the magical powers of the horn, in a fight only Cyborg can fight, and a bit of a deus ex machine role for the horn itself. It’s as if Kevin Grevioux pulled classic elements from other stories, such as the girl tripping while being chased by the bad guy.

 

Methinks he didn’t write the story so much as he assembled it.

 

The art is lackluster. Cliff Richards is fine with rendering the human form proportionately, but Cyborg comes across as a man in a shiny metal body suit, rather than a mega-mechanical techno-being.

 

All in all, the 2-issue story seems weak and rushed. Perhaps as a 3-parter, it might have worked better for me. This is Grevioux’s second issue after taking the place of John Semper Jr. (a change I’m still not sure is permanent). But so far, neither writer has wowed me; quite the opposite. Which makes me question the merits of a Cyborg ongoing series.

 

Rating: 3/10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12