Comic Recap/Thoughts: Cyborg Volume 1: The Imitation of Life, Part 1

I am back! Took a little time off for a visiting friend and now it is time to dive into a new Volume 1. I do not know a lot about the comic book Cyborg. I know the Cyborg that sometimes hangs out with the Teen Titans and I know the Cyborg who is sometimes chilling with the Justice League. Before reading this volume I knew that he had some dad issues, but really I knew little of his origin story. Cyborg Volume 1: The Imitation of Life contains issues #1-5 and Rebirth #1. Today I am going to recap Rebirth #1 and issues #1 & #2. Let's hop into this story!

Rebirth #1: The Imitation of Life Prologue: Outside of S.T.A.R Labs a giant robot is attacking Cyborg or trying to get into the lab or maybe just testing Cyborg (not totally clear). Cyborg puts up a pretty good fight but this beast of a machine knocks him out. The someone who is watching the fight/test runs Cyborg's DNA, confirming that Cyborg is Victor Stone, son of Silas Stone.

We flashback to a young Silas meeting his future wife and the mother of Victor, Elinore Beatty. We see a slice of their life together, them dating, getting married, and the birth of Victor. Then we jump to the present and we see Silas yelling at Cyborg from inside a command center in S.T.A.R. Labs. Cyborg is back on his feet and re-engages with the robot, he is still getting his butt kicked.

In another flashback we find out Elinore is dying of cancer. They don't have a timeline but know it will likely take her in a few years. Silas dedicates himself to finding a cure and becoming head of S.T.A.R. Labs. Over the years poor Vic was ignored by his father, but his mother was supportive of his skills. Unfortunately, while Silas was able to prolong his wife's life, in the end she did pass away from cancer. 

In the present, Cyborg is waking up, but the monster is making its way to the "Red Room." A room meant to contain alien tech too dangerous for the work at large. They debate using a self-destruct feature. Time for another flashback, this time we see Victor caught in a terrible lab explosion. Silas uses the Red Room tech to save Victor, turning him into the Cyborg we know today. 

The monster is not actually interested in the Red Room, but is headed to a room that only Silas seems to know about (I guess the monster too). Cyborg finally catches up but seems concerned that this room is a secret and that the data stream shut down as soon as he entered. The weird dead zone actually gives Cyborg the advantage and he is able to overwhelm the machine monster with the full force of his CPU and hacking skills. 

With the monster defeated, Cyborg investigates what is in the mysterious room. It seems to be the inner thoughts of Silas and they are not great. Basically, Silas questions if Cyborg is really his son or just a shell. (There is also a narrator who was commenting on how well Cyborg did.) Sad Cyborg fixes the door to the room and then pretends like he didn't just hear his dad say a bunch of shitty stuff. 

Silas and other people come and thank Cyborg while wondering what the heck was up with that attack. Silas tells Cyborg he did a great job. A still bummed out Cyborg heads to the roof to think about all the things he heard his father say, including comparing Cyborg to Frankenstein's monster (this is funny to me since DC does have a version of Frankenstein's monster running around).

Our unknown spy/narrator is finally revealed to be another cybernetic being who looks kind of like Silas but way creepier. He has a plan for Cyborg and all of mankind (very much terminator vibes).

The Imitation of Life Part One: Awakening: We catch up with the Silas robot look-alike, he is narrating about how deactivated technology is super dangerous but that is probably more dangerous if it is reactivated. He is looking through a bunch of deactivated cyber beings until he finds the one he is looking for. 

In Detroit Cyborg is busy stopping some crooks who stole an armored truck. He does some fun Cyber tricks and quickly identifies the crooks and stops them pretty easily, handing them over to the police. Later at S.T.A.R Labs, papa Silas is telling Victor off for ruining a door in his haste to stop the criminals. Another doctor (Tom) tells Victor that he seems to be okay, but Silas tells Sarah (another doctor in the lab, lots of doctors) to keep an eye on Victor while he works out. 

We see Victor go through his workout, but he is in a bad mood about having to do it. Sarah finally asks what is up, but Victor just brushes it off. Sarah decides that Vic just needs a break from the lab. She takes him for a walk, but all the while Vic is thinking about all the things he heard his dad saying (mostly worried about whether or not Vic has a soul).

Sarah figures that ice cream is the best way to help Vic (a girl after my own heart). Some kids in the shop are super excited to see Cyborg and want a picture. It is cute until one kid points out that Sarah can't be Cyborg's girlfriend because he is an unfeeling machine (oof, poor Cyborg). While walking more Sarah and Cyborg pass the church his parents were married in and his mom's funeral was in. Seems neither him or his father have been back since he became Cyborg. The ever smart Sarah knows that the thing in Vic that needs fixing is his spirit, so she takes him to a jazz club.

At first Vic is not feeling it, but a blind musician named Brother Blue helps Sarah to explain that listening to improvised music is good for the soul. Vic tells Blue that he isn't sure he has a soul, but Blue tells him that if Vic considers Detroit his home there is no way he doesn't have a soul. Blue explains that after losing his sight in service to his country he thought his life was over but he found his spirit again in jazz. 

Blue goes back on stage and for the first time this issue we see Vic smile as he listens. Outside the club Sarah comments on said smile. He makes a clever computer joke but admits that he is feeling good and thanks her for a nice night. Of course because things can never go well for too long, that big scary robot from the beginning attacks and tells us all his name is Kilg%re. (Note: there is as the percent sign in the name...so I guess you would say it Kilg-percet-re? Sigh, I know it is Kilgore, just a dumb spelling, also this did come out before Black Panther but still feels like a weird name to me).

The Imitation of Life Part Two: Trial and Terror: Kilg%re is attacking and Cyborg is worried about Sarah. Cyborg does a Justice League level background check on Kilg%re. He is a bad machine that can control anything that runs on electricity (including brains I guess). While they are fighting, Cyborg leads Kilg%re away from people up a building that is under construction. Kilg%re is giving us his whole back story. He came from another planet with the hopes of eradicating humanity and becoming the supreme leader of the machines. He really goes on and on, we also see he is still holding on to Sarah. Cyborg tells him to drop her, so he does off the side of the building. Cyborg is able to catch her though (no Gwen Stacy bullshit today)!

Sarah runs off to call Silas while Kilg%re tells Cyborg he was just messing with him, but is there to deliver a message. Elsewhere, Sarah gets Silas on the phone in his car, but he is quickly attacked by Kilg%re who comes out of his car's radio and attacks him (guess he can be in multiple places at once). Kilg%re's message seems to be that he was sent by his leader to test Cyborg and he also tells Cyborg about the army his leader is amassing (typical bad guy oversharing). Cyborg punches Kilg%re hard and the robot takes off. Lucky for Cyborg, Sarah made her way back to S.T.A.R. Labs and can help him track Kilg%re.

Kilg%re has stopped at Cyborg's childhood church. There is a bit of back and forth on theological topics (even a little bit of Jesus imagery). Kilg%re makes some good points about how humans have made some bad choices, enslaving people and destroying things. It is a long lecture and Kilg%re admits to eavesdropping on Cyborg's conversation with Blue, about doubting his humanity. Cyborg is offended but also replays all the things his dad said about him maybe not being human anymore. 

Kilg%re reveals that he has Cyborg's dad and has put a bomb on him. Cyborg has 30 seconds to get free and save his dad. Also, the chamber his dad is in is filled with some kind of crazy gas that is harmless to humans but super corrosive and deadly to Cyborg. So of course Cyborg escapes and frees his father. The gas starts to kill him and he says goodbye to his father assuming he is going to die.

Kilg%re calls him dramatic and tells him the gas doesn't seem to be enough to kill Cyborg so he will just have to do it. Before Kilg%re can deliver the final blow however, all the lights begin to go out. Sarah has caused a huge blackout, so now Kilg%re has no electricity to draw power from. It is enough for Cyborg to literally rip Kilg%re apart. Once that is done Cyborg checks on his father, who is out but seems unharmed. 

Cyborg is carrying his father home. Silas wakes up and Cyborg tells him that Kilg%re is defeated and it seems like today had a fairly happy ending. We the reader see that the real Silas is not in Cyborgs arms but is being held prisoner somewhere else. 

Thoughts: I have some mixed feelings about this comic. I want to like it and I am in favor of a person of color headlining his own comic. I am not in love with the story so far but I am here to give it a chance and hopefully we will get to see a little bit more of the lighter side of Cyborg, who enjoys life and is fun and funny. I hope that doesn't come across as insensitive, of course he deserves a story that fits his history and difficulties. I suppose I will see.

The author of this volume is John Semper Jr. He is an African-American screenwriter and this is his first and only comic for DC. It is clear that he cares a lot about Victor Stone and I look forward to reading more of this run. Paul Pelletier did the pencils for these volumes and I really liked the level of detail in his work. If you want to check out more of his work click his name.

See you all on Friday for the rest of this Volumes recap!

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