Comics
Review: ‘Cyber Force’ #1
Cyber Force #1 offers an updated re-imagination of the sci-fi and action team of mutants that dominated during the first wave of Image Comics. With an engaging visual style and the fast-paced story the first issue offers a fun action introduction to the series. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, this launching pad will definitely keep both old and new fans excited. In their welcome homecoming, “Cyber Force” celebrates its own 20th anniversary in style.
WRITTEN BY: Marc Silvestri, Matt Hawkins
ART BY: Khoi Pham
PUBLIHER: Top Comics
PRICE: Free
RELEASE: October 17th, 2012
A fugitive from the law, Carin Taylor, also known as Velocity, has no one to turn to in the oppressed Millennium City. Hiding a secret that could very well kill her, Velocity is the daughter of the most powerful woman in Old Pittsburgh. CDI, a major corporation, has turned neighborhoods into war zones with their techno-biological weapons. With her knowledge of the heavily-guarded Aphrodite Protocol, Velocity must find people who can help her against the CDI, or the entire world will die.
If you remember from the original “Cyber Force” mini-series, the first panel started with Velocity running for her life, being chased by over-sized robots (I happen to have the original series). In a tribute to the original first issue, this one kicks off with Velocity still running. But do not expect a nostalgic recreation of the past. Velocity does not look or behave as she did before. In the original, Velocity was an observer to all the chaos going on around her. Now, Velocity has more of a punkish, free-willed attitude as she throws herself into trouble.
With creator Marc Silvestri back at the helm and Matt Hawkins as co-writer, they keep the readers invested with the mystery surrounding CDI and Morgan Stryker. Silvestri and Hawkins find creative ways of bringing the members of Cyber Force into contemporary times. In the early 90s, the team was portrayed as rebels and anti-heroes against Cyberdata’s world-dominating plans. That theme now might hold more weight and the writers are attuned to this. Nonetheless, some aspects of the story a all too familiar, running similarities with many other sci-fi comics.
Silvestri does a terrific job with the character designs of Ripclaw, Velocity, and Heatwave. From his snarl and poses, Ripclaw originally shared similarities to Wolverine. Now in a completely different design, Ripclaw has spikes running up and down both arms. Each team member – from Heatwave to Impact – has a body part composed of cybernetics, as if they have lost their humanity, due to serving for the CDI military. The Cyber Force team looks like war veterans, who have sacrificed much for the cause.
Artist Khoi Pham’s real skill is facial expressions and close-ups. You can sense the hostility in the room when Velocity meets these CDI escapees. With such angry and intense reactions, you can tell the entire team is ambivalent in helping out Velocity. With a moody vibe, Pham displays a visibly broken team bickering back and forth, always at odds with each other.
If you were a fan of the original “Cyber Force,” definitely pick this issue up. While it is overly modernized in parts, it does justice to the original series. Also the first five issue is free, so there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t give this comic a look.
3.5/5 skulls
Reviewed by Jorge Solis
Comics
‘You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive’ – IDW Dark’s Next Horror Comic Will Make You Question Reality
Five friends. Four houses. One perfect life. Bloody Disgusting is excited to exclusively announce You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive, a brand new horror comic from IDW Dark.
From Eisner-Nominated writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, and rising horror artist Heather Vaughan, You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is described as a “paranoia-laced, socially-conscious, horror mystery that will leave you questioning reality, and reveal that this crafted world is more of a nightmare than the idealistic dream they were expecting.”
Phoebe Joplin has never questioned the world her parents built: a secluded community where she and her friends were raised to be smarter, stronger, and better than anyone else. No distractions. No dangers. No secrets. Until the night of their graduation.
When one of them dies under impossible circumstances, Phee starts to pull at the edges of her perfect life—and what she finds is something far more terrifying than she ever imagined.
Because this place isn’t a sanctuary. It’s a cage. And no one who discovers the truth ever leaves it alive.
Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing (Batman – One Bad Day: Clayface, Star Trek: The Last Starship) co-write the upcoming IDW Dark horror comic, featuring art by Heather Vaughan.
Jackson Lanzing said in a statement to Bloody Disgusting, “You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is in many ways a spiritual successor to our last creator-owned horror, The Principles of Necromancy – a dive into the promise and consequence of playing god with the blood of innocents. But the Hivemind book this reminds me of most is Clayface: One Bad Day. This is a deeply human story with intensely raw emotions – five best friends and their five mysterious parents, tearing one another apart for the promise of some impossible glory that’s waiting just beyond their darkest actions. We’re thrilled to be bringing this story to life with our long-time partner in crime, editor Heather Antos, at IDW Dark – and we’re particularly excited to give our Clayface fans a new, brutal and emotional horror made just for them.”
Adds Collin Kelly, “We’re deconstructing a feeling that seems universal these days; our elders have a death grip on their power, without any intention of giving it up to the generations that come next. YNLTPA is about growing up with the limitless potential of the future… and realizing how much it’s a lie we’ve been fed to keep us under the yoke of the past. Bringing this brutal experience to life is our artist and co-creator, Heather Vaughan, who brings an incredible amount of humanity to our cast. But it’s in our youthful leads that Heather’s art really shines – you are going to fall in love with these young people, even as they go through the worst experience of their lives. What we’ve all crafted together is going to be tragic, painful, but above all else, sincere – with a future so uncertain, there’s only one thing we can trust: you’ll never leave this place alive.”
“Some horror stories are about monsters in the dark. YNLTPA is about realizing the monsters raised you,” previews Senior Group Editor Heather Antos. “Working with Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly on this series has been a dream in the darkest possible way. They’ve built a story that’s layered, brutal, and deeply emotional, and every issue gives artist Heather Vaughan opportunities to push the art into places that feel both haunting and deeply personal. Some horror comics will keep you up at night…this is one that will stick with you for years to come.”
The first issue of You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive goes on sale October 14, 2026! Make sure to pre-order at your local comic shop by September to guarantee a copy.
Exclusively check out the various covers for Issue #1 down below.
IDW Publishing’s horror imprint IDW DARK features comics like A Quiet Place: Storm Warning, Smile: For the Camera, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, The Twilight Zone, Event Horizon: Dark Descent & Event Horizon: Inferno, and more.
You must be logged in to post a comment.