Top Cow Productions/Image Comics 2018
Created by Marc Silvestri
Written by Matt Hawkins & Bryan Hill
Illustrated by Atilio Rojo
Lettered by Troy Peteri
The classic series returns in a re-imagining overseen by creator MARC SILVESTRI. In a modern world where humanity is defined by the technology it creates, a terrorist strikes at the heart of human progress. One of the few survivors of the attack is a man named Morgan Stryker. Mortally wounded, Stryker's life is saved by his employers...but the price could be his humanity itself.
Well with it’s popularity since it first came out and the various limited series arcs that we’ve seen that Marc was willing to oversee the team come together right now (over me) in a more modern era with newer technology and revive the franchise with this kind of story is pretty awesome. On the same track I cannot think of two better men than Matt and Bryan to be doing the book with their record of success you just know this is going to be interesting.
I like the way that this book is being structured. The opening is dramatic eye catching and quite literally the beginning of the team itself. An unknown assailant enters into a company and decimates it leaving only person alive, but why one person what is the significance of that? Is this woman in a weird suit and sporting some awfully big guns, yes guns, trying to ensure Stryker becomes a Cyber warrior and helping to rush his destiny or trying to create adversaries for herself? It is one of those openings that makes you think, wonder and speculate so it is precisely up the alley of these gentlemen’s modus operandi.
I think one of the things that appeals to me about all this is that this is a “new” series we are seeing it built from the ground up there is no backstory on these characters we see them become who they are meant to be all the while we see this organisation having the resources to make them more than they were. We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster. You’ll get it trust me. From there this whole feeling of dread and fear is sweeping through the nation and it’s a great thing to see from a readers standpoint because you see how the world is and why this needs to happen.
I am a fan of Atilio and the work he does. The attention to detail he brings to this is utterly amazing and how he uses the varying weights of the linework to do bring us that detail blows me away. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a stellar eye for storytelling. Yes ma’am for the backgrounds in use here I mean the subtle ones like in the doctor’s office windows the art on her walls to the cold environment of the labs it all just works. Oh more thing that image on the last page, you know the one, yeah wow not foreboding at all.
I hate to say this but it doesn’t look like Stryker has the luxury of time to get a group together under his command as that mysterious figure is wrecking havoc all over the place. We have seen her destroy too many places and her proclamation telecast around the world makes her a viable threat to whomever is in the technology field. So it will be interesting to see if there are others that these folks have treated like they did him and if so how they decide to behave.
There’s more passion and intimate storytelling to go alongside the normal hey we’re a team that’s going to take villains. I like the sophistication that we see and the thoughtfulness behind the books execution. Once again Top Cow shows us that they know how to bring us some damn fine books.