[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers!]
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Pencils: Tom Derenick
Summary
After waking up from a fight with a giant robot, Cyborg finds himself in an unknown facility. A place known as Starlite Original Business–and yes it’s really called S.O.B! The scientist that Cyborg encounters claims the place is just like S.T.A.R Labs in every way minus the government “red tape”. Is this mysterious organization really who they say they are, or are do they have plans to use Cyborg for something else?
Positives
Continuing from our previous issue, Victor finds himself attached to machines at Starlite Original Business. It seems to be a place that focuses on making technology better for people in the future, and they come across as very admirable. Once Victor wakes up he’s greeted by a scientist who seems all too eager to answer Victor’s questions about the facility. Victor seems uneasy at first, but once he sees the massive army of giant robots on display Victor wants to test drive one for himself! While Victor is enjoying himself touring the facility it seems that the villain known as Nijiro from our previous issue is making plans of his own. Wolfman does us some justice in this issue by giving us a small backstory into him in this issue, but I’m still unsure of his overall plan and whether it involves just Cyborg or Starlite?
Negatives
My overall complaint about this issue is probably the villain itself Nijiro. I can’t complain too much because we’re so early in the story involving him but it seems that Cyborg is once again going to be encountering another tech based villain. I’m not downplaying any of Cyborg’s previous stories or characters I’ve reviewed previously as they were all great works, but it would be nice to see Cyborg go against someone who’s powers weren’t tech based. Not saying that Nijiro doesn’t have the capability to be a decent villain, but I really don’t view him as a memorable one so far. Hopefully maybe the next issue changes this as we find out more about his motivations and overall plans but I doubt it.
Verdict
Overall I thought Cyborg #22 was a decent book, but it seems to be just a fill in issue that explains more about the history of it’s villain than anything. Cyborg gets to find out more about Starlite and what their plans seem to be, but I don’t think their intentions are all good as they claim to be either. I’m not completely sold on Nijiro being a decent villain however I’ll save my complete judgment for the conclusion of the adventure.
