Cyborg: Unplugged by David F. Walker

July 14, 2021July 14, 2021

Cyborg

Cyborg: Issues 1 – 6

genre: graphic novel. comic. superhero. action.

The Review

Cyborg is one of those superheroes that most people know of, but few people know about. What I mean is, most people will recognize who Cyborg is, but couldn’t tell you his full name or any of his history. And that’s fair enough. I was first introduced to Cyborg through the original Teen Titans show. I grabbed this comic in order to prep for the Zac Snyder version of the Justice League. I’ve never known too much about Vic Stone and wanted to know more before I dove into the movies again.

And if that’s what you’re looking for – a quick dive into Vic Stone’s life in a modern setting – then this will be a good one for you.

Characters:

Honestly, I think Cyborg as a character is the only reason this comic is getting three stars from me. He’s interesting and he’s got depth. Sarah isn’t that bad either. Although I’m always annoyed at the generic love interest personality, alternate reality (ugh) Sarah has got some nerve. Aside from the talented art style, these were the best things in the comic.

The villains felt shoe-horned and vapid. The Metal-Men felt really weird and out of place.
Even the family dynamic between Vic and his father didn’t come across too strongly. Which is disappointing considering this is one of Vic’s most intense relationships. The conflict between these two characters is a huge item in most Cyborg stories, but it feels so underwhelming in this comic.

Set-Up:

This was kind of an up and down read for me. I was really impressed at the beginning of this volume. I haven’t read any Cyborg comics and was really enjoying everything that was going on. I liked the art style. I liked the story. I liked what the characters were doing. And then … I feel like it just sort of fell flat and I was waiting for it to wrap up. Alternate realities and different dimensions of time have always felt like cop-outs or bad story-telling for me and this was no exception. It caused the plot to just hop around and become more and more disjointed. At about the halfway point, I was just waiting for it to finish up.

Approx. read time: 2 days

Rating: 3 out of 5 Screems™

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Related YouTube video: here

Ownership: borrowed from the library

Links: Author. Goodreads.

The Last Unicorn (GN) by Peter S. Beagle

October 5, 2020October 6, 2020

The Last Unicorn

genre: fantasy. graphic novel.

The Review

So, when I do reviews on graphic novels interpretations, I like to rate them while keeping the reference material in mind. In other words, this will not be a review of Beagle’s original novel from 1968, but will look at how Peter B. Gillis adapted this work into a graphic novel and how Renae de Liz and Ray Dillon illustrated the work.

faithfulness to the original:

This is an absolutely gorgeous interpretation of the Last Unicorn. I certainly recommend this to anyone has either seen or read the Last Unicorn. One of my favorite things about the graphic novel is that it seems to be sort of a mix between the 1982 film adaptation and the novel. Although the art is not exactly the same as the film, it brought back a lot of the same memories of watching this movie as a child. Also, the graphic novel doesn’t just include dialogue, but narration and descriptions right from the original book. These parts turned out to be some of my favorites! They add a little extra to the illustrations that you wouldn’t get just by watching the movie version.

adaptation:

The only thing I didn’t like about this graphic novel interpretation (why it’s getting the rating it is), is that it was hard to keep track of how things were progressing. It jumped around a lot. On one page you’d be in a nice conversation between characters and you’d turn the page and they were in a completely different place with no transition. It seemed the connection between scenes and time gaps was hard to grasp or maybe I was just missing it. There were a lot of scenes that I wished were just a little bit longer and that I think were cut short. Even simple things that I think were skipped over or not highlighted enough to really make the story as amazing as it actually is.

art:

I don’t even know what to say here. The art in the graphic novel is just astounding and really captures the magic of Peter S. Beagle’s novel. The story panels are just as beautiful as the chapter covers.

last unicorn