DC Special: Cyborg # 1 (of 6)

For newcomers, this retelling of how Victor Stone became a half-man, half-machine being should be extremely informative, fleshing out the character beyond the comedy figure of the TEEN TITANS cartoon. However old-timers may be disappointed that they spent the entire first issue of this miniseries going over the details of Victor's life-- from his birth to a brilliant scientist-father, his friendship with a young street thug, his athletic success, the accident that made him part robot and his bad luck in love. Surely they could have wrapped this all up in three pages and devoted the rest of the book to the emerging plot.

As it is, outside of the flashbacks, the story is a bit disjointed. Vic is wary about attending the wedding of his old sweetheart-- then we discover there is more to this than a broken heart-- and then suddenly we see Vic and the bride-to-be in a ruined STAR laboratory. What happened? They jumped too much from point A to point B. Or maybe they should say, point A to point X, Y and Z.

The art is an interesting blend of action and introspection. The characters all look recognizable, even when they age throughout the story. It is just a little too flashy. It is like DC Comics had a surplus of red, and orange and felt they should use some it up on this book.

Now that all the baggage of Cyborg's origins has been carefully wrapped up, maybe the creative team can get down to the brass tacks about the threat Cyborg is facing and how he deals with it. This character has always been on the verge of breaking out as a solo star. It would be a shame if his miniseries fizzled because it got too caught up in reliving his past.