Exclusive sneak peek at the ‘Rebirth’ of Cyborg examines the man inside the machine
Cyborg is the youngest member of the Justice League. He’s also the eyes and ears for the group in terms of global monitoring, analysis and getting them out of tech scrapes.
But it’s his heart and soul that writer John Semper will explore in “Cyborg: Rebirth” and “Cyborg No. 1.”
The books are at the end of the line for DC Comics’ Rebirth releases and won’t hit shelves until September, but we’ve gotten an exclusive early look at the covers for the two books.
We also spoke to Semper about his take on Cyborg. It was pretty early in his development of the character, but Semper – just beginning in comics, but a veteran writer – knew that he wanted to touch on the man inside the machine and what it means to Victor Stone (Cyborg’s alias), a black man living in Detroit.
In the introduction of the characters under the Rebirth banner, it’s been said that they all should find their center or what makes them tick. What is Cyborg’s center?
When I first met Geoff [Johns] and pitched my take on Cyborg, he got really excited. I’ve been writing drama for years and I’ve done a lot of action animation. When I’m developing a show, the first thing I ask myself is, “What is the character afraid of?”
It’s those unresolved questions and unresolved conflicts that are going to give us our story. So when I asked myself that for Cyborg, what came to mind was: If I’m putting myself in his head: Here’s a guy who’s part man and part machine; how does he know how much human he is and how much machine?
Right away, I had his biggest fear and biggest paranoia -- that he may not really be human anymore. That’s kind of a frightening thought, and when I come up with something like that, then all of a sudden I get very excited because I start to understand the character a bit more and the character becomes interesting to me as a dramatist. So I said to Geoff, ‘This is a character that wonders if he even has a soul anymore.’ And the irony of asking that question is that he is a black man. The whole notion of soul, like soul food or soul power, it’s just even more exaggerated when you’re a black man or a black person. Right away we both realized that this resonated.
Will there be a lot of religion being brought up as well?
There might be, but I certainly don’t want it to be preachy. It’s still a superhero comic book. I don’t know that it’s so much about religion, though that’s certainly a part of anybody who is discovering themselves, whether they embrace religion or not. It’s certainly in that arena, but we’re not turning Cyborg into a religious comic.
I was the head writer for “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” 20 years ago, and I got to redefine Spider-Man to a whole new generation. I always would tell my writers that Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker. It’s not a story of Spider-Man. Spider-Man is an outgrowth of Peter Parker’s life. And Cyborg is an extension of Vic’s life. We’re going to really investigate who Vic Stone is, and see how the whole Cyborg persona complicates his life.
You’ve mentioned that you’ll explore him in terms of being a black man living in Detroit. Can you mention what specific obstacles that entails?
In defining his life, the fact that he is a black man is going to be a major factor, and it’s an area that hasn’t really been investigated yet, so there’s fertile ground to tell stories that haven’t been told yet. And then, though I didn’t invent this, he is based in Detroit, and look at the dilemma of being a black man in Detroit. And not necessarily in the best parts – there are some very, very bad parts of Detroit. Just as Batman is inextricably linked to Gotham City and there’s a spiritual connection there, and Superman is inextricably linked to Metropolis and there’s a connection there, there’s got to be a connection for Victor, who was born and raised in Detroit. This was all just sitting there waiting for me.
Does Cyborg have a specific nemesis?
He very well might, by the time I’m done. I don’t think he does right at the moment. I might take one of the villains that’s already established and turn him into his Moriarty, so to speak. But again, before you can have a specific nemesis, you really have to understand the personality of the hero. That specificity, that conflict, really starts with the personality. Sherlock Holmes is a great character and has this great mind, but so does Moriarty, and that’s part of the challenge and what makes these guys so intensely in conflict with each other. So, by building Vic’s personality up, I might create a character that is the flip side to Vic, but first we have to build up Vic’s character. So, I would say yes, he will have a nemesis, and I will name him after you ‘cause you’re the first person to ask me that question.
Whoo-hoo! But, I won’t hold you to it. And Vic has relationships with both the Titans and the Justice League. Do those come into play yet?
It probably will, but I haven’t really thought about that yet. It’s certainly something that I’ll have to discuss with other people who are handling the character in other books. We’ll all get on the same page. Still new to this.
So how was it handing in your first comics script?
It was great! The thing I love most about comic book writing is that you don’t have to deal with networks! It’s been a really pleasant experience.
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