CyberForce by Marc Silvestri
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Image @ 25: Marc Silvestri’s CyberForce

This week at ComicBook.com, I’m looking at the first “CyberForce” mini, a classic case of trying to do too much, too soon, too fast.

But, I can’t deny it, Silvestri’s self-inked art is awe-inspiring.  There’s an energy and a dynamic to his angles and pencils that suck you right in.

With issue #3, he starts to bring in other inks and things suffer a bit, but it’s still impressive.

I had to cut a couple of bits from the column for space, so I’ll show them here, but the bulk of what I had to say fit in at ComicBook.com, so do please click through.

 

One Coloring Note

Joe Chiodo is the series colorist on CyberForce, much the same as he was on WildC.A.T.s as of its second issue.

I think he does a better job on this series than he did on WildC.A.T.s, but I still have a problem with the colors running too dark for much of the time.  It feels like scenes taking place in broad daylight are fine.  It’s when things get dramatic and he starts adding in too many shadows and dropping down to darker colors in front of darker orange backgrounds that things start to blur together. There’s not enough separation of elements for me.

It’s an issue that persisted well into the on-going series until Brian Haberlin took over coloring duties and brightened things up a bit. Haberlin moved slowly into that position over the months, getting credits as “Computer Colorist” after Chiodo’s “Coloring” credits. I’m guessing “Computer Colorist” did the separations and maybe some extra special effects. Eventually, Haberlin took it all over, and I think that’s for the best.

 

Simonson on CyberForce

Walt Simonson did a one shot, “CyberForce” #0, after the initial mini-series.

One Last Coloring Note Joe Chiodo is the series colorist on CyberForce, much the same as he was on WildC.A.T.s as of its second issue. I think he does a better job on this series than he did on WildC.A.T.s, but I still have a problem with the colors running too dark os much of the time. With CyberForce, it's an issue that persisted well into the on-going series until Brian Haberlin took over coloring duties and brightened things up a bit. Haberlin moved slowly into that position over the months, getting credits as "Computer Colorist" after Chiodo's "Coloring" credits. I'm guessing "Computer Colorist" did the separations and maybe some extra special effects. Eventually, Haberlin took it all over, and I think that's for the best. Walt Simonson did a one shot, CyberForce #0, after this. He does his best Silvestri impersonation in it, with full page splashes of characters being energetic, lots of speedlines, and a few inset panels to carry the story. It's just not a look that's particularly good for Simonson, who is a great page designer and a strong artist who works best with less raw layouts. It's just too much stuff in your face on each page.

In it, he does his best Silvestri ’92 impersonation, with full page splashes of characters being energetic, with lots of speedlines and a few inset panels to carry the story.

It’s just not a look that’s particularly good for Simonson, though, who is a great page designer and a strong artist who works best with less raw layouts. It’s just too much stuff in your face on each page. Backgrounds disappear only because there’s no room because someone is being blasted off of every page.

On the bright side, John Workman lettered it.


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