Cyclops #8

Written by Matz
Art by Gaël de Meyere

I guess there aren't a lot of ways that this series could have ended - even in today's world, let alone the future, it is very difficult to go up against a corporation and get a favourable outcome.  Our hero, Douglas Pistoia and his friends have exposed Multicorps as war criminals, and are on the run when the issue opens.

This issue sags a little, as do many action movies as they get closer and closer to their conclusions; so much time has been spent setting up the big finale that it can't really live up to expectations.  This ending feels a little rushed in a few ways - we see Doug's wife's reaction to the big climax, but not how it affects all of his fans, nor the woman who was manipulating him earlier.  As a reader, I feel a little robbed of an emotional connection with the conclusion.

Still, this has been a very well-executed comic, which has a few things to say about the celebrity and realty TV-focused world we live in today.  The book lost some real steam when original artist Luc Jacamon left the book, and while Gaël de Meyere did a good job, he just wasn't as skilled.  I wonder, now that this is over, if Archaia is going to continue publishing Matz and Jacamon's The Killer.

Cyclops #7

Written by Matz
Art by Gaël de Meyere

I think Cyclops dragged a little somewhere in the middle, but this seventh issue was originally published as the first half of the last French issue, and there is a definite sense of momentum that propels the story now.

Doug Pistoia is a world-wide celebrity, starring as the leader of a unit of Peacekeepers whose every movement is recorded and streamed live on a reality show.  Pistoia and his crew have gone rogue, having discovered that their corporate masters at Multicorps had manipulated them into killing some civilians - an action that both ensured their silence and pushed a region into war, thereby giving Multicorps a lucrative UN Peacekeeping contract.  Now Doug and his crew are on the run from Multicorps, and go on a rival news station to present their evidence of wrong-doing.

This series has never been huge on characterization beyond Doug, and it's a little hard to tell how everyone is holding up under pressure, but this Fugitive-style story works very well.  I do wish that original series artist Luc Jacamon had stuck around, because I loved his jungles scenes in The Killer, and the way he textured light filtered through the canopy.  Replacement artist de Meyere does this well, but not as well as Jacamon would have.

I look forward to seeing how this series finishes, and (as usual with Archaia), hope that that conclusion comes sooner rather than later.

Cyclops #6

Written by Matz
Art by Gaël de Meyere

Oh, Archaia.  Sometimes, I just don't know what's going on at that place.  They put out some of the most beautiful comics on the stands, and have very high production values, but on the last issue, they had the wrong artist's name credited, and this issue, which is issue 6, states on the cover that it is actually #5.  Don't people check for this kind of thing?  It's a little embarrassing.

The comic itself is always good.  Pistoia, our hero and general puppet of his Multicorps bosses, is finally pushed a little too far.  His affair with a Multicorps employee (who seduced him) is exposed as a way of trying to rein him in, and has the opposite effect.  On a mission, Pistoia and his squad decide to disobey orders, and expose to the world what they know about their commanders' dirty dealings in the international security business.

This comic has been slow in building to this point.  Matz has methodically set the stage for Pistoia's awakening of conscience, and now it looks like the rest of the series will involve mercenaries hunting down the good guys.  This has been a very solid story, and it's really heating up.

Art wise, I miss Luc Jacamon a great deal.  His replacement artist, de Meyere, is decent, but Jacamon has a much stronger sense of human expression, and panel design.

Cyclops #5

Written by Matz
Art by Gaël de Meyere

I was disappointed to learn that Luc Jacamon had left this title.  I loved Jacamon's work on The Killer and the first half of Cyclops, and while Gaël de Meyere is a more than capable replacement, the book doesn't feel the same without Jacamon.  De Meyere does his best to maintain a consistent look to the visuals, but can't quite pull off the way shadows fall across his scenes with the same degree of realism and depth that has always stood out in Jacamon's comics.

Story-wise, it's nice to back into things.  I had almost forgotten about this title (this issue was supposed to come out in May), but that's not unusual with Archaia comics.  Reality TV star and soldier Douglas Pistoia finally gets the evidence he's been looking for - proof that his employers had manipulated him and lied about what he'd done back at the start of the series.  The question now is what to do with this knowledge.

This is a solid science fiction series which makes some interesting commentary on how we've viewed America's recent wars and military actions.  I hope that Archaia doesn't take too long in pumping out the last three issues...