By Julie Woodcock & Brian Stelfreeze (Comics Interview Publications)
No ISBN
The mid-1980s were a great time for American comics creators. It was as if an entire new industry had opened up with the proliferation of the Direct Sales market and dedicated specialist retail outlets; new companies were experimenting with format and content, and punters had a bit of spare cash to play with. Moreover much of the “kid’s stuff†stigma had finally abated and the country was catching up to the rest of the world in acknowledging that sequential narrative might just be an actual art-form…
Consequently many new companies began competing for the attention and cash of punters who had grown accustomed – or resigned – to getting their on-going sequential narratives from DC, Marvel, Archie and/or Harvey Comics. European and Japanese styled material had been creeping in and by 1983 a host of young companies such as WaRP Graphics, Pacific, Eclipse, Capital, Now, Comico, Dark Horse, First and many others had established themselves and were making impressive inroads.
New talent, established stars and fresh ideas all found a thriving forum to try something a little different both in terms of content and format. Even smaller companies had a fair shot at the big time and a lot of great material came – and often, sadly went – without getting the attention or success it warranted.
One such lost gem is Cycops: a neat and appealing science fiction romp released by David Anthony Kraft’s Comics Interview Publications. The journalist, writer, editor, publisher and literary agent specialised in publishing intriguing funnybooks, as well as the wonderful, informative and award-winning titular magazine of comics journalism, with the most notable forays probably being Southern Knights, X-Thieves, and Comics Revue.
Originally released as a black and white 3-issue miniseries Cycops is set in a star-spanning 25th century where civilisation is a loose confederation of autonomous states governed – or at least kept generally honest – by the Human Coalition Senate and an elected President.
The eponymous agents are scientifically enhanced and augmented warriors tasked by the Interstellar Bureau of Criminal Investigation with upholding basic human rights and dealing with criminals and threats generated by the manic proliferation of technology.
The processes used to create Cycops produce super-strong, fast and tough peace-keepers who are a breed apart from normal humanity; not least because the procedures generally halve their life-spans…
The saga begins with ‘Cycops Blues’ which introduces Valcyr, Tanaka and Radm, the celebrated White Team who are tasked by President Kamdr herself with a delicate undercover mission… exposing popular Senator Desron Tec’s slavery racket and proving she has turned her world of Kagni into a sadistic hellworld of degradation and brutal sex-tourism…
Before they can begin however the President is murdered by Tec’s ally Ragoczy: a legendary, nigh-immortal hyper-augmented assassin who easily defeats all three Cycops and frames them for Kamdr’s death…
In ‘White Heat’ the Cycops corps searches for the three fugitives who have become Ragoczy’s helpless possessions on Kagni. However dissension is growing between the super-warrior and the depraved Desron Tec who feels her power is slipping away. Held by bonds cybernetic and psychological, Radm struggles to win free as he witnesses horror after horror… When he finally succeeds and liberates his comrades the scene is set for a catastrophic conclusion in the savage showdown ‘Seeing Red’…
A stunning combination of hard-science adventure and dark, procedural cop thriller, Julie Woodcock’s script is sharp, understated and winningly effective whilst the black and white art from then-newcomer Brian Stelfreeze (who probably enjoys his greatest fame today as a brilliant cover painter) perfectly captures the simultaneous experience of an ancient brotherhood of soldiers, a galaxy of wonders and a human history of inescapable depravity that will always need extraordinary guardians to defend us.
Still available in both hardback and softcover editions this collection also boasts behind-the-scenes interviews and commentary plus an extensive sketchbook section.
Impressive and frustrating (the promise of further adventures sadly unfulfilled) Cycops is a solid piece of comics entertainment long overdue for a second look by today’s broader minded, less superhero obsessed readers.
© 1988, 1989 Woodcock, Stelfreeze, Kraft. All rights reserved.