OK, I marred that first panel a little.

This one has a couple things I like: random cameos and continuity with characters from other creators, in this case Warblade and Stormwatch; and Walter Simonson art. And then there's a few things I don't like: reams of backstory and Cyberforce. Problematic, since it's Cyberforce #0, "Mindgames!" Plot by Marc and Eric Silvestri and Walt Simonson, and Simonson did the art and script; with his usual letterer John Workman.

This is about the second, of two, Cyberforce issues I've ever read: I'm pretty sure I gave 1992's Cyberforce #1 a shot. Maybe I stuck out the whole initial miniseries? It was...man, I don't want to say a knock-off; but it was pretty obviously X-Men but with "mutants" struck out and replaced with "cyborgs." Wait, they actually had mutant cyborgs, for god's sake. Taking, cough, "inspiration," in itself might have been forgivable, but it was like Silvestri wanted the same level of in-depth continuity Uncanny X-Men had when he was working on it; for his own book, from day one. Done right, it would seem like the characters had a rich life outside of what the reader had seen so far. Done wrong, it would be an incomprehensible mess. Well...

Thankfully, this issue is a little more focused: as the Cyberforce team faces off against their foes, the mercenary S.H.O.C., rookie merc the Ace of Blades is left behind when the op goes bad, and is rescued by the four-armed Striker. Later, in the hospital, Ace recovers, with a chip removed from his head; and to explain why Styker tells Ace about when he himself worked for S.H.O.C. and the evil Cyberdata, with a similiar chip in his own head.

The art carries this one, since I don't know if anyone is overly attached to the characters. And it boggles my mind that Stryker has four arms, three on one side and one on the other, and that was apparently his mutant power.