Cyclops Volume One By: Matz & Luc Jacamon

Cyclops Volume One collects the first two “episodes” of this four part series from Archaia Comics. It’s from the creators of the popular series, The Killer, which I’ve sadly not had a chance to read yet but I’ve heard that it is amazing. Cyclops is set in a future that is not so different from one that I can easily see happening some day soon(ish). In this future, the U.N. has stretched itself too thin with regards to wars/military operations and passes a resolution that allows them to hire private security firms to fight the battles that have traditionally been lead by different military forces from countries around the world. Furthermore, the men that are sent out by these security firms wear helmets that are equipped with a tiny camera that allows them to air their combat situations live. The ultimate reality TV!

Cyclops follows Doug Pistoia, a former soccer star in need of a job, who ends up hired by the security firm that wins the first bid to work for the U.N. He becomes an unwitting star and hero when he tries to save his commander in the middle of intense gun fire. Matz does a fabulous job depicting the moral dilemma that Doug struggles with throughout this volume. Doug is getting paid a lot of money to play the war hero on live TV, but in order to do so he has to throw himself into horribly violent, deadly (and extremely suspicious) situations. It would be easy for me to judge Doug and claim that I would never put myself in his situation, but I also have the benefit of actually seeing the businessmen plan their atrocious acts. I know that Doug is working for bad people. Conversely, Doug is under the impression that the governments of the world want these soldiers in these locations. He might be suspicious of the men at the security firm running the operations, but, ultimately, he thinks these countries need the peacekeeping help they are supposedly providing. It’s an interesting psychological dilemma and Matz & Jacamon do a fantastic job exploring it.

Jacamon’s art is gorgeous. He does an especially amazing job with colors and tone. Cyclops is a dark story, but Jacamon manages to convey that darkness without filling the entire book with black and grey. That works with other stories (such as noir or space-centered sci-fi), but this world is a mixture of war and entertainment. Jacamon’s art helps underline the interesting interplay between these two seemingly different worlds.

As I mentioned before, the beauty and sadness of this book is that the world created by Matz & Jacamon is not that different from a future I could easily see happening. I’m not going to get preachy in my review, but I wanted to throw that thought out there just as a warning that this book could be rather depressing if you think of it that way. Regardless, I love the story and think it provides the perfect combination of suspense and drama. I cannot wait to pick up the second volume and see where it ends.

About the Author

Stephanie

Stephanie ‘swoots’ Wooten was born in California, grew up in Maryland, went to undergrad at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and then moved back out to California in order to get her MA in Cinematic Arts at USC. In undergrad and grad school, Stephanie focused on television studies. She enjoyed nothing more than the idea of delving into an entirely new, believable universe full of characters that you genuinely cared about as though they were real people.