Does the latest rendition of the storied team make for a worthwhile purchase?  Read on to find out.

The official description from Image:

TOP COW’S TOP-SELLING SERIES RETURNS IN A GROUND-BREAKING WAY!

Top Cow celebrates its 20th anniversary with the return of the series that started it all: CYBER FORCE! Top Cow founder MARC SILVESTRI (THE DARKNESS, INCREDIBLE HULK) returns to his first Image series as co-writer, art director and cover artist! Co-writer MATT HAWKINS (THINK TANK, LADY PENDRAGON) and artist KHOI PHAM (MIGHTY AVENGERS, DAREDEVIL) join SILVESTRI to bring you a contemporary re-imagining rooted in cutting edge, real world technology.

Carin Taylor, codenamed Velocity, has escaped from the CDI-controlled Millennium City and is desperately trying to find the one man she believes can help her prevent the end of the world. When she runs a group of other CDI escapees, will they help her… or turn their backs?

Not content in pushing the envelope just in terms of story and art, Top Cow will be the first major US comic publisher to launch one of their biggest properties with top tier creators concurrently for both the traditional print market and exploding worldwide digital market for FREE. That’s right: Thanks to the support of fans through Kickstarter and participating comic shops, you can get the first FIVE issues of CYBER FORCE at no cost.

Following a chase formula combined with flash-backs and a good deal of information building, this first issue succeeds at setting itself apart from its original inception.  However despite the issue being free it does stumble a bit, as it offers a hook but one that may not be strong enough to net any new readers in the long run.

Marc Silvestri and Matt Hawkins team to pen this script and they do a wonderful job utilizing all the tools in their trade to make this a more than solid first outing.  From the dialogue to the interesting cast of re-imagined characters, this really is a unique comic book perfectly suited for today’s market.  There are moments of grace contained here, but they are bogged down by an overabundance of information.  Ultimately though, when all the various pieces are added together this release offers an experience that should ensure that readers at least give this series a look.

Khoi Pham does a very good job on the art.  After reviewing his previous work on Scarlet Spider (you can read the latest UTF review here) I can honestly say this is some of his best stuff to date.  His panel designs flow well, his characters are structured and detailed enough to make each moment lively while maintaining an engaging visual style that more than stands with the current crop of artists at Top Cow.

Cyber Force #1 has some problems but if you take into account the fact that it’s free and a very good first step you really have no excuse not to give this a go.  Recommended.

3.5/5