NEON: CYBER UPRISING #1 – Comic Review

NEON: CYBER UPRISING #1, from Steven Coburn on Kickstarter, kicks off a new adventure in the near future when a maverick cop teams up with a vigilante in a super-suit to stop a robot crime spree.

The Details

• Written by: Steven Coburn
• Art by: Wil Sur
• Colors by: Chris Jones
• Letters by: Nikki Powers
• Cover art by: Chris Jones (cover A)
• Comic Rating: Teen+
• Cover price: $5.00 (digital pdf)
• Release date: March 2023 (estimated)

Is It Good?

We pride ourselves on drafting description blurbs at the beginning of every review like the one above, but to be fair, that blurb doesn’t do NEON: CYBER UPRISING #1 justice. This indie offering from Steven Coburn is a slick, detailed, surprisingly complex, yet easy-to-follow kickoff for the world’s latest high-tech vigilante. As the saying goes, “this house has great bones.”

Coburn’s central premise revolves around a crime spree in New Miami committed by a group of self-replicating robots under the command of an advanced robot named Metallix. The only ones standing in Metallix’s way are Det. Riku Ellis and the mysterious vigilante codenamed NEON.

Coburn’s character development is surprisingly effective in a short amount of time. Within a scant 17 pages, you learn (almost) everything you need to know about each character, what motivates them, how they operate, and who’s on which side in this conflict. Of course, the devil’s in the details, and there’s only so much information you can fit into a single comic, but Coburn makes every bit of dialog count. Nothing is wasted, and everything matters.

To be clear, this isn’t a dialog-heavy issue. The dialog is delivered while the action is taking place within the context of a crime in progress. Coburn’s pacing is excellent, and the story is developed through the action, so you get an equal mix of information and action to keep you engaged.

The art is good, certainly above average for an indie project. The line work is clean, and the colors certainly pop. To be fair, you can tell this is digital art as the plastic edges can be seen in the lack of feathering and blending, but the panel construction is solid enough to cover for the obvious digital aftereffects.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with Det. Riku Ellis arrives at the scene of a “robbery” in progress. Cybers, rogue robots, have broken into a warehouse to steal data, but the police already on the scene are ordered to not enter the warehouse until tactical units arrive. Ellis isn’t interested in waiting, especially when he learns NEON, New Miami’s very own super-suited vigilante, is already inside.

Ellis enters the building and takes out the cyber guards. He eventually catches up to NEON, whose fighting his way through a small army of cybers barring the path to the back office. With the help of Netrunner, NEON’s remote guide, NEON initiates a superspeedy sashing attack that clears a path.

We conclude the issue with unpleasant phone calls, a master’s warning, and a legacy passed on.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.

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