“It always starts with an Explosion!” — Cyberine.

The Cyberines, or United States Cyberine Corps (USCC) made their first full appearance in Shadowflame #4 (1997/2007) where they helped Shadowflame fight and defeat Maldestrak (an extraterrestrial, malevolent being of god-like powers who was intent on destroying Earth). The story in Cyberines #1 follows a team of Super-Soldiers who have enhanced and/or augmented powers and abilities as they defend America from tyranny. The team initially consisted of Cyberine (their leader), Barrel, Agent Napalm, and Shok (who later goes rogue becoming an assassin-for-hire calling himself KillWatt). Later on, Crimson and Caress (who first appeared in New Age Tales of Alternate Adventures #1, JGM comics) were added through a special recruiting program by the USCC.

The character of Cyberine made his initial appearance alongside Agent Napalm in Shadowflame #2 (1996/2007) to arrest Billy Barnes, (A.K.A. KillWatt the Electrocutioner) who was hired by Mafia Don, Tony Baltinetti to kill Shadowflame for disrespecting the Don’s nephew, Tommy. (Shadowflame, Tom Wyatt, a dedicated New York City Cop arrested Tommy for brutally assaulting a young woman, resulting in the hit being put on him by Don Baltinetti.) It was during the four-issue story arc of Shadowflame that the Cyberine Corps was first introduced. It was always Shadowflame creator Joe Martino’s intention to spin the Cyberines off into their own title, and now he is finally getting that opportunity through this Kickstarter.

“The story of the Cyberines is a simple one,” Martino tells us. “When I was 14 years old (that is 1985 to you young pups.) I created my own version of Captain America that was mixed with The Six Million Dollar Man that became the hero Cyberine.” According to Martino, he was attending Bergen Tech, and in his Print Shop class, when his teacher asked the class to create a flyer for something that interested them. Being a huge comic fan (who had just read a Captain America and Deathlok comic book), Martino created a character in that vein. Needless to say, Martino was a very patriotic as a teen.

Martino tells us that the book is 99% done; needing only to be lettered and printed, which means that the book will be in backers’ hands shortly after the Kickstarter is over. The cover to issue #1 is by Cory Hamscher and Sean Forney, with the interior work being completed by the creative team of Cory Hamscher, Pow Rodrix, Sean Forney, Ed Dukeshire, DW from Fanboysinc and R.J. Michaels.

Martino has successfully managed four other Kickstarter projects revolving around his signature character, The Mighty Titan, published by Red Anvil Comics

This project will be funded on Sat, Nov 15 2014.