Morgan Hampton Talks Cyborg And Giving The Hero His Much-Deserved Spotlight – Exclusive Interview

The story deals with one of the more complex relationships in DC Comics between Victor and his father, Silas. What was it like to explore that dynamic? Without spoiling anything, there are some considerable changes coming.

Superheroes have their daddy issues. Like you said, Cyborg’s got one of the more complex relationships with his father because he is someone that dramatically changed his life, but also it was in an effort to save his life. The thing that me and Marquis [Draper] and Tom [Raney] are trying to hone into with what Victor is going through in this series with his father is the power of choice. It’s like, “Yeah, you did save my life, but you took that choice away from me.”

I reread the “Tales of the Teen Titans” by Marv Wolfman, which was Cyborg’s first solo outing … where they showed his origin. There’s a panel in there when he wakes up and he realizes that he’s Cyborg. He’s like, “Why didn’t you let me die?” That’s heavy. But it’s like, “You took that choice away from your son.”

I understand — no parents are going to want to let their kid die. But there’s a deep wound there that I don’t know has been super-duper explored. It’s always like, “I don’t mess with you because you did this to me.” But can we contextualize what that looks like? Can we contextualize what that means for Cyborg as he navigates himself, as he navigates this body, and as he navigates forward? All of that is related to Silas.

What about Cyborg’s new redesign?

It’s awesome. I wasn’t too involved with the process, but I’m always going to be happy for putting Cyborg in clothes. I’ve always liked his design, don’t get me wrong. But there’s something cool about just looking cool too. The outfit he has now is something that I would wear. As soon as they make a jacket or some sweatpants like that, I’m going to be the first in line to buy it.

That lends back to recontextualizing the character because it’s got that casual, athleisure look, which is perfect for Cyborg. He doesn’t need spandex. He needs something that fits more his vibe, and this definitely fits that. I like the updated color scheme as well. It’s still a blue, but it’s a teal-ish blue, and the orange really pops. I love it. It’s great.

How exciting was it to see the redesign for the first time?

It was crazy. I was actually in Detroit at the time, because when I found out I was doing the book, I was like, “Hey, I’ve never been to Detroit. I should go and experience the city.” One of my other friends from the Milestone Initiative who lives up there showed me around and gave me a lot of insights into the city and stuff like that. One of the days that I woke up in my hotel, I got an email from Marquis, and he was like, “Hey, this is the new redesign.” I was like, “Yo, this is so dope.” It was awesome. My jaw dropped.