Issue(s): Silver Sable & the Wild Pack #11, Silver Sable & the Wild Pack #12
Cover Date: Apr-May 93
Title: Cyberwar: "Battle lines" / "Into the fray!"
Credits:
Gregory Wright - Writer
Tom Grindberg - Penciler
Josef Rubinstein - Inker
Lynaire Brust - Assistant Editor
Craig Anderson - Editor

Review/plot:
The Cyberwar banners on the covers and the appearance of Siege show that this a continuation of the story from Deathlok #17-21 (which Wright wrote, and had the same banners). The Deathlok stories ended with a Mar 93 cover date and this begins in Apr, so i guess if you were following these books in realtime it might have felt like this was an odd kind of crossover where the first five parts appear in one series and the last two in another. But on the other hand the Deathlok issues were "part x of 5" and there's no numbering on the Sable covers. And the way things have worked out, i haven't placed this story too close to the Deathlok issues, and in-story it's not a direct continuation. But it does continue plot elements from that story.

Guest art on these two issues is by Tom Grindberg, and the issues are padded with five pages of "Early Tales" by a different artist (Nelson Ortega).

We saw last issue that Sable has a new reason to go after the Genesis Coalition Hydra splinter group; she learned that they were planning attacks in Eastern Europe. That turns out to be Transia and Wundagore Mountain. Baron von Strucker, the head of the real Hydra, wants to go after him as well. But note that he tells Cassandra Romulus not to actually destroy them.

Meanwhile, the Genesis Coalition is ramping up the cyborg super-soldiers that they acquired during the Deathlok issues. They are operating from a mobile sea base that they stole from Hydra. Because of that, Silver Sable has recruited Stingray.

And as noted above, Siege gets involved. He's searching for the remaining cyborgs, and he's learned their location from tapping into an Avengers distress call. The Avengers aren't otherwise involved in this story. It's possible the call has something to do with Stingray, who is described as being an Avenger in this story, which i guess is technically, although barely, true.

Also involved in this story are Next Wave, which currently include Sandman and another new member, a character that doesn't like to be called the Fin. They've been hired by Hydra to deal with the Genesis Coalition.

Next Wave started out as parodies of the Image creators, and so i'd guess that the Fin was Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon). It's really weird to see them continue to be used as serious characters. Separately, it's weird for Sandman to accept a job where he's working for Hydra. He got out of the super-villain game. He left Sable because he felt like he wasn't getting enough respect, but i don't think that meant a return to villainy, and working for Hydra seems worse than, say, going back to robbing banks for himself.

Anyway, pages and pages of terrible Mike-Mignola-with-epilepsy art later...

...the Next Wave team screw up the sea base mission, requiring the Wild Pack and Siege to head to Wundagore to help there. There are so many characters. The Wild Pack alone are too numerous to keep track of, and now we have these Next Wave joke characters and Siege, and everyone seems to be colored in blue and red and they're all unrecognizable even when they're not wearing head gear because of the sea mission.

But the Knights of Wundagore are always cool.

Sable notes that it's surprising to see some of them still on Earth.

They eventually figure out that the cyborgs are all controlled in tandem...

...and use that to take them out.

At the end of the mission, Sable rejects an offer from Next Wave to join her group, but she accepts Sandman back in the Pack.

Some minor events of note. One is that the racist Doug Powell gets in trouble and has to be rescued by Battlestar. We also see Sable get into a fight with some mystery crab man.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This seems to take place before Strucker loses his arm in Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #45-47.

Beginning in issue #11, this series starts publishing "Early Tales" back-ups which i've covered in separate entries.

References:

• This is a continuation of events from Deathlok #17-21.
  
• Dmitri Petrovitch is told that his acquisition of a Hydra battle station makes up for his ineptitude in South America from Silver Sable & the Wild Pack #8.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

A rare typo in this book when Sable is saved by Sandman - She demands to know what he thinks he is doing "inerferring" with one of her operations".

Tom Grindberg is definitely something of a chameleon. He's previously done penciling reminiscent of Neal Adams. Here and on several other jobs in the mid 1990s he seems to be channeling Mike Mignola. I've also seen Grindberg do some Frazetta-inspired work.