A few years back, writer/artist Ibrahim Moustafa launched a book called Count, a sci-fi retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. And now, years later he’s revisiting that world with Cyn, a new graphic novel now out in stores everywhere from Humanoids.
“Cyn is a supporting character in that book, so we get to see a bit of her past and the life she was made to lead,” Moustafa told Comic Book Club over email. “The cool thing is, the books are designed to be read in any order, or by themselves. But I love how there is another experience for readers to have in that world the minute they’re done with CYN if they want.”
Focusing on a cybernetic enforcer named Cyn, the sci-fi western finds the merciless killer getting nursed back to help by a former medic and his two daughters. As she learns more about humanity, and herself, outside forces start to encroach that may draw her back to her previous life.
To find out much more about the book, including why this book is extremely personal for Moustafa, read on.
Comic Book Club: This sort of story, a weapon who doesn’t want to be a weapon, is a classic… What was the appeal of that arc to you?
Ibrahim Moustafa: I think a lot of us were raised with certain programming or behaviors that we spend a lot of time trying to break free from, and so I really find that to be a relatable trait. There’s also something about the quiet warrior who exercises restraint against someone they know they could destroy is always appealing to me.
And beyond that, knowing this is a trope, what did you look to make different? Or is it more about finding the characters and letting them lead you?
I think it’s interesting how we only talk about tropes with regards to genre fiction comics and not cape and cowl stories. I see that type of character as someone with a “walk softly but carry a big stick” mentality, and also who practices the moral philosophy of “with great power comes great responsibility”. And someone who can exercise that level of restraint and control (or who fails at trying to) within their specific circumstances is, to me, what makes them resonate beyond an archetype.
The story falls apart if Cyn doesn’t work — which she does. What was important to capture in both her character and design?
I very much wanted her to look believable as a person, and I wanted her to be a bit of a sleeper in the sense that you wouldn’t know what she could do just by looking at her. Even though her eyes glow and she has metal plates on her face, I wanted to make sure she was still capable of expressing very human emotions.
You have some killer action sequences in here… Talk about pacing them out because they’re kinetic on the page, but obviously still images.
Thanks very much. Action sequences are something that I feel I approach in a very unique way to the comics medium. A lot of action sequences in comics are disjointed and feel non-contiguous. I think that’s a result of the disconnect between the writing stage (which is often penned by someone who isn’t a visual thinker) and the art, which is usually handled by another person trying to guess at what the writer was thinking a month ago when they wrote the scene.
Since I’m doing it all myself, I’m able to really hone in on the flow of a sequence and problem solve for the limitations of static images on paper in a way that gets me as close as I can get to action flowing in motion on the page.
If you’re comfortable talking about this, you say via the press release this was very personal for you. I’m guessing you’re not a former killer cyborg (right???) so what was it about this story that connected with you in particular?
Haha, thankfully not! But as I was sitting down to start writing the script for this book, our beloved dog began to have complications from her heart condition, which led to the acute onset of other complications, and we lost her. She was the light of my life, and a big part of who I am. She really made me a better man. And so I was sort of having this parallel experience to the one I was making for Cyn, where I was trying to figure out who I was after having lost a big piece of myself and my identity.
My other dog, who is a type that is too often bred for violence, was having a hard time with her passing and he lashed out at me and injured me pretty badly. Thankfully that was an isolated incident born out of him being very scared. So in that way I was able to relate to the character of Ness in the book, caring for a potentially volatile being who means very well, but has certain triggers that can lead to a bad situation. So making this book was very cathartic for me.
You’ve got a pretty definitive ending here, but is this a world you’d want to revisit?
Potentially. This book IS actually me revisiting the world; CYN is a followup to my 2021 book COUNT, which is my sci-fi reimagining of The Count of Monte Cristo. Cyn is a supporting character in that book, so we get to see a bit of her past and the life she was made to lead. The cool thing is, the books are designed to be read in any order, or by themselves. But I love how there is another experience for readers to have in that world the minute they’re done with CYN if they want.
CYN is in stores everywhere now.
