Cyberella is a comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 series

Ongoing series

The term "ongoing series" is used in contrast to limited series , a one shot , a graphic novel, or a trade paperback...

 first published in 1996

1996 in comics

-Year overall:* Malcolm Jones III commits suicide at circa age 37.* Boody Rogers, creator of Sparky Watts, dies at c. age 92-January:* January 19: Bernard Baily, co-creator of The Spectre and Hourman, dies at age 79.* January 28:...

 as part of the short-lived DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

 imprint

Imprint

In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...

, Helix

Helix (comics)

Helix was a short-lived, science fiction and science fantasy imprint of DC Comics, launched in 1996 and discontinued in 1998. Helix was a short-lived, science fiction and science fantasy imprint of DC Comics, launched in 1996 and discontinued in 1998. Helix was a short-lived, science fiction and...

. The title was initially scheduled to be an on-going monthly, but owing to poor sales figures for both it and the Helix line generally, was cancelled after twelve issues in 1997

1997 in comics

-January:*Avengers #3 - Marvel Comics*Captain America #3 - Marvel Comics*Fantastic Four #3 - Marvel Comics*Iron Man #3 - Marvel Comics-February:...

. Written by Howard Chaykin

Howard Chaykin

Howard Victor Chaykin is an American comic book writer and artist famous for his innovative storytelling and sometimes controversial material...

 and drawn by Don Cameron the title has been variously described as a techno-satire and a populist cyberpunk

Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...

 dystopia

Dystopia

A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...

.

Plot synopsis

Sunny Winston is an 'ordinary citizen' who exhibits aberrant behaviour living in the insular consumer-driven society of a near-future Earth.

Karoshi/Macrocorp has designed a program to keep the human masses under its sway by exploiting their affinity with popular culture. This program is based on 'Lil Ella a cartoon character created by Kelton Mosby the founder of Karoshi/Macrocorp, based on Ella Fiscus, a child star who died in a factory accident. Following Mosby's death, Karoshi/Macrocorp falls under the sway of Bronson Travis and his descendents including Bronson Travis III, the one time lover of Sunny Winston.

The Karoshi/Macrocorp plan back-fires and leads to the merging of the persona of Sunny Winston with the 'Lil Ella program. The end-product of this fusion is 'Cyberella' a being imbued with various 'super-powers' (including the ability to meld her mind with others) and who sets about undermining the ambitions of Karoshi/Macrocorp.

The events narrated by the comic take place in Slangeliego, "the capital of the twenty first century [and] the greatest city in the world", a megalopolis stretching the length of the west coastline of the North American continent, from Vancouver in Canada southwards down to Tijuana in Mexico.