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Cyberpunk 2077: Trauma Team
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Story: Cullen Bunn
Art: Miguel Valderrama
Color Assist: Jason Wordie
Letters: Frank Cvetkovic

I remember my first laughably pretentious review for comicattack.net, covering Cullen Bunn’s Harrow County #24. I immediately appreciated Bunn’s writing because it was apparent even from that one issue that he was a storyteller unafraid to dive headlong into some fairly nuanced moral quandary and the internal turmoil afflicting his characters. Seeing his name on the cover of this book immediately brought a smile to my face and I am very pleased to confirm that Bunn has delivered yet again. Trauma Team is an unassuming indictment of the dystopian classism that is intrinsic to the genre’s punk underpinnings masquerading as an action-packed spectacle.   

I initially stopped myself from reading Trauma Team when I received the review copy. I wanted to get some time in with the game to familiarize myself with the world and the context. Fortunately, as a player, our first run-in with Cyberpunk 2077’s trauma teams comes very early in the game. They are essentially urban medevacs deployed in Night City to high profile clientele as a result of widespread paramilitary clashes between corporations, crime syndicates, and street gangs. After a few missions, I felt more comfortable with the world-building and tenor of the universe, so it was time to dive into IDW’s version of Night City. 

This graphic novel iteration is quintessentially cyberpunk. The subversive, anti-corporate slant and anti-consumerist aspersions are seamlessly integrated, enriching the narrative rather than distracting from it. The story follows trauma team medic Nadia, the sole survivor of an ambush during urban deployment. She must pass a psychological evaluation to return to work, but the experience has understandably rendered her numb and potentially disaffected. Here, Cullen Bunn offers a window into the mind of a dedicated trauma survivor at odds with her own mortality. Feelings of regret for her comrades are presented at odds with her sense of duty. Is she ready for a return to service? Can her new team rely on her experience going forward?

This depth of internal conflict can be a very delicate picture to paint thematically and I appreciate that Bunn and artist Miguel Valderrama give the subject appropriate attention with well-paced and framed panels. The work from this team melds seamlessly, as Valderrama punctuates Bunn’s tight plotting and colorist Jason Wordie’s punchy transitions with slick genre callbacks and visceral combat. Wordie’s vibrant but moody contributions are pitch-perfect, rendering contemplative scenes with due gravity while ratcheting up the intensity of action sequences. Quiet, introspective moments and haunting apparitions are interwoven with a hard sci-fi edge that delivers well on the themes of Cyberpunk 2077. This is just one example of so many stories ripe to be mined from this burgeoning universe. To any seeking further immersion into the mythos of Night City, Trauma Team is a fitting expansion of the lore.

Christian Davenport
cable201@comicattack.net