With Steve Niles’ FUSED series going through three different publishers and almost three times as many artists in its short life, you’d think the comic title would suck. You’d be so wrong, my friend.

The story – a rip-roaring’ sci-fi adventure with unapologetic B-movie aplomb – begins in the four-issue FUSED: CANNED HEAT miniseries, originally published by Image Comics in 2002. It concerns Dr. Mark Haggerty, a young, one-armed yet happily married robotics engineer who is asked to test an experimental “Cy-Bot,” an exo-suit designed for extreme rescues. In doing so, something goes haywire, naturally, and the nerve gel between his body and the armor cause the two to fuse (hence the title), leaving Haggerty in quite a pickle: a metal prison from which he cannot escape.

Worse, as with Hulk, he’s perceived immediately (and incorrectly) as being a threat to all humanity, and finds himself targeted for destruction by an elite government squad called The Implementers, one of whose three members wears a gimp mask. And Lord knows how being a permanently hulking robot is going to affect a marriage. While Niles’ storytelling is constantly solid, having three artists (Paul Lee, Brad Rader and Ben Templesmith) work on these first four issues is a little jarring, particularly when the Cy-Bot’s costume goes from looking like an ambulance-colored Transformer to a rusted-gray IRON GIANT, even changing colors within the span of a single issue!

The story continued two years later in FUSED: THINK LIKE A MACHINE, another four-issue collection, this time from Dark Horse. However, more light is shone on the relationship between Haggerty and his wife Nikki, as they struggle to dance around this sudden monkey wrench that’s been thrown into their marital alliance. Though obviously madly in love, the two can’t deny the elephant – or, more to the point, the giant metal guy – in the room. It’s a touching coupling not unlike that found in Alan Moore’s SWAMP THING series or David Cronenberg’s THE FLY.

But don’t let that make you think MACHINE jettisons the combat in favor of romance. On the contrary, Niles even ups the action ante, drawing on his horror roots to have the Cy-Bot engage in fisitcuffs with Cro-Mag, a recently thawed caveman with the implanted brain of a scientist. The skirmish is gleefully gory, and cemented my love for this series – one that sadly almost went nowhere after this, especially after an up-in-the-air ending.

But then last winter, BOOM! Studios issued the FUSED TALES one-shot anthology. While it does not directly pick up the dangling storyline, it is nice just to see more of Haggerty.

Niles writes the first of the three stories, “Bring Your Own Misery,” which timely pits the Cy-Bot against Iraqi forces. “Stiff Little Fingers” is a stand-alone adventure, finding our metallic friend doing battle with an underwater menace that looks not unlike himself, with the addition of multiple purple tentacles. Finally, “Moving Along” is the only piece here to address the relationship with Nikki. The story is expectedly bittersweet, but Andrew Ritchie’s art does it a disservice, taking too many liberties with the suit and rendering Haggerty as an elderly skeletal creature.

Despite this one slip-up, any new FUSED material is welcome. Perhaps if enough of you warm to this criminally low-profile series, the future can bring more. –Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• BIGFOOT by Steve Niles, Rob Zombie and Richard Corben
• THE CRYPTICS by Steve Niles and Benjamin Roman
• THE NAIL by Steve Niles and Rob Zombie
• 30 DAYS OF NIGHT: RUMORS OF THE UNDEAD by Steve Niles and Jeff Mariotte