Cyberella is an American comic book series first published in 1996 as part of the short-lived DC Comics imprint Helix. The title was initially scheduled to be an ongoing monthly, but, owing to poor sales figures for both it and the Helix line generally, was cancelled after twelve issues in 1997. Written by Howard Chaykin and drawn by Don Cameron the title has been variously described as a techno-satire and a populist cyberpunk dystopia.
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 descendants including Bronson Travis III, the one time lover of Sunny Winston.
The Karoshi/Macrocorp plan backfires 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.