LOL, The Cyberpapacy.

OK, so, this realm was initially just an oppressive medieval theocracy, but on its way to invade Earth, it melded with virtual reality, creating an oppressive medieval cyberpunk theocracy. It took over France, which, OK. It is run by the Cyberpope. Man, typing that made me laugh hard. This came out in 1991, a full year before The Lawnmower Man.

It is full of pure gold. The back cover reprints the cyber catechism, which includes lines like “To possess cyberware is to share the body of the Lord.” It has a religious version of the internet called the GodNet complete with a cyber hell. There are Jazuits, some kind of knife-wielding cyber Jesuit pun that I don’t entirely understand. There is a CYBERPOPE.

Alas, they couldn’t just focus on the laughs. Part of the history of the Cyberpapacy involves the secret manufacture of an artificial AIDS virus that the Cyberpope could effectively turn off at will in order to create the appearance of a miracle. This is a pretty gross plot device no matter which way you look at it.

However, let’s close on a bright note, that being the art of Tim Bradstreet. Bradstreet is strongly identified with Vampire: The Masquerade (also ‘91), but I find his straight cyberpunk stuff here very strong. Love that cyber nun.

Cyber.