Fans of Silk should be happy to know every Silk story is now in a trade paperback and collected for easy reading. Silk Vol. 1, Silk Vol. 2, the new Silk series, and now Silk Vol. 3 contain every story from the character’s main series. Collected in this final volume is Silk #9-19 written by Robbie Thompson with Stacey Lee, Tana Ford, and Irene Strychalski on art. It’s a story that feels self-contained enough as Cindy Moon gets closer to being a legit superhero in the eyes of the law.
At the start of this book, Cindy is working with S.H.I.E.L.D. to stop Black Cat, who is now the queenpin of crime. Her handler, Mockingbird, is trying to keep Cindy safe, but this is a dangerous business. As the story plays out, Silk ends up in a fantasy realm, gets a new costume, faces off against classic Spidey villains, and even gets a ghost boyfriend.
Overall this is a fun action-adventure with fantasy elements thrown in. Thompson clearly has a lot of ideas and mixes things up so this book never feels like any other. Cindy’s ability to make webs is on full display throughout, as well, even though it’s a bit icky since webs come out of her fingers. The use of her boyfriend Hector Cervantez aka Spectro is quite good and his inability to touch unless he’s fighting is a clever way to create tension. Making Silk more of an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. also makes her a different kind of hero who is less vigilante and more by the book.
The story does take a bit of a tangent as it takes a detour into the Clone Conspiracy storyline before wrapping up Silk’s story in general. But don’t worry: you don’t need to read Clone Conspiracy to understand this chunk of the story here, luckily. Thompson does a good job with this short two-part story by sending Silk to San Francisco to aid J. Jonah Jameson. The travel itself ends up being a character wrinkle as far as Silk pushing her family away even though she just found them. That adds to the value of the travel and makes it feel pertinent to the story itself. The adventure ends up involving clones but turns out to involve Silk’s boyfriend which, again, makes it personal to the character. Thompson deftly juggles Silk’s adventure with her personal feelings and you’ll never lose sight of the character in the thick of things.
CRACK!
Credit: Marvel
The art throughout has an all-ages feel, with a simpler style and a rounded feel to it. Colors by Ian Herring with Irma Kniivila on #15-16 do a lot to add volume and brightness. The style will strike you as it’s simpler, almost manga-like, but perfect for melodrama. Action tends to consist of a panel of a fist hitting a face with little in between to show how that fist transitions to a retaliating kick, but that’s due to a simpler layout style. At times I was reminded of manga due to its simplicity, but it works for the most part since getting to the core of the character is the real goal of this book. There are also some fun double-page layouts that help stretch scenes. Ian Herring (with Irma Kniivila) color the book and give it a more subdued and natural feel.
The last two issues actually feel like self-contained conclusions each their own, one capturing Silk’s inner thoughts on being a superhero and saying goodbye to her job, and the other wrapping up the drama between Silk’s dad and a mysterious villain. A strong message of freedom is brought up in these stories too, which goes along with the character’s history of being imprisoned in a bunker, but also for what is to come for the character in the future. There’s also a strong message about seeing a therapist as being a healthy and normal act as Silk works on herself. It’s nice to see therapy shown in a positive light like this, as it helps so many. By the end you’ll feel satisfied with Silk’s journey and that she’s stronger for it.
Silk has had multiple series at this point, and this was a fine ending for her. That Alyssa Wong and Takeshi Miyazawa pick up a lot of pieces from this in this year’s Silk series is a testament to the quality of the story. Silk is a character that’s only seven years old, but given the development Thompson has given her, she’s ripe for more adventures in comics and beyond.
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