Advance Review: Silk #1 (of 5)

Just when you think that Marvel won’t push out another spider book, along comes….well a spider! Silk gets another outing, this time in a mini series that looks to put to rest some of the confusion that has been a part of Cindy Moon’s relatively short comic book career.

By now. you know the key parts of Silk’s story; bitten by the same spider that bit Peter Parker she obtained the same powers as Peter with the addition of shooting webs from her finger tips. Hunted for her powers, Cindy spent 10 years in a bunker. If this is news to you, don’t worry, you will be reminded of it as you progress through this first issue. Carrying on, at least in essence, from the last Silk first issue, Cindy, who now lives with her recently rescued brother, has a job with J. Jonah Jameson’s new digital site Threats ‘n’ Menace and does the usual spider type stuff, solving robberies and getting interested in a recent not quite gangland killing.

This is novelist Maurene Goo’s first comic book, not that it shows at all. The pacing of the book is perfect, the dialogue carries a charm that feels like a younger book in parts. In a lot of ways it reminds me of the Bryan Q. Miller Batgirl run; fun entertaining with a lead character that has the charm of youth. The repeated bunker comments add to the cyclic nature of Cindy’s motivation and youth. There is also a true mystery to be deduced as well as a smattering of the “Parker guilt”, which I assume is also a reaction to the spider bite.

The art is supplied by Takeshi Miyazawa, whose work you may have seen on Runaways and Ghost Spider. Here, Miyazawa’s art has an odd angular look to it at times, which makes limbs jut out regardless of perspective. Also, at times, some of the characters have very little or no face whatsoever. This is a tad distracting at times, but overall doesn’t detract from the story. For the other panels, be they the quieter discussion or action ones, Miyazawa has a good eye for camera angles that works well throughout. The colors by Ian Herring are a little faded, almost washed out that stands against the majority of Marvel’s output; it is a good look for a book that feels a little less than mainstream. Letter’s are provided by VC’s Ariana Maher who uses a font that is very similar to the X-font used by her Virtual Calligraphy stablemate Clayton Cowles.

For a first issue that looks to bring Silk back into the fold, Goo and Miyazawa do extremely well, so well in fact, that I was a tad disappointed to find out this is in fact a mini series, at least for now.

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars

Overall – 3.5 Stars

Written by; Maurene Goo
Art by; Takeshi Miyazawa
Colors by; Ian Herring
Letters by’ VC’s Ariana Maher
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network