Silk #5 // Review
Cindy has to team up with Saya. Saya knows Cindy’s secret identity. Saya’s also the daughter of infamous crime boss Silvermane. Things are going to get awkward with the fight against a cat demon in Silk #5. Writer Maureen Goo wraps up her mini-series in fully satisfying form with the aid of artist Takeshi Miyazawa and colorist Ian Herring. The series may come to a satisfying end, but Goo has done such a good job framing the life of Cindy Moon that it’s difficult not to want more from Goo and Moon. The two have come a long way in five issues.
Everything has become very complicated for Cindy Moon. The cat demon Kasha has been killing people in Queens. The fact that they happen to be people engaging in organized crime is a bit of a strange detail that’s going to make things a bit awkward for Cindy as she is forced to team up with a team-up with crime boss-in-training Saya in an effort to get rid of the demon before something awful happens. Saya and Silk will try to work together, but things could get unhinged in a hurry as the series reaches its climax.
Goo treads in very familiar territory in a refreshingly new form. Heroes are forced to team up with villains all the time. Goo makes both Saya and Silk interesting enough that they could have their own series together. Saya may be a villain, but she expresses genuine concern for Silk, who seems hell-bent on ruining her life to try to help others. The insight Saya has gained from her brother’s work with Cindy as a psychologist makes for a dizzyingly interesting drama that seems a lot more fascinating than the whole thing with the cat demon.
One of the things that’s made Miyazawa’s work on Silk so enjoyable is his ability to make her as expressive as she is. There’s only so much that an artist can do with the eyes and the posture of a hero to make her seem emotionally expressive. Still, Miyazawa manages to find all kinds of different ways to deliver the intimate emotional state of the title hero that cleverly serves as the center of the drama. Herring has a challenge with the nighttime setting of the issue. Miyazawa has bathed so much of the atmosphere in lots and lots and lots of ink. Herring finds the right glow around the edges of all that ink.
The series comes to a close. It’s difficult to understand why. Silk is a solidly impressive mutation of the classic Marvel web-slinger formula that works SO well...especially with the unique skew that Goo is throwing into the mix in this series. There’s really no reason why this series shouldn’t be one of Marvel’s better-sellers. The weight between the action and the drama is deftly delivered. With any luck, Marvel will look for a second run with Goo and Moon.
