Silver Hawks #9 // Review
It was Arkezi. He was the one who killed all those people. They would have though that it was MonStar, but the video proved that it was Arkezi. Now thaty’re face to face with a mass murderer who is offering them the opportunity to work with him to defeat a common enemy, but they’re not eaxactly comfortable with working with a killer. A decision must be made in Silver Hawks #9. Writer Ed Brisson reaches the penultimate issue of the sci-fi action series with artist/colorist George Kambadais. It’s a fairly simple and straightforward adventure that is competently brought to page and panel.
Arkezy seems outnumbered. He has all of the Silverhawks against him, but he’s not alone. He’s got some prett menacing firepower of his own. So he’s giving them an opportunity to work with himout of courtesy. There’s no way that they could do anything serious to harm him without havign access to something that he’s completely unaware of. They’ll have to work fast if they ar to defeat him before advancing to the threat of MonStar. They’re flying into some pretty dangerous territory and it’s not going to be easy. Things could get ugly.
Brisson isn’t going for anything too terribly complicated here. Still--it IS respectably engaging to find theheroes facing-off against a darker hero before advancing to the threat of the villain. Arkezy’s view that the heroes must sometimes be that much more vicious than the villains if they are to win...THAT’S something that doesn’t often get expressed in light sci-fi action that was originally intended for kids. It feels a bit strange coming from a dreamy space opera, but it’s not an unwelcome sort of a villain dynamic for the penultimate issue of the series.
Kambadais. delivers a sharp sense of intensity for the space fantasy. The heroes DO look suitably heroic. The original character design looks solidly celestial as the heroes engage a giant monster. There’s a real sense of impact on the page that feels quite well-rendered. Once again, the simple color of the cel animated series amkes it to the page more or less faithfully as the heroes march-on ever closer to the big villain waiting for them in the final issue next month. It might lack t he intensity that could have been achieved with something of a darker vision.
The Silver Hawks. had always felt a bit like a peripheral franchise that rested somewhere between the bigger kiddie exploitation franchises of the late 1980s and early 1990s. It’s been interesting to revisit the franchise with a bit of a darker tone in a series that is not totally out of synch with the original cartoon series from decades ago. Brisson and company have had a sharp balancing act to manage between advancing the frnachise into darker horizons while still remaining true to the flashier, commercial inspiration behind the original cartoon series. It might not be totally satisfying to anyone, but it HAS largely been an enjoyable journey into a familiar world.
