Written By: Robbie Thompson
Art By: Tana Ford
Colored By: Ian Herring
Lettered By: VC’s Travis Lanham
Release Date: 8/3/16
Price Tag: $3.99
This volume of Silk has quickly become one of my favorite titles to read every month. This issue in particular tackles Cindy’s anger issues and how this affects the relationships close to her.
Plot
In Silk #10 Cindy found out her dead ex-boyfriend had been following her. This issue opens up with Hector and Cindy finally coming face-to-face. Cindy finds out how Hector died and how he figured out that Cindy was Silk. The rest of the issue tackles Cindy’s anger issues and her relationships with Mockingbird, J Jonah, her work friends, and her brother.
Story
For the past couple of issues Silk has been formatted through Cindy’s therapy sessions with her psychologist, and other scenes being connected through topics they talk about during their sessions. I love that this series is taking more of a psychological approach. It’s great that we are finally digging deep into Cindy’s character after her time in the bunker.
This story focuses on Cindy’s anger issues. During her therapy session Cindy and her psychologist uncover that the reason Cindy has developed these anger issues is because when she was in the bunker the anger kept her company. It helped her feel something.
The strongest aspect of this issue is how the book deals with Cindy’s anger problem. It’s not Cindy running around hitting things, like we’ve seen in so many other comics, instead this book focuses on how Cindy’s emotional problems affect the relationships around her. She’s angry at Hector not only because he’s kind of dead, but mostly because of lost time. Cindy was put into the bunker and this affected all the relationships she had as a teenager. She still doesn’t know where her parents are and her first love is now a ghost. In their last panel together Hector needs to tackle Cindy just to feel a hug. So you can understand why Cindy may be angry.
Cindy’s anger with Mockingbird is more about insecurity and the fear of the future, but interestingly Cindy mentions that the only person she doesn’t feel angry with is J. Jonah. She feels comfortable as Analog.
Two other interesting interactions in this issue are with Cindy’s work friends and her brother. Cindy spends some time with her brother as she helps him with his physical therapy. They grab a burger to eat, and Cindy opens up about seeing a psychologist. She asks her brother, the person who has known her the longest, if she had anger issues when she was younger. Cindy’s brother says that her anger now is understandable, and Cindy just needs to keep in mind that she’s not alone. We don’t get to see Cindy’s brother in every issue, but when we do see him those scenes seem to shine the brightest.
Cindy’s relationship with her work friends is the storyline that progresses the plot the most. Cindy had been avoiding her friends for a couple of issues now because it seems like she doesn’t feel like she deserves happiness, this is a feeling that had been explored in the first volume of Silk. But finally it’s her friends that encounter Cindy about being Silk, and they accept her with open arms. Now they’ll be teaming up to help find Cindy’s parents once and for all. I can’t wait to see how these characters grow now that they are in the know.
Art
I’ve gotten use to the art style for Silk, but I still like the cartoony style that we had seen in previous story arcs a bit more. The proportions are a little weird with this art style, but I do think it does a good enough job with conveying emotions in the book.
Although I would have liked to see more emotion with the art in the scene where Hector and Cindy hug. The last three panels of the page creates the hug scene in a sideways perspective. Maybe this was to convey how Cindy was feeling, but for me the scene would’ve had more emotion if they kept it consistent with the first panel.
Even though I’m not in love with the art style I really like the color palette for this issue. The colors aren’t gloomy, but the best I can describe them is by saying they are damp or moody. The colors aren’t completely bright, expressing the tone of Cindy’s psychological state.
Verdict
Silk is a must read series! This issue adds so many layers to Cindy’s story and character. My only negative is towards the unproportional art style.