Silk Vol. 1: Sinister

by Robbie Thompson

[Quirky Cat]

I’ve been hearing about Silk for a while now, and with my most recent read through of some of the spider comics (Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, and Miles Morales Spider-Man) and how they sometimes cross paths with her, I decided it was time to give her series a try. Granted, I rushed in a read volume one without doing any research, so I totally missed the fact that there’s a volume zero, which likely does a better job explaining her origin story. So if you haven’t read any of her stuff yet, don’t be a dummy like me; read volume zero first! Then move on to the rest of the series. Now I get to read it a little bit backwards…which is totally fine, right?
Cindy Moon is Silk, and from what I understand her origin is similar to Peter Parker’s in that she also got bitten by a radioactive spider. Presumably in the same lab as him and everything (because seriously, what are the odds that it happened anywhere else?). While she may cross over with Spider-Gwen later, she’s not of that universe, instead living in the one most people would consider the ‘main’ universe.



When I first read volume one I thought this was the first volume dedicated to Silk (I knew it wouldn’t be an origin story, since her origin is covered elsewhere), so I was a little bit confused by how we were thrown into the thick of things. Maybe it’s still confusing, but without having read the prior volume I can’t actually say that for certain.
Cindy’s character is clearly suffering from something many young superheroes afflict upon themselves; she’s utterly overloaded. She’s trying to juggle a real life job, with a real social life (okay, that one has kind of been put on the back burner), take care of her kid brother, be a superhero, AND be a double agent. So she actually has more going on that a lot of heroes out there. I’m impressed she’s managed to stay on her feet for as long as she has. I don’t know about you, but I can barely function if I’ve missed even a single night’s sleep…let alone two.
Like a lot of newer series in Marvel, it isn’t afraid to include cameos and pull characters from established series to lend some credibility. Black Cat appears to be a somewhat main character for this series (for now, that is, this will likely change with circumstances), but there are plenty of other characters that make an appearance. Peter Parker, Mockingbird, and Spider-Woman all make their appearances as well. I wonder how frequently we’ll be seeing them pop up? I’m betting less so for Peter (he is the CEO of a massively successful business now), and once this plot is finished probably less of Mockingbird as well. I suspect we’ll continue to see Jessica Drew however. Though maybe that’s me being silly, but it feels like the Spider-Women should stick together (the pun at the end there was not intentional, but was a happy accident).
I’ll admit that while I didn’t love this volume, the series itself has a lot of potential. I’m curious about Cindy and what she’s gone through, as well as being interested in where she’s going to end up next. I don’t love the Goblin plot, though it is cool seeing her ‘work’ with Black Cat, so I’m okay with seeing it go on for now.


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