After the events of SPIDER-WOMEN, Silk's ever-turbulent life has been turned upside down yet again! What's a young super hero to do? Probably not run more robberies with the Black Cat! Because when Silk's luck runs out and Felicia learns the truth about her seeming ally, it'll end in tears! And if Cindy escapes in one piece, she'll be haunted by Spectro! Who is this spooky figure, and will he be a friendly ghost? Then, Silk's search for her parents has, so far, been decidedly short on positives. Maybe she'll have more luck accentuating the negative — the Negative Zone, that is! What the heck could Cindy's folks have been up to in there? Even if Cindy and pals can get in to find them, the N-Zone is one place that's hard to leave!
This is one of the most criminally underrated Marvel series. It's been consistently awesome, Cindy Moon is a fantastic character and I'm sad that I have no idea where it's going from here.
This volume picks up from an arc I think I may have skipped? I have no idea when it was revealed that there was an evil Cindy running around. There were some other threads discussed in the beginning that I was also confused about, as well. I don't know. It was slightly annoying but not so much that I couldn't get into the rest of the book.
Cindy continues to feel conflicted about being a double agent for SHIELD. She understands that Black Cat is not a good guy but this series shows that she's not all bad either. Cindy tells her about her past and Felicia honestly sympathizes with her. She listens and she understands some of what Cindy went through. It's a pleasant surprise to read a comic where a character can be morally ambiguous. It's been a long time since I read something like that - especially from Marvel.
As this is happening, Cindy's friends Lola and Lafferty are trying to get in contact with her to give her an update on their search for her parents. Cindy's brother continues to improve and Cindy keeps going to therapy. These sessions have made me tear up in the past. Robbie Thompson is telling a brilliant story of recovery and how it's a long going process to getting past a trauma and no ones here to read it. It's such a shame because other stories are getting credit for dealing with characters that have experienced trauma and they're not bothering to put the work in. Thompson's portrayal doesn't make it seem like you can recover in a few days; Cindy's been working at this for months now. Bless you, Thompson. Bless you!
The final act of this volume culminates in a Game of Thrones style battle in the Negative Zone. I won't reveal why but the ending was so satisfying. The dialogue between Lafferty, Lola and Cindy was amazing! I laughed out loud several times. I would hope I could get more of them working together but I think CW II and the relaunch of the relaunch (goddamn it, Marvel) put the final nail in this series' coffin.
This was a delightful series and I will miss it. I could not have enjoyed it more.
This volume feels like a wrap up to the series even though there's at least one more volume after this. The story with Black Cat gets wrapped up in a hurry in the blandest way possible. Then Cindy finally finds her parents in the goofiest of places, a D&D land in the Negative Zone. It's pretty dumb. This series had some potential, but it all just slips between the cracks here. It's a boring story with bland art from Tana Ford. Marvel needs to start paying artists better I guess. They've got on a whole lot of "meh" artists on the roster currently.
reread in june 2019; four stars ∗ this comic series is soso underrated!! i love cindy moon to death and am eagerly waiting to get my hands on the next installment!! if you’re a fan of spider-man, i highly recommend giving these books a go!
Surprisingly, I very much enjoyed this second collection of Silk issues. It does silly things and goes silly places, but somehow it all works pretty well. First, Cindy feels bad about being a double agent who's pretending to be Black Cat's friend while actually working for Mockingbird's SHIELD, and it's written so well that you sympathize with all three characters. Cindy seeks therapy. Then her long-running search for her parents finally comes to an end, and she finds them in the Negative Zone under the silliest circumstances imaginable. She's accompanied on the quest by two of her pals from her civilian job who have a touchingly sweet romance in the face of fire. I liked the art of the first issue by Stacey Lee very much, and the other four are done serviceably enough. It's a fun book; Irving Forbush would wave a thumbs-up.
Spiralling our the pages of Spider-Women, with Mockingbird around, the had-to-happen fallout between Cindy and Black Cat has gotta happen sooner than later right? In other news the family member search continues, into the Negative Zone! 6 out of 12
I didn't love this, and for no particular reason. I liked it a lot, yes, and it's still a really good series, but something about this volume just didn't grab me. But it's still incredibly satisfying to see Cindy finally get reunited with her family.
[Read as single issues] Free of the Spider-Women crossover and the Black Cat plotline, Silk can finally get back to what she wants to do - find her parents, who are still missing.
This arc really puts Cindy in the spotlight where other arcs have tried and had to juggle a lot more at the same time. This one is almost all Cindy, all the time. Even when the other characters in her supporting cast get involved, the story is still firmly Cindy's, and she shines under Robbie Thompson's writing. I love his interpretation of Jonah Jameson, and both Silk's work pals and her superhero ally Spectro are great in their own ways.
The story takes us from New York to the Negative Zone, from a superhero story into a fantasy showdown right out of Lord of the Rings. It simultaneously feels like a surprise and the end-point that Thompson has been aiming for since he started writing the series, finally bringing Silk's parents home, but showing that even if that stage of the journey is over, there's still a lot more to uncover.
Whilst I was sad to see Stacey Lee drop back from regular pencilling to doing only one issue every now and then, Tana Ford has stepped up ably. Her Silk feels a lot more fluid, and the way she captures webbing is a very individual take, especially given how Silk produces it from her fingertips rather than webshooters. Even the stuff that's out of her usual wheelhouse, like the giant talking dragon, are great. She's got a much more European feel to her art, which Ian Herring helps with by using more muted colour palettes, even for the more superheroic situations, that gives this book a unique visual.
Silk remains a Spider-title that stands on its own and does wonderful things for a character that would likely get lost in the spider-shuffle otherwise.
ARG! Why did they have to use that artist so much!?
I've enjoyed "SILK" so far, even if it has had a switch in artist a lot, they never stuck around, and the artists I liked rotated back in. Not so in this volume. Have to admit, that if — I think it is Tana Ford — the artist I don't like has most of the next volume, I'm not sure I'll read it.
In other news, the story progressed nicely, and while it got weird toward the end, it wrapped one thread up.
Also, I keep liking Black Cat more and more, anyone know if she has her own comic??
This volume was definitely an improvement on the previous two, even if the whole Dungeons & Dragons in the Negative Zone thing was a bit silly. It would have made SO much more sense if it had been set in Weirdworld instead, but I guess Weirdworld didn't exist yet when Silk's parents went missing.
World: Only 1 issues of Stacey Lee art...really...I am sorry I am not a fan of Tana Ford's art, it's just off for me. The world building here is in patches and kinda wonky and for the sake of the story. All the good stuff of building Silk's little piece of New York in the first arc (Vol 0) has pretty much gone down the drain and it disappoints me.
Story: The Black Cat end with the friends was good, this was mostly not due to the story itself but the therapy sessions. They were wonderful character development moments. The rest of the story was highly forgettable and disappointing. I had such high hopes for this series after the first 6 issues but this quickly became a mess of a book with focus on things that should be focused on. Then there is the resolution of the parent storyline which was wonky and weird and...yeah weird. It was heartwarming yes, but that was just quirky not in a good way.
Characters: I love Cindy, she's a great character and the best part of the series. Those therapy sessions were the best part of the arc as they allowed her character to develop. I wish there was more of this in the series and less of her just wandering around not knowing what she's doing. I don't mind her being new to this, I don't mind her self doubt, I mind when the writer does not really have a direction for the character. The rest of the cast were okay, they served their story, but the fact that Cindy has been weak ever since the start of the story after Vol 0 is the main issue this series is going to end with the next arc (and the next arc is all about an event...).
This series had potential, I love Cindy's personal voice and her friends/family but I wish the story was more intimate and less her being dragged into other people's stories. The evil Cindy was a good idea and I would have loved exploring more of that. Also more of the trauma of being stuck in a bunker for 10 year, interacting with society, friends, finding her place. This series had so much potential...
The Negative struggles a lot as Silk doesn't come across as particularly likable. There's a fine line between a hard luck hero/heroine and one that's whiny and navel gazing. Unfortunatley, Silk falls into that patterns. While she understandably and realistically has issues after what's happened to her, Thompson doesn't do a good job helping us to see as strong or admire her. See Sam Humphries characterization of Jessica Cruz in Green Lanterns to see how this is done right.
In addition, there are some plot twists that are weird and out of nowhere for the type of book this has been. Overall, can't say I'd recommend this one.
3.5 stars, rounding up I have an ongoing nit that Black Cat and Mockingbird are virtually indistinguishable (I have to look for costume clues) which is what happens when female superheroes all have to look like blonde Barbie. That being said, I love that we have three female MC's with their own agendas, abilities and hang-ups. And they never devolve to the cliche "cat fight" stand-by.
Meanwhile, "The Negative" as a storyline & alternate universe is pretty silly. There was also, apparently, another alternate universe event that happens in between these issues and is referred to but not explained (which is fine, it sounds pretty silly to have a bunch of 'evil' versions of familiar superheros running around). I've never understood why a storyline cannot be comprehensive enough on 'real' earth/universe.
Apart from that, Cindy Moon gets the space to face her anger and past isolation now that she has a family and friends for the first time in a decade.
Best one yet. The art hits its stride and the loose threads from previous volumes tie up in a really satisfying way. Minimal cameos, and the supporting cast of this really rises to the top. Still a cliffhanger ending, but less so than in previous ones - the stakes are undefined, which makes for more interest.
I love the Silk comics. I’ve loved them for years, since the time when I only have an issue or two of them. I loved her sweet relationship with Hector in her teenage years, and I was glad to find some more background about what he went through while she was locked in the bunker. It was also a nice surprise to learn that she was a hockey player before her superhero transition.
Why call this volume 2 if there is a volume in between one and two...? I'm more confused than at the end of the first. Also everything seemed to happen to easily and happily for a superhero. Don't think I'll be continuing with the rest of the series.
I love Black Cat in this and her story with Cindy but I didn't like how her part in this was wrapped up, it was so boring? This entire volume honestly just felt like wrapping everything up when it isn't the last volume in the series so like what we doing guys. Why is everything so SAFE.
Cindy's friends are looking into her parents whereabouts and eventually they are all in the Negative Zone together in a fantasy world. It has knights and talking dragons and there's a big battle and I didn't like any of that. It was so cringe ngl especially when they kept name dropping Game of Thrones. Why is a spider-person character ass deep in some lame fantasy world?
Good that a lot of things were wrapped up but it just didn't hit. Also I absolutely hate the main artist like that shit is bland and I am so tired of looking at it.
Idk if she did it much before because I don't remember having a problem but when she would use her silk powers and it would all come out of her fingers in strands... it gave me the ick omg ew.
If we could assign half-point ratings, I would give this a 3.5.
Evil Silk (A.K.A Nefarious Silk, as she prefers it) shows up from Earth 65 and goes on a crime spree. Stealing tech from the likes of Parker and Pym. Leaving the real Cindy Moon with a big mess to clean up. Let the Fact Channel tell it, Silk has gone bad, but Mockingbird knows better. On the upside of things, Evil Silk's game gave Good Silk street cred with Black Cat but unfortunately, when the real Silk shows up, she simply didn't measure up. How are you going to rob a high-security facility with the best of them one day and then turn around a week or so later and not remember how to break into that same place? Highly suspect behavior. Any doubts that Black Cat may have had about Silk were confirmed the moment S.H.I.E.L.D. set the trap that would cause her to lose everything.
This volume still finds Cindy wondering how much merit there is to Black Cat's sentiment about there being no real difference between the good guys and bad. That there is a perplexing fine line between the two. Either way, when it's time to throw down, Silk has had help as of late from a mysterious ghostly gentleman. His identity is revealed in this issue. Hint: He is a blast from Cindy's distant past.
Cindy also receives some closure as it relates to her parents. She's gone to great lengths to find them and believe it or not, it is not the strange ghostly fellow that helps Cindy in this pursuit. Her colleagues, turned good friends (the sort who know her secret identity), were instrumental in digging up a pretty strong lead on their whereabouts. Together, they go on an adventure of a lifetime. What they discover may not shock you but how this volume ends certainly will!
The Negative was another good volume to digest in the Silk series (even though the negative zone was a little strange). Next up will be Silk, volume 3: The Clone Conspiracy.
This volume is split into two half’s first half dealing with the remainder of the black cat plot. I really enjoy their one on one momenta with each other I would’ve liked to of seen the story go longer but they probably knew that their time at the book was coming up, they had to wrap storylines up oh yeah, I don’t like how they just throw away. Mockingbird thought silk was evil because spider woman told her no that was a different version of her. It feels very blasé and just trying to get it done and over with without putting it in the story. The second half is finding Cindy’s parents which I really enjoyed. The negative zone and the over the top fantasy world does it make a lot of sense of why they’re there or why the world is like it is? No but I don’t care. I wish her friends at the fact channel got more character development because all they are one dimensional characters that cheer for Cindy and that’s it. I would love to get their perspective on things. I appreciate the therapy sequences because they feel very real as therapy. You’re dealing with your mental and emotional state in each session and it doesn’t read like a stereotype of therapy. Tara Ford is the main artist on this book and while I’ve gotten used to her art, she still not my favorite. I would’ve much preferred Stacey Lee or Veronica Fish to stay with the book but beggars can’t be choosers. Overall solid volume
The second volume of Silk felt like it fell off the rails a bit.
I don't know if they were rushed, or if they wanted to make way for new storylines, but the way that Thompson just quickly wraps everything up felt very messy and not well thought out. From Silk realizing who the ghost person is from last volume, to telling her friends she is silk, to the Black Cat situation... even finding her parents, its all in this volume and unfortunately because its so crammed in and glossed over, a lot of the emotional resolutions that could be great instead fall flat. I mean, finding her parents alone should be a high point in the book. But it's quickly addressed and resolved. The Black Cat situation? No problem, all is well and good! Dead ex boyfriend? Now they're friends! Seriously, Thompson really could've had a lot to chew on here and instead opted for fast resolution to the detriment of the overall feel of the book.
The art also looks rushed at times. The covers were the best part of the volume in my opinion, and to me, that unfortunately doesn't warrant anything other than "it was ok" as a rating.
Check this out if you are a die hard Silk fan, if not, its safe to skip this one.
The life of Cindy Moon is filled with moments of reflection, followed by massive moments of pure excitement and energy. While an optimist, she has several issues that the reader gets an eye into as she balances working undercover, searching for her family, and dealing with the fallout of the Spider-Women event. These issues help to make Cindy a more balanced and interesting character. Along with this seeing her work with Black Cat, and struggling with the moral grey area was a powerful aspect of their bond. I hope to see more of that in the future.
There are some aspects of the story in this volume that feel a little jumped. The Black Cat and Silk team up ends a little suddenly, and it would have been interesting to gain more insight into the after effects. Maybe it'll be in the next volume. Additionally Cindy is reunited with a major character from her past, but it feels brief and it is not touched on again in the later issues of this volume. Instead it jumps to a short arc involving Cindy Moon's family.
Overall this is a good read if you are looking for something different. The art is a different style than I'm used to, but it's pretty good.