Stephanie Kay
Oct 14, 2007, 11:29 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=10511" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/silentwar1t.jpg" align=left alt="Silent War #1 (of 6)" hspace=10></a>Reviewer: Jason Grasso, Desperad07@aol.com
Story Title: Act One: The Warrior
The whisper and wallop of war
Writer: David Hine
Artist: Frazer Irving
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Production: Kate Levin
Assistant Editors: Aubrey Sitterson & Molly Lazer
Editor: Stephen Wacker
Executive Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (http://www.marvel.com)
Silent War was born out of the ending of Son of M, when Black Bolt declared war on the United States for O*N*E’s refusal to return the Terrigen Mists that they had recovered from the duplicitous Quicksilver. Son of M happened to be one of the rare great things to come out of the House of M crossover. With David Hine back with Silent War to conclude his story, it looked like we could see another surprise gem from Marvel.
But sometimes war ain’t all that it cracked up to be.
The issue kicks off with Gorgon and three younger Inhumans (including the violent Jolen) infiltrating a charity performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, attended by politicians and celebrities. They intend to essentially flex their muscles, make the sort of statement that warring factions make without any harm. However, Jolen takes the threat too far and when all is said and done, 47 humans are dead and hundreds injured.
Upon sneaking out of the theatre, the Inhumans are stopped by the Fantastic Four and the two teams engage in the ubiquitous fight scene. Gorgon, ever the antagonist, clearly had no intent to fatally harm any of the humans and is shocked to hear of the casualties. However, he’s also not about to go down without a fight. After an engaging battle (wonderfully illustrated by Frazer Irving), the FF finally subdue the Inhumans, who are carted off by the Office of National Emergency.
O*N*E is the latest victim of the deconstruction of government agencies in the Marvel Universe. (It’s unfortunate because they had an interesting agenda during the Decimation event surrounding the mutants after House of M.) We meet yet another dastardly, clichéd character (this time, a scientist!) who is clearly intent on setting up the Inhumans. And to make matters worse, he morphs into an even bigger cliché by maniacally subjecting Gorgon to the Terrigen Mists.
We briefly visit the Blue Side of the Moon to see the royal council’s reaction to the events. Black Bolt’s indecisiveness regarding making an apology would’ve been a bold, interesting move had it not been in response to such a tragedy. (The interaction between he and Medusa is wonderfully illustrated and uses smart “camera” angles.) It’s curious why he decides against apology.
Hine could’ve made a really interesting political correlation by showing the government’s reaction to the Inhumans’ declaration of war. They’re being labeled terrorists even though they claim to only be trying to reclaim what is their birthright. There are some really strong parallels to the real world here. Unfortunately, they disperse with the more interesting parallels for the very thing anyone ever reacts to when it comes to those parallels and that is the murder of innocents. It’s impossible for most people to condone acts of terror, especially of this magnitude, as a means of negotiation.
Additionally the idea that Black Bolt, a top leader of the Marvel Universe, would sanction this doomed-to-fail plot is absurd. Why would Black Bolt send such an obviously unstable solider to fire a warning shot against America’s bow? On one hand, we’ve always been meant to believe that he is one of the great minds of the Marvel Universe and also supposed to be the protagonist (or king of the protagonists). Yet in the course of one issue, he’s made to look strategically inferior and potentially complacent. Hine is taking these characters down a dangerous path and redemption may not be found at the final destination.
Irving‘s art is inconsistent. Some frames are wild and befitting the Inhumans (i.e. the horror of the last page). His battle scenes are mostly enjoyable and mysterious. However, in many of his illustrations, character’s heads are wildly disproportionate to their bodies. Most human or human-looking characters (i.e. Reed and Sue, Crystal) appear to have hastily illustrated countenances.
What could have been an interesting conflict between two sympathetic parties has already broken down to a difficult war to side with. Sure, war isn’t always about clear cut good and evil. But here, the Inhumans are in potentially irredeemable waters and the government is being led in this conflict by a cartoonish deceitful agency. Hopefully Hine and Co. can recover from a major false start and get the series on track.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mnone.jpg
BUY this issue at X-WORLD and SAVE! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=21898)
Story Title: Act One: The Warrior
The whisper and wallop of war
Writer: David Hine
Artist: Frazer Irving
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Production: Kate Levin
Assistant Editors: Aubrey Sitterson & Molly Lazer
Editor: Stephen Wacker
Executive Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (http://www.marvel.com)
Silent War was born out of the ending of Son of M, when Black Bolt declared war on the United States for O*N*E’s refusal to return the Terrigen Mists that they had recovered from the duplicitous Quicksilver. Son of M happened to be one of the rare great things to come out of the House of M crossover. With David Hine back with Silent War to conclude his story, it looked like we could see another surprise gem from Marvel.
But sometimes war ain’t all that it cracked up to be.
The issue kicks off with Gorgon and three younger Inhumans (including the violent Jolen) infiltrating a charity performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, attended by politicians and celebrities. They intend to essentially flex their muscles, make the sort of statement that warring factions make without any harm. However, Jolen takes the threat too far and when all is said and done, 47 humans are dead and hundreds injured.
Upon sneaking out of the theatre, the Inhumans are stopped by the Fantastic Four and the two teams engage in the ubiquitous fight scene. Gorgon, ever the antagonist, clearly had no intent to fatally harm any of the humans and is shocked to hear of the casualties. However, he’s also not about to go down without a fight. After an engaging battle (wonderfully illustrated by Frazer Irving), the FF finally subdue the Inhumans, who are carted off by the Office of National Emergency.
O*N*E is the latest victim of the deconstruction of government agencies in the Marvel Universe. (It’s unfortunate because they had an interesting agenda during the Decimation event surrounding the mutants after House of M.) We meet yet another dastardly, clichéd character (this time, a scientist!) who is clearly intent on setting up the Inhumans. And to make matters worse, he morphs into an even bigger cliché by maniacally subjecting Gorgon to the Terrigen Mists.
We briefly visit the Blue Side of the Moon to see the royal council’s reaction to the events. Black Bolt’s indecisiveness regarding making an apology would’ve been a bold, interesting move had it not been in response to such a tragedy. (The interaction between he and Medusa is wonderfully illustrated and uses smart “camera” angles.) It’s curious why he decides against apology.
Hine could’ve made a really interesting political correlation by showing the government’s reaction to the Inhumans’ declaration of war. They’re being labeled terrorists even though they claim to only be trying to reclaim what is their birthright. There are some really strong parallels to the real world here. Unfortunately, they disperse with the more interesting parallels for the very thing anyone ever reacts to when it comes to those parallels and that is the murder of innocents. It’s impossible for most people to condone acts of terror, especially of this magnitude, as a means of negotiation.
Additionally the idea that Black Bolt, a top leader of the Marvel Universe, would sanction this doomed-to-fail plot is absurd. Why would Black Bolt send such an obviously unstable solider to fire a warning shot against America’s bow? On one hand, we’ve always been meant to believe that he is one of the great minds of the Marvel Universe and also supposed to be the protagonist (or king of the protagonists). Yet in the course of one issue, he’s made to look strategically inferior and potentially complacent. Hine is taking these characters down a dangerous path and redemption may not be found at the final destination.
Irving‘s art is inconsistent. Some frames are wild and befitting the Inhumans (i.e. the horror of the last page). His battle scenes are mostly enjoyable and mysterious. However, in many of his illustrations, character’s heads are wildly disproportionate to their bodies. Most human or human-looking characters (i.e. Reed and Sue, Crystal) appear to have hastily illustrated countenances.
What could have been an interesting conflict between two sympathetic parties has already broken down to a difficult war to side with. Sure, war isn’t always about clear cut good and evil. But here, the Inhumans are in potentially irredeemable waters and the government is being led in this conflict by a cartoonish deceitful agency. Hopefully Hine and Co. can recover from a major false start and get the series on track.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/mnone.jpg
BUY this issue at X-WORLD and SAVE! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=21898)