After helping battle Sin-Eater and Kindred in the latest Spider-Man event Cindy Moon is back in her own mini-series. For the latest Silk series Marvel has brought in Maurene Goo, a Young Adult author, to write Cindy Moon’s character with Mary Jane and Ghost-Spider artist Takeshi Miyazawa handling art duties. This mini-series was announced back in February 2020 during C2E2 with an original release date of July 2020. But like many comics Marvel announced before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown this was a series that has been delayed until it was finally back on Marvel’s solicitations for March 2021. Now that the long wait for Cindy Moon’s latest solo adventures is over let’s check out Silk #1.
Writer: Maurene Goo
Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa
Colorist: Ian Herring
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: A couple of thieves break into a store. As they start stealing money from cash registers Silk appears. Silk quickly defeats and webs up the criminals.
A little later as cops arrest the thieves the store owner thanks Silk for saving the day by giving her some clothes.
The next morning Cindy Moon wakes up and puts on the clothes she got as a reward to wear for her job. Before taking off she catches up with her brother (Albert Moon Jr.) as they have moved into their own apartment, with Albert now being a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Later J. Jonah Jameson welcomes Cindy (who goes by Analog at work, a nickname Jonah gave Cindy for her use of pen and paper when they previously worked together) to Threats & Menaces and pairs her up with another reporter that’s been around for a few months named Derick. As she gets used to the grind as the newbie reporter Norah Winters reminds Cindy that she is there to create digital content so she should stop focusing on the normal news research thing.
Derick then suddenly gets a text from a source letting him know a shooting just happened near a local pub involving the Mulligan Gang.
Derick brings Cindy along to interview the cops and witnesses on the scene. As she investigates the scene Cindy notices how unusual the ways it looks like the people died. Before she can dig into it more the detective assigned to the case kicks Cindy and Derick out, but not before Derick gets a few pictures and videos of the crime scene.
Later that night Cindy decides to stay at work even after Derick leaves to finish up her story on the Mulligan Gang so she can get her first story on Threats & Menaces right. Eventually she is able to finish her first draft to a point she is happy with and leaves for the night.
In the elevator Cindy runs into Jonah and tells him how Derick took her to a murder scene. Jonah does not like hearing this and Cindy calls him out on if he thinks she is emotionally fragile.
As they go off on their own way to their respective homes Cindy notices someone following Jonah to the subway.
Cindy decides to follow just in case and overhears the guys following Jonah telling him to take down the Mulligan Gang story from Threats & Menace. Cindy realizes that rather than saving her story as a draft she accidently hit publish.
Cindy quickly changes into her Silk costume to help Jonah out. Silk works quickly to take down the Mulligan Gang members. Afterwards she notices something in one of the guys ears and takes it to investigate later.
Jonah thanks Silk for saving him and offers to hire her as his new bodyguard. Silk turns down the offer as she is not a work-for-hire. Jonah says that the Mulligan Gang are likely after him. Silk relents and takes the offer. Jonah says that it will be weird being defended by a girl. Silk tells Jonah to just get on the train and go home.
Back home, Cindy takes a closer look at the device she took from the Mulligan Gang member’s ear and notices the Fujinet brand on it. She looks into the company and decides to investigate the daughter of Fujinet’s founder, Saya Ishii, to find out what the company is doing developing these brain implants.
Elsewhere Saya returns home. When she goes inside Kasha (a cat-like demon) welcomes Saya home. Saya thanks Kasha and asks if the Mulligan Gang agreed to their terms. Kasha says they had to use a different negotiation tactic to get it done. Saya is satisfied as now that only leaves seven more groups to “work with.” End of issue.
The Good: When it comes to introductory issues you can’t get better than Silk #1. This is a fresh start that introduces you to everything you need to know about Cindy Moon and where she currently is in her life. In the process Maurene Goo and Takeshi Miyazawa are able to welcome both new and long-time fans of Silk into what the latest adventure Cindy Moon will go on.
The first few pages of Silk #1 all work as a great introduction of who Cindy Moon’s character is. We get to see how Cindy fights and acts as a superhero as Silk. And then we are quickly shown what her current home life is like that doubles as telling new readers her origin story without having to do a bunch of flash backs. Goo just efficiently tells you everything you need to know about Cindy in and out of her superhero life. This allows the story in Silk #1 to stay focused on the present status quo for the character.
Which goes into how Silk #1 does establish how this series will be standalone. There isn’t much reference to past or current Spider-Man continuity outside of a brief mention of Peter Parker and the nickname Cindy has at work. Even then Goo makes sure these references all work as part of the natural flow of the story being told in Silk #1. That makes it so you don’t get hung up on when this story is taking place or how it deals with previous events.
This all opens things up the story in this first issue to be about establishing the world around Cindy’s character. We see how her brother and co-workers all build out the supporting cast that strengthens the series. Everyone that appears has immediate chemistry with Cindy in their own way. From the close relationship with her brother to the contentious work dynamic with Norah Winters, everyone is given their own unique voice in this story. Establishing that helps strengthen the story being told. Which is where we see the Spider-Man influence work its way into this series as what makes the franchise so strong is that, like Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Gwen Stacy, Cindy has a personal life that is just as engaging to read.
The relationship with Cindy’s brother, Albert Moon Jr, in particular stood out most in Silk #1. Even though it was only one page in this story Goo gets us to understand why their sibling bond is so important to both of them. They have struck out on their own together away from their parents influence. They did this by making sure they had a place where they can act as each others support while still having their own lives to live. Its an important relationship that I hope we see explored more in future issues of this series.
Cindy’s relationship with her brother also acted as a good contrast to how different her dynamic was with her co-workers. This was particularly the case with Norah Winters, who did not shy away from reminded Cindy about how content driven Threats & Menaces is as a media organization. Continuing this character thread for Norah from Amazing Spider-Man was done well as the character acts as an extension of how we see so many media organizations and content creators work in the real world. It works well with how Cindy does still try to have classic journalistic sensibilities by researching stories before writing full drafts.
Norah’s portrayal worked well to further differentiate the working relationship between Cindy and J. Jonah Jameson that continues in this volume of the Silk series. This was probably the most continuity heavy part of Silk #1 but still worked to get over how confident Cindy has grown over time. She has gained more experience as a reporter that she is more willing to stand up to someone like Jonah, who was a mentor to her, and call him out on his misogynistic tendencies. At the same time, she still looks out for Jonah as she does not hesitate to defend him.
Which transitions into Cindy as Silk finding herself in a gang-war type situation as she is now dealing with the Mulligan Gang and Fujinet are up to. We don’t learn a lot outside of the fact that Saya Ishii is working with the cat-like demon, Kasha. Goo did a good job writing this final page where we saw that Saya and Kasha already had a friendly working relationship. The way things quickly turned into business made the hook ending something you want to come back for more of from this story.
Takeshi Miyazawa delivers solid artwork throughout Silk #1. His art style works well in helping build out the world around Cindy as she gets comfortable in her new job at Threats & Menace as a younger setting. This is a place started by Norah that is targeted towards millennials and Gen Z’ers. Miyazawa delivers on that energy with how he draws all the characters to fit the young age that they have compared to the one old man in the group, that being J. Jonah Jameson. Miyazawa also did a good job in putting over Silk’s fighting style as Silk in the two fight scenes we get in this issue.
The Bad: The only thing that did not completely work in Silk #1 is how J. Jonah Jameson and Cindy Moon’s dynamic was portrayed for new readers. There is no reason given to why Cindy is called Analog by Jonah since it is not mentioned they previously worked together. A quick mention that Cindy actually worked at Jonah’s last news organization would’ve gone a long way to get over why they seemed to already have a working relationship.
Overall: Silk #1 does everything a first issue of a new series should do to invite both new and long-time fans in. Maurene Goo balances things out well to establish Cindy Moon’s personal and superhero life to get you invested on both sides of the character. Takeshi Miyazawa fits in well to the tone that Goo establishes for the world around Silk.
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