Silk (2015) #7

Previously in Silk #6 and Spider-Gwen #7

This review is a week late because Prince.

Cindy Moon got the reunion she’s been dreaming of since leaving the bunker and helping defeat The Inheritors… kinda. Whereas being trapped on Earth-65 sent Jessica Drew into full crisis management mode (she has a newborn to get home to, after all), Cindy recklessly took the opportunity to seek out her doppelgnger’s (say that in Cisco Ramon’s voice) parents. When you add up that she hasn’t been able to locate them on her Earth, that her brother was brainwashed and in a gang, and the fact that Cindy has some serious anger issues, it’s easy to understand why she’s been in therapy. And it’s those same reasons you feel for her when she spies on her parents, who look happy and well-adjusted.

Of course, a look isn’t enough and Cindy poses as her Earth-65 self in order to speak with them, and she immediately wishes she hadn’t. Earth-65’s Cindy doesn’t have a relationship with her parents and hasn’t for years after she inexplicably cut them off. She doesn’t have the answers they seek, and quickly realizes her mistake. Yet, this doesn’t stop her from dropping in on her doppelgänger’s swanky apartment.

Back home, Cindy’s a low-level employee at The Fact Channel. Her Earth-65 counterpart is living a life of luxury (and crime, but more on that in a moment) complete with a high-tech secret lair that would put the Arrow Cave and S.T.A.R. Labs to shame. She downloads proof of evil Cindy’s activities and calls Gwen and Jessica in for backup, but her cover is quickly blown.

Spider-Women is small compared to most comic book events (just 8 issues overall), but they’re using each issue to its fullest. Cindy barely has time to digest the fractured relationship with her parents and now she finds herself fighting her way out of her own (?) evil headquarters. Speaking of which, Agents of S.I.L.K.? Like Cindy, I am dying to know what it stands for and the details of Earth-65’s Jessica Drew’s inter-dimensional secret mission.

Understandably, there was very little of Gwen and Jessica here, but what we got was great. Spider senses come with that trademark quick wit and snark, so watching these ladies play off of each other makes for true laugh-out-loud moments. Thompson continues to write Cindy as complex with equal parts furious badassery and heartbreaking vulnerability.

I’d just adjusted to Veronica Fish’s style of illustration (by the way, I’m now a huge fan) when she left to work on Archie exclusively. I’m still absorbing Tana Ford’s work, but it just may be that it’s not for me. Changing artists and styles is something you learn to live with when you read comic books, and honestly it can be part of the fun. It’s just hard when you’ve connected with an artist’s work (as I have with Rodriguez’s Spider-Woman) and it informs how you feel about the character just as much as the words they speak.

I’m dying to dive into the next issue in the Spider-Women event (Spider-Woman #6) as it’s one of my all-time favorite series and the best I’m reading right now.