(Sinister) Silk Vol. 2 #6 Spoiler/Review

[Londo Bellian]

The issue is framed mostly as Mockingbird's debrief of Cindy after the facts.
spoilers:

After curing Goblin!Silk in #5, Queenpin shows her around her new SHIELD-esque command center, causing Cindy to note that her boss is packing more tech setup than just simply to neutralize G-Nation. She and Queenpin share a bit of (edited) backstory, causing Evil!Cat to sort of sympathize with Cindy's "imprisonment"/"loss of control" being the trigger for the latter's "face-heel turn". For her part, Queenpin explains to Silk that the reason she herself "crossed the street" and stayed was because of belief in her newfound truth that THERE ARE NO STREETS. Following a spell of Silk putting on a Cindy appearance at work (and more soft-spot from JJJ), she and Queenpin launch their two-bitch assault on G-Nation. After a play at fighting the mooks, Queenpin demands G-King to bend the knee so she won't have to kill him. The battle doesn't last long anyway because the aerosol goblin antidote she tossed into the G-Nation air supply beforehand reverts the whole lot of them. She "could have done the job solo", but she needed Silk along to give her the final test: "If You're so Evil, Kill Phil Urich" (because Queenpin herself just made a promise not to). Cindy, still rightly sore at G-Nation for corrupting the kids and her own brother, beats Urich to an inch of his life and at Evil!Cat's Imperial thumbs-down, she tosses him off a watchtower. The Goblin kids are sent by Queenpin to shelters, while again reinforcing to Cindy the universal truth of NO STREETS. The debrief ends with Bobbi remarking how Cindy had actually thrown Urich to a landing spot that will knock him unconscious but not kill. She tries to pull Cindy out of cover but the latter insists on seeing it through to taking Queenpin's empire down, citing her command center etc. Bobbi relents and later discusses Cindy's mental state to new mom Jess Drew; she's got a lunch date with Cindy later on so it would make good time to talk, Spider to Spider (cue SPIDER-WOMEN). Unbeknownst to them, Cindy is already facing an internal crisis. She felt good beating up the Goblin King to near death, felt good at playing the evil super-villain. How long now before she actually becomes one?

end of spoilers

Yeah, rise of Queenpin, setup for Spider-Women, and then the later fallout between Cindy and both her undercover handler AND her crime boss. In the future, everyone will be trying to kill her a la Catwoman N52 #47-50.

[Docz]

Any Black Cat fans reading this? How is Thompson handling her character? From your synopsis it sounds like he's at least making an attempt at justifying her current state of mind, rather than making her evil for the sake of evil.

[MikaelNovasun]

It is more in character for her, then in other comics. She use to hate King Pin and what he stood for, and I had trouble buying her becoming a female version of him. Her actions in the Silk series stay true to her character that while she is a criminal she still has a heart. To bad in other comics she is shown to be a murder, and your typical mob boss.

I am finding Marvel editorial really doesn't care about enforcing a consistent characterization across it's books; Black Cat, Laura Kinney, and before his death Wolverine.

[Londo Bellian]

Well, I forgot to mention that when Cindy pointed out how loaded for bear her villain hideout is with the stolen Stark-brand equipment, Evil!Cat says flat out that she was upgrading her operations in order to cement her place as NYC's Queenpin of Crime, with the takedown of Goblin Nation as the final punctuation to the new reality. And her future assault on Miles as the new street Spider-Man in his #4 with be her public coming out as such, if her one-handed push-ups were any indication. She's out to be a villain to all Marvel heroes.

She thinks everybody else are idiots for seeing a morality thing with a street that has a right/good side and a wrong/evil side. She sees no such definition, no good, no right, no morality, no heroes (says as much in Silk Vol.1 #3).

[MikaelNovasun]

Which I can buy for her character no right or wrong, and while she does crime she still does help as long as it benefits her or doesn't hinder her. What I can't see her doing is going full on murdering villian because Superior Spider-Man's actions resulted in her arrest. She was already a known criminal/former criminal she had no secret identity to lose. I should stop before I start really ranting on Slott and marvel's handle on her turn.

[Docz]

Which I can buy for her character no right or wrong, and while she does crime she still does help as long as it benefits her or doesn't hinder her. What I can't see her doing is going full on murdering villian because Superior Spider-Man's actions resulted in her arrest. She was already a known criminal/former criminal she had no secret identity to lose. I should stop before I start really ranting on Slott and marvel's handle on her turn.

I agree, I'm going to give this issue a go. I've been wanting to give this book a try anyways but the poor portrayal of Black Cat in general has turned me off to it. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint.

[Kurolegacy]

It was nice to see some depth to Black Cat in her position after almost 2 years of this. Cindy seems to sympathize with her and seems to wonder if she can help her. I'm really hoping that Cindy can bring her back into some semblance of the light and doesn't get dragged into the dark with her like it seems is starting to happen.

[AngelJD]

I read Silk/Cindy's book series long before I read her origin first appearances in the Amazing Spider-Man comicbook series and her usage there. I read about how many fans did not like Cindy because of how she was established, displayed, and used as another girl for Peter before her own series got created. As a person who became a huge Cindy fan from her series and started out reading her series first the Cindy from Amazing and the Cindy in Silk felt different and I prefer Cindy Moon of the Silk series.

The writer of Silk has done a great job with the balance act of the characters and their mental states and making them actual characters. Thus how one writer can write for a character and another writer can writer for the same character yet present two different versions and tones. The writer of Silk has to keep Black Cat as the Queenpin most likely by the Marvel Heads of Command orders yet has done a better job with both Cindy and Black Cat then other books has done thus far. While Spider-Man fans didn't like Cindy and felt she bog down Peter (plus she not MJ which seems to make her fans attack almost EVERY female side character in Amazing Spider-Man) I feel the same way but the other way around when Peter shows up. Me: "Get out of here Peter! I like you but Cindy doesn't need you nor take up her time!" Happy the writer also handle that whole "instinctive heat" situation basically having Cindy and Peter now able to fight any urges better. Overall it seems while telling a good character story and her history that is full of heartbreaking heart and her mental state the writer is also doing damage control at the same time.


I'm enjoying and loving Silk, Spider-Gwen, and Spider-Woman thus far (the Spider females are beating the males who are also enjoyable but I'm enjoying the women's tales more) so this upcoming event "Spider-Women" event that all three writers has carefully set the stage for (while still being able to tell properly their own individual stories) has me very hopeful, thrilled, and anticipating moreso then any other event that has been marketed thus far.

[Docz]

I shared my thoughts in the issue in the Black Cat appreciation thread, but honestly my first read through it was skimming through most of the non Black Cat panels so I gave the whole issue another go. I'll be the first to admit I did not like Silk at all when she first appeared in the last volume of Amazing, I thought there was no chance I would ever be able to find her interesting at all after her initial appearances. After giving this issue a go I am willing to admit I may have been wrong. I like how Thompson handled both Felicia and Cindy this issue, the dynamic between the two is really fun. I dig Black Cat having the idea that there is no good or evil, and I like the growing friendship between the two. For those who have been reading the rest of the volume are the earlier issues worth picking up? Is Black Cat handled as well as she was in this issue?

[Londo Bellian]

Her stated philosophy in this issue has changed somewhat from how she was way back in Slott's ASM post-Superior and even in Silk Vol. 1. In the latter series, on her first appearance during v.1#3, Black Cat was less "There is no Good OR Evil" and more "There is NO Good (it's a lie!), there is only EVIL (that's the truth!)". With her lambasting Silk in their first fight (S: "You used to be a hero!" BC: "There ARE NO Heroes!") and in the ANAD Previews when she was already part of Black cat's gang, she gets criticized for not fighting to kill Goblin Nation goons during their tech heist conflict ("Stop being so Good, it's BAD.")

She also has a murderous berserk button regarding betrayal now. In Silk v1 #6, she kills her arms dealer for giving her sabotaged anti-Silk gear. And of course in just the previous issue she almost kills her other costumed goon were it not for Silk staying her hand.

Who knows where Lowe and Slott might take this? They're dead set on making this Black Cat's default character, superseding everything that came before. What a pain, since any criticism against Evil!Cat only spurs them to make this characterization stick ("You know you did the right thing when the readership shouts 'The sky is falling'.") I mean, REALLY? Screw them.