Comic Review: The Silencer Annual #1

The Silencer Annual #1

DC Comics

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: Jack Herbert

I feel like any new character “makes it” when they cross over with a big name A or B-list character. The Silencer has already done this, having fought Deathstroke. Now though, Honor Guest gets the spotlight fighting THE A-list character, Batman.

Starting in the modern day, The Silencer is enjoying a night in with her husband and son. We flashback to eight years ago in Gotham. On a mission from Talia Al Ghul, The Silencer runs into the Dark Knight himself. The two begin to fight but are interrupted by a “Killborg” sent to kill Batman. The Silencer’s mission is to protect Batman for Talia, so she does and the two fight the Killborg. With her mission complete, The Silencer leaves Gotham, going back to serving Talia Al Ghul.

I don’t think this is a bad issue, as I like the ideas that are present. Getting to see The Silencer pre-family is something I think is interesting to explore. But it all just feels a little lackluster to me. There’s not much of a fight between Batman and The Silencer; they get interrupted by the Killborg kind of quickly. With that, Batman also gets beat up easily. This is eight years in the past, so it’s probably a fresh-faced, new at crime-fighting Batman. That’s my reasoning, at least.

On top of that, the whole reason Talia sends Honor to Gotham is a little flimsy. They just really needed Batman on the cover. Blake, The Silencer’s husband, is also present in the flashback, but again, feels shoehorned in.

I do like the general idea of this issue though. Seeing The Silencer go from Talia Al Ghul’s personal assassin to housewife has potential. There’s a lot of talk about family, which hints at Honor eventually leaving the assassin life behind, as we know. We see more of the relationship between Talia and Honor. There’s a small amount of Blake, the husband, which I’m a fan of considering we know next to nothing besides he’s pretty oblivious to his wife’s antics.

Jack Herbert’s art in this issue is some of my favorite from this series. The fight against the Killborg is great. The action is clean and concise, and the Killborg himself looks massive in comparison to Batman and The Silencer. The rest of the issue looks great as well. The characters show emotion, and the backgrounds show a good amount of detail. The shadows and lighting work well with the colors. As I said, this is my favorite art in this series so far.

With the series in the middle of its second story arc, this issue feels out of place. I think the story of Honor going from assassin to mother is something worth exploring. I hope we do see it further down the line, but this issue is just filler. The art is my favorite part, and carries most of the weight. I don’t think this is a bad issue, but the execution of the story could be better,