The Silencers: Black Kiss(Written by Fred Van Lente)

Conventional wisdom has it that you can’t be successful making superhero books unless you’re Marvel or DC. I’m not really sure what that means, but I suppose it has something to do with how you define success. Still, any way you cut it, I think you’ve got to call Invincible successful, and Noble Causes has been around long enough to call it successful. Certainly, if you limit success to financial measurements, the list is short, but if we’re talking artistic success, I think you’ll find that there are numerous examples of independent superhero books that aren’t just trying to mimic Marvel and DC, but are finding new things to say in the genre. And The Silencers is one of those.The back cover of Moonstone’s collection of The Silencers mini-series calls it a “supercrime” book and that’s an appropriate descriptor. The story takes place solidly within the world of superheroes and supervillains, but the focus is on a group of superpowered mafia enforcers who’ve just been betrayed by their organization and now find themselves wanted by both heroes and villains. At least if the heroes catch them, they only go to jail. Crime fiction isn’t one of my favorite genres. I’m not inclined to give much leeway to criminals and it’s rare that I find myself sympathizing with them. Mostly I want to see them get what’s coming to them. The exceptions are when the criminals are up against worse criminals, like in Ocean’s Eleven or Christopher E. Long’s comic The Easy Way. Or, of course, The Silencers. Van Lente and Ellis do an excellent job of portraying their cast of supervillains as sympathetic victims without ever trying to convince you that they’re really the good guys. Yes, the Silencers kind of deserve what they get by being in bed with the mob in the first place, but their betrayal is so heinous and absolute that you can’t help but cheer them on as they try to extricate themselves from it.They’re interesting characters too, which also helps. Their powers may be standard (electrical power, energy beams, high tech armor, big guns, etc.), but Van Lente avoids making them clichés by giving them real personalities. Even Hairtrigger, who obviously started from the Punisher template, is a likable guy. His violent inclinations make him a loner, but you get the feeling that he really isn’t at heart and actually wants rather badly to fit in with the rest of the group. The other members of the team also have similar tweaks in their makeup that cause them to transcend the stereotypes they were based on.Something else that I thought was really cool was how – at least in the early parts of the book – the superheroes in the Silencers’ world are people we know. Of course, we never get their names or even see them very well, but when a guy flies in with a blue suit, a red cape, and red underwear over his pants, we know exactly who it is. And when the shadow of a bald contortionist swings by and one of the characters notes, “He’s just clinging to that wall over there,” it reinforces the illusion that the story’s taking place in a familiar location.Unfortunately, that illusion is shattered later on in the story when the heroes play a larger role and we get to see more of them. Then it becomes obvious that these aren’t Superman and Spider-Man, but parodies of them. I wish van Lente and Ellis had found a way to keep the heroes in the shadows and preserve the fantasy, but it’s a small point and doesn’t take away from the coolness of the Silencers themselves or our ability to cheer them on. It’s just that in an otherwise flawless book, that one imperfection glares.