“The Antecedents”
Creative Staff:
Story: Olivia Cuartero-Briggs
Art: Luca Merli
Colors: Luca Merli
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Captured and imprisoned, Ru finally discovers the truth behind her existence and her death. Now, she must overcome a devastating betrayal and escape, or risk the destruction of her very being, and her comrades along with her.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While I’ve struggled with aspects of this series from the start stemming from my own issues with mortality, I’ve overall really enjoyed Silver City from writer Olivia Cuartero-Briggs. The first few issues ended up in some unexpected directions, which is always a mix of feelings, but it’s worked to focus mainly on Ru and exploring what’s going on with Junie in connection to her. It’s the male characters that never felt like they landed or connected. Paired with Luca Merli, the visual design was really interesting for the main city but also for other areas that we get glimpses of, which is included in this issue once again. It’s the character designs that really drew me in. There’s something about them that just clicks for me and helps to make it really distinctive in a very positive way.
With this being the final issue, things move quickly here and the back half does feel a bit rushed, though it has a lot of “third act” energy about it. The start of the book focuses on how Ru and Mick are being imprisoned and that they’re essentially going to erase her in order to solve their larger problem. That problem is the reveal that he’s really the Silver Knight and that once they can erase her memories and stop her from getting out, she’ll be caged forever and that will just continue to make things worse on Earth. But once she hears this, the reality of who she was before is finally starting to seem right and true to her, which gives her an edge in confidence as she starts pushing forward. And there’s a bit of luck as well with Victor showing up and helping to free them. She’s gained a lot of knowledge about how she was manipulated into being brought back to the Silver City but also how closely she was watched and manipulated in the real world.
All of this frees Ru in a way and that has her racing to save Junie and bring her back to her own body. It’s one of those close moments that ends up working out well for the child that was caught up in all of this, and it helps to put Ru in a better place mentally. The kind of moment where she at least knows she did good by this and has succeeded. But that also frees her to go back and to try and save and reconnect with Mick and Victor, which is the dark end of the series that we don’t often get. It’s an interesting piece and the way it ends is just so abrupt that I was really shocked. It doesn’t feel like things were rushed to an ending in that way, or that the idea train ran out, but rather that they wanted to go for something hard to end with and I can very much appreciate and enjoy that for the shock moment that it is.
In Summary:
Silver City is an intriguing project, one that the author says in the afterward that they’ve been kicking around for fifteen years based on a dream and expanding ever since. I can totally see it through that lens but it just feels like it needed a bit more to really pull it together fully, or some tightening up elsewhere in the earlier parts of the story so that it felt like there was a more linear and clearer tale being told. I liked a lot of what we got and the concept and visuals really delivered in a great way throughout and it definitely has me interested in seeing what else everyone involved in has coming up.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: September 29th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
