Silver City #5

Silver City #5

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs

Illustrated by Luca Merli

Lettered by Dave Sharpe

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.

This has been one heck of a series and seeing Ru learn about her past and destiny the more I want to see. The only disappointment I have for this is how the book ends because it feels like it simply ends and we don’t really see any kind of resolution to what we see, okay maybe for Junie but no one else and that doesn’t sit well with me, unless of course this is just the end of a first arc and there’s another one on the way. In that case, so long as we pick up here I’m all good to go. So let's talk about all the good things about this issue because there are a lot of them. Seeing her bestie and learning how and why he’s in this city is one amazing revelation after another. It adds so much to the story in terms of Ru’s growth and evolution and it’s some great writing.

I am enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job in fleshing out the personalities even further. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more invested we become.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is extremely well rendered. I like how the layers within the story open up new avenues to be explored as well because the way that this adds depth, dimension and complexity to the story is great to see. I mean all the stuff about her past and the Silver Knight business really adds some different flavour to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is exceptionally well done.

The interiors here really are rather well rendered. Personally I wish we’d seen more backgrounds being utilised because they really do wonders in expanding and enhancing the moments. The linework is fantastic and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work we’re seeing helps to really bring these characters to life. I will say I do like the dichotomy of seeing the living world and Silver City is fantastic to see especially side by side in one panel. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkable eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works and how to maximise its effects.

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Ru is a great character and I feel like we’re only scratching the surface of who she is and what her potential is. I’m thrilled with the world that Olivia has created here and the idea of a purgatory or afterlife being lived this way. I do wonder what the whole car accident deal is though because that seems to come out of left field, I’m anxious to see what that’s all about. With my personal feelings, these are brought about by how well this is written and how engaged and invested I am by this series to this point. With such strong writing and stellar characterisation wrapped up in these wonderful interiors Silver City remains a destination stop.