Silver City #1 Review

Writer: Olivia Cuartero-Briggs

Artist: Luca Merli

Rating: 6 of 8

Silver City #1

What happens when we die? Some think we go to Heaven, or that we're damned to Hell. Others think we get reincarnated and that we're given a second chance at life. Other people, though, believe that when we die, that's the end and there's nothing more to it. The truth is that we really don't know and because of that, death remains one of our most enduring - and terrifying - mysteries.

When you die here, you wake up in the Silver City, a place where you can sleep around, drink, sing and even fight. Luckily, one of the things you can't do is age, though less lucky is the fact, if you get hurt, you can't heal. It's a surprising thing to have to deal with as, when you die, you'd think you could never get hurt again. Pain, though, is something Ru is all too familiar with.

Instead of joy, she found fear. Instead of life, she found death - and instead of love, she found pain. It's in this pain that a fiery rage fizzes up and explodes, where she refuses to let the same pain find another innocent girl. It'll be interesting to see whether this power emerged from her death, or whether it was always there - and if so, why?

Also, is the Silver City just as it appears - or is there more to it? Mick certainly thinks so. Despite his youthful appearance, he seems to know more than you might expect. Though, given he's been dead for at least 30 years, it only makes sense. 

He believes a secret society named the Time Keepers is the only thing keeping the lands of the living and the dead separated and that an ancient being known as the Silver Knight is the only one who can set things right. It's not something his roommate Victor believes, though Ru isn't so sure.

One of the most beautiful parts of the issue's definitely the art. Merli fills the city with an eerie kind of beauty, where it's an almost perfect balance of light and dark. Then, when Mick's recounting how the world used to be, he grants the dead a fittingly otherworldly quality, while the rest of the scene shimmers with gold.

Later on, he and Cuartero-Briggs deliver a simply great scene, in which Ru's anger flares as she sees sinister figures trying to do an innocent girl harm. We see her eye glow gold and sharpen, as she remembers a time when she was severely punished and her cries fell on deaf ears. It's a brilliant contrast, done in very little time and space.

Overall, it's a pretty good debut, with my only criticism being that not a lot happens. Though given it opens with a massive amount of death and introduces a whole new world, there might not be a need for anything else.