Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: Christa Faust, HRL, Jose Luis, Marvel Comics, marvel legacy, nazis, Paulo Siqueira, Silver Sable, silver sable and the wild pack, spider-man
Silver Sable & The Wild Pack #36 Review: Refreshing, And The Nazis Are The Villains
A group of Symkarian Eurocentric identitarian nationalists — excuse me, I mean freaking Symkarian Nazis, because that's what they are and what that list of identifiers generally amounts to — have taken a group of immigrants hostage upon a boat. The Nazis want another of their movement released; otherwise, they will begin killing their hostages.
Unfortunately for them, Silver Sable has been given an assignment to assassinate a member of their crew. However, she wants the world to still believe that she is dead and wants to slip in and out as soon as possible. Will she help the hostages, or will she abandon them to their Nazi captors?
This issue is refreshing for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is a tight and focused narrative with a clear arc for the main characters involved, namely Silver Sable herself and one of the Symkarian Nazis who is unsure of her choices.
Secondly, the Nazis are the bad guys in this one. That's important. A not insignificant number of people in the U.S and Europe have for some reason decided nationalist populism movements are a good thing, even though they are decidedly not. Those people have been more brazen and more open about being racist douchebags on the internet. Furthermore, Secret Empire happened. However, Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #36 is here to remind you that the Nazis are indeed the bad guys.
There is one of the Nazis' numbers who is slightly more humanized, and we learn, more or less, her reasonings for joining this movement. I don't have a problem with this, as the comic reiterates that her decisions are the wrong ones. Silver Sable reminds her that her choices are still entirely her own. Plus, I think it's important to remember what the motivations and signifiers of someone who is going down this path, so that we as a society can stop these people before they get to Nazi status.
Sable's target is also someone who participated in the original Nazi movement, which is clever for another reason. It reiterates the actual origins for these ideas for the people who try to divorce modern Nazis from the German Nationalist Socialist Party. They're all Nazis. Their ideas are terrible. They represented and still represent evil.
Admittedly, the punishment Silver Sable deals out for the Symkarian Nazis isn't Jimmy's Bastards or even Punisher level of brutal. That isn't especially cathartic, but, again, it's still nice seeing a mainstream property other than Wolfenstein dealing out the villain card to the Nazis this year. Christa Faust gets credit for doing that.
Also, all the dominant players in this narrative are women, so that's cool. Even the Nazis are women. If you don't think Nazis can be women, check out the Twitter account "Wife With A Purpose."
Paulo Siqueira and Jose Luis handle the artwork this issue, and it's great. There is a lot of detail, the characters look generally imposing, and the decision not to hypersexualize all the female players is definitely appreciated. Rachelle Rosenberg does some great color work as well, as she almost always does. The colors pop and attract the eye.
Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #36 is a solid read. With a tight and energetic story, great pacing, and high-quality artwork, it delivers a great time for the audience. This one gets a recommendation. Pick it up.
I'm not sure where the Wild Pack are in all this, though.