Writer: John Zuur Platten
Artist, Colorist & Cover Artist: Andrea Mutti
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Editors: Matt Hawkins, Elena Salcedo & Phil Smith
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $16.99
Release Date: February 12, 2025
Kano wants to fight for his country, but the Army rejects him. Marie wants her son to remain home and not go overseas to defend Europeans. Hurit also wants Kano to stay in Oregon, but she cannot offer him marriage. Kano is tired of being an outcast from his tribe and the United States. Will the Native American man find acceptance by fighting under an assumed name on foreign soil? Let’s put on our gas masks, leap into Silverlake TP, and find out!
Story
While Hurit loves Kano, the fate of her family rests in her hands. Unless Hurit marries Apisi, her family could lose status in the tribe. So she gives Kano a knife to remember her by. In John Zuur Platten’s story, Hurit tells herself that Kano was never an option. He may die in battle. And if he returns, Kano will not be the man she fell in love with. But despite her rationalizing and the proclamations of her elders, Hurit yearns for Kano.
Marie argues that Kano has no reason to join the US Army. This grand mobilization of troops overseas in The War To End All Wars is no more than an experiment in US foreign policy. Still, Marie knows Kano wants to belong somewhere. So, in Silverlake TP, Marie gives her son something to remember her by. The pendant is more than a keepsake. It may help him survive the carnage of World War I. But, drawing on its power will leave Kano forever changed.
As American Doughboys prepare for the big push against German Stormtroopers, a strange event on the battlefield prompts a transformation. Kano lashes out at an attacker. Claws rip through Human flesh in Silverlake TP. Kano tries to hide this transformation by wrapping his hands in barbed wire. But Sergeant Bruce noticed Kano's actions.
Despite the strategic advantage Kano offers, the Sergeant isn't sure whether he should shoot Kano or let him live to fight another day. As General Barrie says, the Army needs soldiers, not murderers. But then, the US Army rejected Kano because of his mixed racial heritage, prompting him to enlist as Konrad Barnett.
Art
Silverlake TP alternates visions of the pristine beauty of Oregon with the ravaged battlefields of France. Rats scurry through the mud to gnaw on the fallen. Soldiers trudge through mud and debris carrying their trusty Enfield rifles clad in metal helmets and gas masks. When storms of bullets fly between the broken tree trunks, Kano believes he can see all the little metal stingers. It’s the ones you can’t see that bite you.
Andrea Mutti applies a limited palette of muted tones to scenes of trench warfare. Muzzle flashes become white stars against blues, reds, and yellows. White and black stippling suggests air choked with dirt, smoke, mustard gas, and explosives. While wagons, trains, captive balloons, and tanks travel through limited colors, Oregon shines with brighter hues. But most striking of all are the claws that drip scarlet and the dark facial features that resemble his mother's pendant.
Troy Peteri relates Kano’s thoughts as white lowercase letters in brown narrative boxes. White uppercase letters in tan boxes locate us in time and space. Soldiers and Native Americans speak uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons. The vibrant sound effects in Silverlake TP bring home the horrors of war and the everyday terrors as history threatens to repeat itself back home. Thanks to Top Cow, Image Comics, PHL Collective, and EP1T0ME Studios for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Like Poison, the soldiers in World War I need something to believe in. But unlike their British counterparts, the American military doesn’t want reports of ghostly archers and angels to travel back home. The officers don't believe their soldiers need signs of divine providence to defeat the Huns. Nor do they want to frighten their troops with reports that the forces of Hell are joining the fight.
Silverlake TP follows a Native American man’s search for identity, his girlfriend’s struggle with conformity, and his mother’s attempt to protect her son while shielding him from the awful truth about his birthright. After the cover gallery, reduced images of colored, unlettered art accompany the script for the first issue in this coming-of-age saga.
Rating 9.8/10
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