By Cat Wyatt

In the last issue of Silencer, Honor was left in what looked to be an impossible situation. Lured onto ‘neutral territory’ Honor found herself against a few dozen armed men. It’s clear that the only way to get out of the situation alive is to fight her way out. While I have no doubt she’ll succeed, I don’t envy her odds or the situation she is in.

Which is where issue #3 picks up; Honor is up against massive odds, and while she has her armor and her abilities (such as the zone of silence), I don’t know what else she has to help her even the odds. Well, her skills and intelligence should be counted as well. Just because these guys are armed doesn’t mean they’re well trained or even particularly bright. Though apparently, they are Bio-modded, not that I have any idea what those modifications would be (it certainly isn’t sharpened senses though – I can tell you that much).

I’m not going to lie; I had completely underestimated how useful the zone of silence would be. Not only would it do the obvious, such as allowing for stealth missions and protecting her eardrums (gunfire near your ears isn’t terribly good for them, believe it or not), but it also works in more brutal fashions as well. Such as preventing your enemies from communicating or hearing where your shots are coming from (but bright side; if they’re far enough away you can still hear their shots, so it’s a win-win).

Add a flash of light into the mix (I’m unsure if this was a flash grenade or another version of her abilities), and suddenly the men around here can’t hear, speak, or see. Um. Yeah, I’d say the odds have evened out, and I’d be willing to argue that the scale has officially tipped in her favor. For as long as this lasts at least (I doubt the flash can go on forever).

With her suit creating more munitions for her as she goes, I don’t see her running out of ammo anytime soon. Which is good, because she is using it up at a tremendous rate. While Honor is making confetti out of Remedy’s men, Remedy himself is making a run for it; something she calls a classic EXFIL (basically getting the important people the hell out of dodge).

Speaking of Remedy; with a name like that there’s no way he’s the guy on the top of the food chain. I think it’s safe to assume he’s the one called in to help clean up messes and facilitate transitions. That means not only is his life at risk right now, but his boss is considering this a major clusterfuck. Hrm. I’m thinking he’ll be out of the job soon, assuming he lives through this.

Looks like my theory about there being a higher up is correct by the way. A man named Mr. Quietus (ironic name, considering Honor’s silencing abilities) appears to be on the other end of things. I’m not sure what his deal is, other than that he’s big and silver – seriously both his skin and hair are a chrome color. Mr. Quietus keeps making Remedy confirm that Honor is without a doubt inside the building. Apparently Remedy is too dumb to understand that implication, but I’m sure you can guess where this is going to lead (it’s pretty obvious the first time he asks, and becomes more so with each passing confirmation).

I have to say, considering the circumstances, Honor is doing a fantastic job getting herself out of there relatively intact. She’s essentially trapped inside the munitions equivalent of Walmart or Target, running from big men with guns, and shooting back at the same time. Come to think of it, there probably couldn’t be a better place to have this fight. Anything she could possibly need to get out of here alive is probably actually on the shelves someplace…including a tank.

I mean, seriously, a tank? Apparently they keep working tanks around this place, which I guess makes some sense? But you’d think they’d be in the back or something. Anyway, moving on. I can’t think of anything better to keep Honor safe and sound while also giving her the opportunity to shoot up the rest of her pursuers.

Oh, did I mention the bomb that Mr. Quietus is likely about to drop on the place? Yeah. Remember how he kept confirming that she was actually in the building? Apparently he has no problem scraping the entire facility, people and all, to get to her. Which considering how badly Remedy failed I sort of get (man I hope that dude closed the panic room door, because otherwise he’s toast) but it still seems a little extreme to me. Especially since we still don’t know what stakes he has in this game, or why he hates Honor in particular.

Granted, I don’t think Mr. Quietus had taken into account the ready access to tanks when he made that desperate move. Something like that would give her speed and mobility, while keeping her relatively safe. Sure, it couldn’t withstand anything crazy like a massive bomb, but it would protect her from it should she only be on the outskirts of where it hit. Here’s hoping he assumes she’s dead? Though I have a feeling that without a body to confirm it he’ll just keep hunting her.

I can’t imagine trying to be an ex-assassin and trying to survive this mess. Add a family and child into the mix? I’m shocked she hasn’t tried to pick up her whole life (family included), and run for it. To be honest I’m still expecting them to kill off her husband at some point (he wasn’t shown in that forward at the beginning of the series – though I guess that isn’t much to go on).

There’s a lot more to this predicament than meets the eye. We still don’t know what Mr. Quietus’ motivation is (I get that he wants her dead, but why? Does he just want everybody in her ex-organization dead, or is it more than that?). Nor do we really know what Talia really hopes to gain from this (there’s no way she warned Honor just out of a sense of altruism – my money is that she wants Honor to come back). Plus there’s so much more. I originally wasn’t terribly impressed with this series, but I’ll admit that it is growing on me. I love complex plots and theories, so the more convoluted they make this, the better (okay, there actually is a limit to that, but you know what I mean).

I’m still not loving the artwork however. Especially Honor’s suit. It still looks like a puffy winter coat to me; not armor capable of protecting her from multiple gunshots (though as we learned there is a limit to its protection). Talia looked a lot better in the issue; mostly because of the extreme lighting they put her in for her panels.

Score: 4/5

Silencer #3
DC Comics