Silk #4 Review: High Anxiety

In Issue Four, Silk spends most of her time with the Fantastic Four. She trains with Mr. Fantastic as Galactus (Destroyer of Worlds) in a virtual reality program to test her speed.  As we saw in the last issue, Cindy Moon is not feeling up to par. The Fantastic Four are really trying to help her figure out what is going on. Mr. Fantastic can’t find anything physically wrong with her and asks her how long she has spent in isolation and if she has a history of anxiety in her family. She doesn’t think that’s her problem.  Meanwhile the Human Torch is most interested in dating Cindy.

There’s less action and more character exploration in this issue.  My only real complaint is missing Stacey Lee’s wonderful art. I’m so glad she’ll be back for the next issue!  I really commend Robbie Thompson for tackling anxiety*. It’s not often something that people take seriously. He treats it with respect. Cindy does not understand anxiety at all, and her learning a little bit about it is an important narrative to share.  I certainly hope it’s covered more in upcoming issues.

At a recent event at DePaul University for the TV Show Supernatural (which Robbie also writes for), he shared about his own struggles with anxiety. He’s gone through counseling for years and doing such events really helps him.  I think when you know a little bit about a writer, you can see how much of themselves they put into their writing.  Robbie does this in a way that doesn’t feel like he’s writing about himself, but rather makes the characters very real and relatable.  It’s a delicate balance that Thompson has a great handle on.

It is so important to erase the taboo about talking about mental health issues. People shouldn’t be scared or ashamed to speak out about living with mental illness and should never be made to feel like they can’t ask for help.  Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) recently started the #AlwaysKeepFighting Campaign which raises money for people dealing with depression.

The more the stigma is removed, the better. That’s why I think it’s so important that Robbie Thompson is taking Cindy’s story in this direction. She gives those of us dealing with mental illness someone to relate to in media.  And since I am talking about removing the stigma of mental illness, I deal with anxiety, too.  So yes, personally, this issue of Silk meant so much to me.  Thank you Robbie Thompson for caring enough to write Cindy Moon in such a wonderful way, and giving me and people like me a comic book character to relate to in many ways.

*If you feel like you may be struggling with anxiety or other mental health issues, please do not hesitate to reach out to someone you trust.  For more information on anxiety, check out webmd’s page here.

Author: Jessica Rae

Jessica has a BA in music with an emphasis in voice and spends her day typesetting, editing, writing, and moderating webinars. Jessica primarily reviews anime and comic book series. She also offers insights on various movies, books, games, and other geeky topics.

Twitter

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary