Marvel Comics is no stranger to hero/villain team-ups, but rarely do those team-ups have the undercurrent of sexual attraction - but that's what is coming in next week's Silk #5.
In the finale of Maurene Goo and Takeshi Miyazawa's Silk limited series, the Spider-family's Cindy Moon is teaming up with a recently introduced rival named Saya Ishii to fight her former henchman, the cat demon Kasha, and an ancient demon god they summoned.
Take a look at a preview of August 4's Silk by Goo and Miyazawa, with colors by Ian Herring and letters from Ariana Maher:
This all came about as Silk was investigating a string of murders where gangsters were the victims. She discovered that tech CEO Saya Ishii was behind it all, using the cat demon as her tools - but didn't count on Kasha killing, let alone sacrificing, her targets.
Silk's appraisal of Ishii is colored even more when she learns she's secretly the daughter of the classic Spider-Man villain Silvermane. What she hasn't learned yet is that she's also the brother of Silk's therapist, Max.
Awkward.
After being at odds with each other for most of the Silk series, in Silk #5 Silk and Saya are reluctantly teaming up - and if you can read between the lines of the pages above, you can see there's some attraction there as well (although it may not be reciprocal).
"Even though I normally write realistic novels about teenage girls, I've always wanted to exercise my action-writing chops. And witty comic book quips," Goo told Newsarama recently. "Silk, in particular, is so wonderful because I love her origin story of choosing to be in a bunker to help her family, and I love that she actively tries to work on her trauma through therapy. As a writer, it's rich territory to explore but her story resonated with me personally, too."
The artist R has drawn the main cover to Silk #5, with two variants coming as wel - one by Judy Jong, and the other from the art team of the video game company NetEase..Check them out there:
When asked earlier this year if she'd want to do more with Silk after this series, Goo told Newsarama it was an easy 'yes'.
"I would love to. I had such a wonderful experience on this one," Goo said. "The Silk team, which includes artist Takeshi Miyazawa and colorist Ian Herring, were so welcoming and talented. They made my first experience really enjoyable and I learned a ton. It would be an honor to do more!"
This Silk series comes as the Spider-adjacent hero is reportedly being prepped for a solo live-action TV series by Sony.
