With the bevy of new titles from DC coming out under the ‘New Age of DC Heroes’ line, one book has risen above the rest, The Silencer, created by John Romita Jr. and Dan Abnett. As Romita has officially left the title as of issue #4, new artist Viktor Bogdanovic has taken the reigns, now is officially credited alongside Abnett as “storytellers”. Abnett recently gave an interview about the title and where he envisions it going below are some highlights:
About Deathstroke’s role in Leviathan (The secret society that Honor worked for as an assassin):
One of the things this book is revealing is the “Underlife,” the criminal society that exists and thrives beneath the skin of the DCU, a complex culture of criminal organizations, organized crime cartels, and freelance individuals such as hitmen. It has its own codes and rules and customs…..As I fleshed this idea out for Silencer, it occurred to me that other DCU characters would be involved in, or even part of, the Underlife. And Deathstroke sprung to mind. He’s a freelancer, but the sort of work he does must connect him to the Underlife, even if he avoids the “big organizations” like Leviathan…..I thought it would be great to have Slade in this, as the voice of the “freelance” part of the Underlife society, complaining that the Leviathan civil war is destroying the structure of the hidden culture. He wants it fixed, and he wants Silencer to fix it. The confrontation is going to be as physical as you might expect, but Slade is also a cunning and treacherous tactician…
On Honor’s struggle to keep her two lives apart:
It’s vital to her to keep the two halves apart… and indeed to draw a line under, and end, the “Silencer” part…..But that’s not easy, so keeping the secret is going to get much, much harder……Expect fireworks! Unexpected fireworks!
On Talia Al Ghul’s part in Leviathan’s internal strife:
Talia founded Leviathan, and she’s been the leader of it since day one, with a council of specialist “underbosses” running the various divisions ([such as] cybernetics, weapons, genetics) beneath her. It’s her baby……But as we’re now seeing, her own actions have led to a complete loss of trust in her by the powerful underboss, characters like Quietus and Gunn. And these are individuals with immense power, resources and ambition. They want her gone, and they each want the top spot of Leviathan for themselves……That’s the civil war that rocking the whole Underlife, and that’s what Honor is caught up in.Talia is her friend and her mentor. They were close. But is she really an ally? We know she can’t be trusted, and the truth is about to come out.
On the change from Romita Jr. to Bogdanovic:
We need to rotate, of course, to maintain the schedule. Viktor is taking up the reins from issue #4. He brings an incredible, dynamic and visceral power to the art……And, as you know, this imprint is designed to be driven by artistic storytelling, so it’s really interesting to see how his ideas and creative input alter the trajectory of the story. I set the whole idea up, and I have a course and stories in mind, but now I’m responding to the ideas the artists launch at me.
On what to expect from the book in the near future:
There’s an extraordinary showdown about to come in the next issue, and then Honor takes a holiday. Seriously. But it won’t be all sun, sand and surf. It will be the sort of vacation only the Silencer could go on! And alongside the action and intrigue, there will be a lot of sidelong humor thanks to the resort she chooses to vacation in.
