Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #1 (1992)

“Personal Stakes”
Writer: Gregory Wright
Pencils: Steven Butler and Jim Sanders III

Silver Sable was one of my first comic book crushes. Now, by “crush” I don’t mean “comic book broad I pleasured myself to as a pathetic adult young teen”; since that was pretty much every female character with the exception of Stompa. I mean “the first female character I was truly enamored with”. And who could blame me? She’s basically a Bond villain, but on the good guy side of the fence. Essentially, she’s the super hero version of the Viper/Madame Hydra. Silver’s an international bounty hunter who could kill you with her bare hands in 2 seconds. Her goal in life is to kill Nazis. Plus she probably speaks with a European accent and has the whole exotic look going on, with her white –ahem, silver— hair.

However, when she first appeared in “Amazing Spider-Man”, circa 1986 I wasn’t thrilled with her. She was just some weird chick with a headband and throwing stars. Meh. Then she appeared in that year’s “Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe”, looking like Madonna at an awards show:

Completey forgettable. Not into her. Yet.

Jump ahead about a year, to 1987, when she returned to team-up with Spider-Man. She went toe-to-toe with the Sinister Syndicate; guys like the Beetle, Hydro-Man, Speed Demon and the Rhino (I forget the exact issue, somewhere around #280. Look it up if you must). Yeah, this dainty chick with the headband and throwing stars wasn’t afraid to go headfirst against the frickin’ RHINO. That’s when I began to crush on her. Suddenly she seemed amazingly cute. Even with that headband. And she wasn’t even showing cleavage. Golly…

She made a few more appearances in the Spidey titles over the next few years. Then, out-of-the-blue, she was given her own ongoing monthly series in 1992 as part of Marvel’s “Big Guns” launch. Weird; it wasn’t a mini-series or a one-shot, but an honest-to-goodness ongoing series.

Note that I said “1992”. Which means it debutted with the dreaded Foil Embossed Cover.

Yeah, I can’t read it, either. Good idea on the newsstand, not so great on the scanner. The foil-embossed actually kinda’ makes sense, since the foil was actually silver. See, silver foil? And it’s Silver Sable? I think I might be going too fast, again. Enough’s been said about foil-embossing and while it was an eye-catcher on the newsstand, it either helped to keep your comic intact (like a backing board), or it got bent and ruined your comic’s spine. The fad spilled over into comic books’ cousin, Sports Cards, where it still runs rampant today. However, to this day I still can’t read players’ names on my mid-90’s Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cards (believe me, it’s tough to remember any of those clowns’ names, as is).

So back to Silver and her comic. It begins as she’s running a training course against potential recruits for her “Wild Pack” back-up team. including old Spidey-foe-turned good, the Sandman and another leftover (maybe from “SHIELD” or something), named “Powell”. She basically beats the crap out of them as we’re introduced to her attempt at a Supporting Cast; two oldster named Anna and Uncle Morty, her closest relatives. I dunno’, but it seems strange that this female Chuck Norris from Europe has an “Uncle Morty”. Oh, we’re also introduced to some bad double entendre’ in the training course.

…plus a completey random scene where Silver is getting a topless massage from Anna. Yes, one of her “closest relatives”. Ummm….. ?

Uncle Morty convinces Silver to enter a hostage situation in Long Island. Where HYDRA is holding up a girls’ dormitory. Silver’s cousin is one of the hostages, but Silver assures everyone that it’s not personal. She flies out, solo, and runs into the Obligatory Guest-Star, Spider-Man.

With some help from Spidey, Silver beats the tar out of more people while getting camera time for her caboose. As you’ve probably noticed by now, her “Marvel Universe” costume was never seen anywhere else, as it wasn’t designed for these sorta’ guns n’ ammo aerobics.

Not surprising, but Silver and Spidey manage to take out the HYDRA agents, with some help from the Sandman and Powell. Yet Silver scoffs about needing back-up and bitches everyone out when it’s all over.

That’s your story. Silver Sable’s a stubborn, hard-ass and she doesn’t take any poo! Of course, it’s a little hard to digest, because she only talks about being self-sufficient. Sandman actualy distracted the HYDRA agents, allowing Silver to fling one of her throwing stars and save her niece. I didn’t read many more “Silver Sable” comics, but I think that was one of the themes the title dealt with: Silver was hard-headed, but in the end she learned that nobody works alone and teammwork is beneficial. The other theme might’ve been that Silver had a nice caboose. Not sure on either of those, though.

Looking at her now, I can see why I had such a crush on Silver. She’s the hot female bad-ass that every adolescent boy fantasized about. Marvel may or may not have picked up on this fantasizing by suddenly lauching this title. Less we forget, in her first issue, Silver reflects light off her rump and gets a topless massage. Notice that in just about every picture, up there, there’s a sparkle coming off her buns or thighs. The title wasn’t a total flop, as it lasted until late 1995 or so. So SOMEBODY was reading and buying those things.

I still have a crush on her, so maybe the next time I leaf through a bargain bin, I should spend some a buck or two on her comics.

Summary: Silver don’t take no mess. She didn’t raise a whole lot of fuss. But when we did wrong, Silver beat the hell out of us.
Cover Price: 2.00
Rating: 1.25