Silencers
January 15, 2007 | Trades
Silencers
Mark Askwith, R.G. Taylor
Desperado Publishing/Image Comics
$14.99 US (Paperback)
*** 1/2 (out of five)
Sandman creator Neil Gaiman calls Mark Askwith “one of the secret masters of everything.”
Askwith, the one-time manager of Toronto’s popular Silver Snail comic book store, is a TV producer having developed the groundbreaking Prisoners Of Gravity for TVO before going on to become the big brain at Space: The Imagination Station.
He is also the nation’s foremost comic book journalist, having interviewed more creators than most fans have even read about and in the process inspiring people like me to do what I do in this space every two weeks.
On top of all this, Askwith is a comic book writer himself, most notably penning a cult-favourite miniseries based on the British TV show, The Prisoner, along with lesser-known works like his 1991 series Silencers, collected for the first time this month.
The story — focusing on the tribulations of a small group of Canadian spies near the end of the Cold War — is solid, if not spectacular. But Askwith and artist R.G. Taylor’s use of actual people in the roles make it a standout. Notable faces include Askwith’s own, along with that of his wife Catherine Marjoribanks, Ragmop creator Rob Walton and Seth, creator of Clyde Fans Book One and Wimbledon Green.
Silencers is more proof (as if we needed any) that Askwith is everything Gaiman says and more.
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