It’s time again already for a silent night. DC Comics has released Silent Tales, a one-shot comic featuring six silent stories written, illustrated, and coloured by Gustavo Duarte of Brazil.
It’s Harley, it’s Superman, it’s Cyborg, it’s even more.
But quietly, so quietly, the pages turn, we hold our breath, examining each panel for its meaning. It’s a quiet figure, midnight-skulking along a hallway. It’s a person purchasing a bucket of paint at the hardware store. But we must study the surroundings, poke along to check out the art. It’s a lot like a Sergio Aragones MAD cartoon strip: silent and slapstick.
As you can imagine, some sequences are quite wonderful, with big expressions, big exaggerated movements to telegraph the meaning. Other pages and panels are more puzzling, however. It’s like those “Find The Difference” cartoons from a few years ago. Oh, look, the man has a hat on, but in the next panel, he’s taken it off. What does that mean??
I like the precision of Duarte’s linework, the clear and clean colour applied to the outlined shapes. I thought a few of the stories were told better than others. It’s a fun experiment, and despite it being ‘wordless’, the issue requires us to invest ourselves in the story and do our homework. It’s whimsical, nonsensical, and a tiny bit magical. Editor is Andrew Marino.
DC Comics, Silent Tales. $6.99 for 52 pages of story.
Anthony Andujar Jr. 
Newsdesk