Silent War

For other uses, seeThe Silent War (disambiguation).

Silent Waris a six-issueMarvel Comicscomic booklimited serieswhich began in January 2007. It was written byDavid Hine,with art byFrazer Irving.

Silent War
Cover toSilent War#1.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Limited series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	March – August2007
No.of issues	6
Main character(s)	Black Bolt Quicksilver Crystal Luna Inhumans
Creative team
Created by	David Hine Frazer Irving
Written by	David Hine
Artist(s)	Frazer Irving
Letterer(s)	Virtual Calligraphy Joe Caramagna Cory Petit
Colorist(s)	Frazer Irving
Editor(s)	Tom Brevoort Molly Lazer Aubrey Sitterson Stephen Wacker Joe Quesada
Collected editions
Silent War	ISBN0-7851-2425-X

It is a sequel to the "House of M"and"Son of M"storylines, detailing the war between theInhumansand rest of humanity after the mutantQuicksilverstole theTerrigen MistsfromAttilan.

Publication history

The series was published monthly with the first issuecover datedMarch 2007. Frazer Irving provided the art, after the original artist backed out, which was fully drawn and colored inPhotoshop.

Plot summary

In the opening stages of the war,Black Boltordered a strike on America led byGorgon.Although the initial mission was only to order the return of the Terrigen crystals,Jolen,a young member of the Inhumans who has plant like powers, kills innocents in a concert hall. The Inhuman task force attempts to flee the scene, but they are stopped and defeated in battle by theFantastic Four.Gorgon surrenders and takes the blame for the unnecessary casualties and is turned over to O.N.E. While in captivity, Gorgon is exposed again to the Terrigen mists by an American scientist. The second transformation is more disastrous, turning Gorgon into a feral beast. Black Bolt then leads a contingent of Inhumans to rescue the mutated Gorgon, attacking the Pentagon and reclaiming the crystals.S.H.I.E.L.D.responds to Black Bolt's attack by sending Marines who have been exposed to the mists to assault the Inhuman capital on the moon,Attilan.These Marines possess abilities on par with the Inhumans, but are also dying due to cellular instability.

In the last issue ofSilent War,the Marines again assail Attilan and are repulsed. In reality, this battle was a feint designed to allow one Marine to explode within the confines of the city, destroying lunar Attilan. Black Bolt's mad brotherMaximusinfects the Inhuman race, takingMedusaas his queen.Luna,who was responsible for freeing Maximus from his psychic prison, goes to Black Bolt asking him what she should do. Black Bolt opens his mouth to answer. The final page of the issue is completely black.

Planned trilogy

Hines had envisioned a trilogy of mini-series featuring the Inhumans with "Son of M" and "Silent War" being the first two installments of the trilogy. However, Hine's third book with the Inhumans would never come to be and the ending of "Silent War" would be invalidated in subsequent appearances of the characters. The Inhumans would not appear again until the "Planet Hulk" saga prelude (Hulk #88-92), which featured Black Bolt (imprisoned at the end of Silent War) free and running about and conspiring with the rest of the Illuminati to kidnap Hulk and send him out into outer space away from the Earth. The character later appeared in "World War Hulk", with Medusa and Gorgon by his side. Gorgon is portrayed in his regular form not his "evolved" form from "Silent War" and Black Bolt, not Maximus, is referred to as the leader of the Inhumans. Later in the story however, the events of "Silent War" are referenced when victims of the opera house massacre speak in support of the Hulk when he forces Black Bolt and the rest of the Illuminati to fight to the death in a makeshift arena.

It would later be established in "Avengers: Illuminati Secret Invasion Special" that Black Bolt had been replaced with a Skrull; Jonathan Hickman would later establish in his Fantastic Four run that Black Bolt was replaced before the events of the Planet Hulk prelude.

Marvel would later launch "Secret Invasions: Inhumans" in 2008, for the "Secret Invasion" crossover. This four issue mini-series would not be written by David Hines and retcon the entire ending of the "Silent War" series. Written by Joe Pakaski, it outright ignores Hines' plot threats as Maximus is shown in a heroic light (per plans by Hickman to have the character become a good guy in his upcoming Fantastic Four run),Attilan intact, and Medusa and most of the population not under Maximus's telepathic control and the plot point of Luna and Black Bolt the only Inhumans free from Maximus's evil mind control.

Collected editions

The series has been collected into atrade paperback(144 pages, October 2007,ISBN0-7851-2425-X).

The series is also included inWar of KingsPrelude: Road to War of KingsOmnibus(hardcover omnibus, collectsSon of M#1-6,X-Men: Deadly Genesis#1-6,Silent War#1-6,Secret Invasion:Inhumans#1-4,Guardians of the Galaxy(vol. 2) #1-12,Nova(vol. 4) #13-22,Nova: The Origin of Richard Rider,andWar of Kings Saga), 1192 pages, April 2017,ISBN978-1-302-90446-3

External links

• Silent Warat theGrand Comics Database
• Silent Warat the Comic Book DB (archived fromthe original)
• Silent War#1,#2,and#3atComics Bulletin