Back Issues: "Silverfish" (2007)

- by Ninja Ross, 7 January 2015

Lepisma saccharina are more commonly known as Silverfish. They feed on anything that contains polysaccharides, including starch and dextrin. This is why you often find them among old clothes, books and so on.

The cover. Click to enlarge!

Silverfish is also an original graphic novel written and drawn by David Lapham, and published by Vertigo. It is about a man who believes he has silver fish (Actual fish that are silver, not insects) in his head, telling him what to do.

The book opens with said fish swimming through darkness, before finally arriving at the brain of Daniel, our twisted serial killer antagonist.

Next, we meet our protagonist, Mia, a young girl currently getting used to life with a new stepmother, Suzanne. Needless to say, things aren’t going as smoothly as one would hope, with teen jealousy and disapproval making itself known. Add to that a feeling of betrayal, when her little sister, Stacey, becomes fond of Suzanne.

When her dad and stepmom leave for the weekend, Mia does what any teenage girl would do and invites her friends around to drink and go through Suzanne’s things.

So far, it’s all very teen angst drama stuff. But, when Mia and her friends find an address book, a suitcase full of money and a knife caked in blood, things begin to look serial killer-ish again. Good! Angst and human drama is boring without a psycho making things even more difficult.

The teens call Daniel, giving him details on Suzanne (known as Colleen to Daniel) and the money. The story of Colleen/Suzanne and Daniel is told through flashbacks while all of this is going on, letting us know that the two were once lovers, back when the silver fish were only kind of a big problem.

The story only gets more exciting from there, with our loveable teens trying desperately to avoid being brutally murdered.

That WAS weird. But it gets weirder. Click to enlarge.

But it’s not just your usual teen killing psychopath story; it’s full of great character interactions, real tension and suspense. It’s not the most action-filled book on the market, but it’s full of tension. 
 

KILLING!

Lapham can sometimes over do the quirkiness or disturbing content in his books, especially when given the freedom that Vertigo offers, but that’s all very contained here. Contained in a good way.

Violence is rare and never too over the top, making it more effective when any gore is shown. The more outlandish concept, the Silverfish, isn’t forced down your throat, either. Strange concepts in any book can sometimes feel forced or too out of place, which could have very easily happened in this book. But it doesn’t, it just adds to the feeling of originality.

It’s clear that Lapham used '70s and '80s slasher flicks as inspiration here, following some of the classic tropes and stereotypes (misbehaving teens, spoiled blonde friend, etc) but he never lets that steal the show. It’s a well told story with great pacing.

The art isn’t too bad, either.

Lapham doesn’t draw enough comics! He’s a very talented artist, using a simplistic style, but without losing the important details (such as facial features, knees, tables, etc). Everything looks nice, especially with Don Ramos’ grey tones, which adds a darker tone to the book.

Overall, it’s a great read that doesn’t get anywhere near the praise it deserves.  If you like serial killers, fish, people being unhappy and a genuinely interesting story with gorgeous art, this is the book for you.

An actual Silverfish.

Have you read "Silverfish"? What did you think of it? Hmmm? Leave us a comment!

Tagged: comics, Back Issues.

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