SILVERHAWKS #5 – New Comic Review

SilverHawks #5, by Dynamite Comics on 7/23/25, sets the SilverHawks on a wild chase for Mon*Star, with about as much subtlety as a spaceship with no reverse thrusters.

Credits:

• Writer: Ed Brisson
• Artist: George Kambadais
• Colorist: George Kambadais
• Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry
• Cover Artist: Mark Spears (cover A)
• Publisher: Dynamite Comics
• Release Date: July 23, 2025
• Comic Rating: Teen
• Cover Price: $4.99
• Page Count: 24
• Format: Single Issue

Covers:

Analysis of SILVERHAWKS #5:

First Impressions:

If SilverHawks #5 wanted to wow, it missed the jump gate. The moment you crack it open, the stilted writing and awkward art scream “corporate group project” instead of spacefaring epic.

Recap:

In SilverHawks #4, the SilverHawks narrowly escaped disaster, piecing together fresh leads after Mon*Star made yet another slippery escape from justice. With the galaxy on edge and the team’s reputation on the line, they pressed forward, hoping for redemption, only to find themselves deeper in Mon*Star’s shadow, setting the stage for this week’s “last shot” at bringing the mob boss down.

Plot Analysis:

The comic opens in the year 2736, with Commander Stargazer reflecting on decades spent hunting Mon*Star and his ever-moving base, Brimstar. The SilverHawks close in thanks to a tip from one of Mon*Star’s old enemies, their only lead after a string of failures and mounting pressure to shut the program down. Despite the build-up, the raid on Brimstar finds the SilverHawks too late, Mon*Star already gone, and their hopes of finally ending his reign dashed yet again.

Refusing to accept defeat, Stargazer and the team scour Mon*Star’s lair for intel, but all they find is more evidence of their own futility. IF8, the agency funding the Hawks, is losing patience, grumbling about the cost of their cybernetic upgrades and threatening to reassign them to mind-numbing security detail if they don’t start showing results. The mission is hanging by a thread, nerves stretched thin.

In a sudden shift, word comes in that Mon*Star is spotted in Bedlama City. Stargazer seizes the chance, leading the team into a fiery confrontation against Mon*Star and his criminal crew. The encounter quickly devolves into chaos: the SilverHawks are separated, civilians are in danger, and Stargazer himself has no hope of matching Mon*Star in brute force.

On the brink of defeat, Stargazer reroutes all systems for a final, desperate play, overloading himself to buy time and save the city. The gambit pays off… barely. With Mon*Star contained and the team bloodied but alive, the SilverHawks prove their worth at the buzzer. But the victory is hardly celebrated, as new alarms sound and the threat of Mon*Star’s mob lingers over the galaxy like a bad hangover.

Story

The script tries for hard-boiled, but lands closer to microwaved leftovers. Speech bubbles read like a checklist of clichés. Characters state their doubts, their setbacks, their mission, their faith in the team, all with the emotional range of malfunctioning androids. The pacing limps along; “big moments” are built up through repetitive narration rather than genuine suspense or wit. Every dramatic beat feels telegraphed three pages early, draining tension and turning what should be a desperate, do-or-die mission into a joyless trudge toward the credits.

Art

Calling the visuals amateurish is putting it kindly. Anatomy is a recurring victim, with action scenes marred by stiff poses and weightless figures. Characters’ expressions are either blank slates or stuck in mid-sneeze. Neither endears nor impresses. Backgrounds are an afterthought, setpieces blending together in a muddle of color splotches that do little to evoke the sprawling, bizarre world SilverHawks fans fondly remember. Even splash panels fail to feel dramatic, thanks to muddy linework and a lack of visual dynamism. The coloring does the art team no favors, drowning everything in a synthetic, plastic sheen.

Characters

Paper-thin is generous here. Each SilverHawk is reduced to a mood ring: “gritty leader” Stargazer, “faithful second” Condor, “plucky” newcomers who blur together in a sea of metallic feathers and stock dialogue. Mon*Star gets moments of villainous grandstanding, but little more than a mustache twirl and a monologue about eradicating humans. No one gets an arc, just a series of bland reactions to what’s happening around them.

Positives

If you’re desperately seeking more 1980s nostalgia and collect variant covers like rare Pokémon, congratulations: you found another addition for your shelf. The book’s commitment to honoring IP trademarks is rock-solid. The concept? “A ragtag team of space-cops perpetually on the edge” still has the bones of a good pitch. A few brief action sequences approach passable popcorn fun, and the occasional snark lands with an echo of the original show’s goofball charm.

Negatives

The negatives outweigh everything else. Writing is soulless and repetitive, laced with exposition that drains scenes of suspense. The dialogue is robotic, robbing key moments of any emotional weight. The plot, while serviceable, is so by-the-numbers it could be managed by autopilot. Artwork drags everything down, smothering any remaining energy with awkward anatomy and lifeless backgrounds. The book’s endless narration replaces tension with droning noise, and every “reveal” feels telegraphed or unearned. Worst of all, none of the characters, old or new, feel alive or invested in the story’s stakes.

Art Samples:

Final Thoughts:

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SILVERHAWKS #5 is the kind of comic that makes you double-check the publication date, hoping it’s not a cruel 2025 joke. Writing stumbles and the art flatlines, leaving only a flicker of the franchise’s old heart. There are glimmers of a fun cosmic adventure buried under all the clunk, but you’ll need patience (and possibly an oxygen mask) to dig them out.

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