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| Honor Guest: The Silencer Art by John Romita, Jr. |
From the ashes of Dark Nights: Metal, rose a new DC Comics publishing initiative called "The New Age of Heroes," the purpose of which was to either introduce new characters or reinvent old ones for a brand new audience. One of the most intriguing additions to the DC family of heroes came in the form of a devoted suburban wife and mother who just happened to be... a former Leviathan assassin?
The Silencer, created by John Romita, Jr., and Dan Abnett, is Honor Guest, a Charleston, SC stay-at-home mom whose only motivation is to live a quiet, happy life with her husband, Blake, and her young son, Ben, who she affectionately refers to as her "Jelly Bean." On the surface, her life seems to be idyllic, but this life came at a tremendous cost, which honor paid while in the service of Talia al Ghul, the supreme leader of the international criminal organization Leviathan.
Talia built Leviathan to achieve her own nefarious ambitions and separate herself from the influence of her father, the eco-terrorist, Ra's al Ghul. When Honor was just a young girl, Ra's found her in an illegal laboratory, where she displayed the strange ability to generate a field within which no sound could penetrate. Recognizing her great potential, he took Honor and enrolled her in St. Hadrian's Finishing School for Girls, which in truth was a school devoted to training assassins. But Talia also saw potential in Honor and successfully recruited her away from her father.
In time, Honor became Talia's most trusted and loyal assassin operating under the codename, "the Silencer. Honor was so devoted to Talia that she looked at her like a mother-figure and, by extension, Leviathan as her extended family. But despite this great sense of loyalty, what Honor truly desired was a chance to leave the world of violence and blood behind her so she could create a simpler and happy life of her very own. She made Talia promise that when Leviathan had grown powerful enough that her service was no longer required that she would be set free of her commitments to both Talia and Leviathan so that she could pursue the next phase of her life. Talia agreed to this condition and eventually presented Honor with the opportunity to earn her freedom by completing one last task for her.
To gain her freedom, Honor's objective was simple; kill a Leviathan traitor named Guile. Once Honor located Guile, she moved in for the kill, but before she could take him down was attacked by a certain exorbitantly-priced mercenary bodyguard: Deathstroke. The two preternaturally skilled assassins engaged in a vicious and evenly-matched battle, but the Silencer would take a monetary advantage by knocking Slade out of the house through a window. Before Deathstroke could resume the battle, the Silencer put a bullet through Guile's head, thus fulfilling her part of the bargain with Talia. Deathstroke warned the Silencer that her actions would set off a civil war within Leviathan because the underbosses would see Guile's assassination as a sign that Talia could not be trusted. Before Honor could respond to Slade, a gas line that was ruptured during the battle ignited, destroying the house. Honor escaped in the chaos, returned to Talia, and was granted her release from Leviathan.
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| What else was supposed to happen when these two met? Art by John Romita, Jr. |
Years later, Deathstroke and the Silencer would meet again when the Leviathan civil war that Slade predicted drew Honor, quite unwillingly, back into activity as the Silencer. The two assassins did battle again and despite having Honor at a disadvantage, Slade did not kill her, instead, he demanded that she deliver Talia to the underbosses to put an end to the Leviathan civil war that she started because resulting chaos in the Underlife was "bad for business." But Slade, being the master tactician that he is, devised the encounter to manipulate Honor into meeting with Talia because he reasoned that she would go to her to try to make some deal to end the war. Getting the two deadly ladies together in one location was Deathstroke's true objective all along as he was working in concert with Leviathan underboss, Gunn, to arrange it so that he and his team of cyborg footsoldiers could ambush them both and end the war.
Talia did agree to meet Honor at a rural diner, but Honor had to bring her son Ben with her to the meeting because her husband, Blake, was out of town on business. As the two women were talking, Gunn made his move and unleashed his crew on the dinner. Honor and Talia fought off the entire hit squad, with Ben completely oblivious to the hail of bullets and destruction around them as he was enveloped in a zone of silence generated by his mother. After their victory, Talia offered Honor a chance to come back to Leviathan to help her regain control of Leviathan, but Honor rejected her proposition stating that the only way she would ever be truly free was to destroy Leviathan. The two fatal female warriors then savagely battled one another ending only when the Silencer plunged a knife into the chest of the Demon's daughter ending her life (well, for a time anyway as death normally has a dubious grasp on the members of the al Ghul clan).
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| This is how one turns down a job offer from Leviathan's Talia al Ghul. Art by Viktor Bogdanovic |
Though it can be argued that Deathstroke and the Silencer are near equals in the ways of combat and killing, in almost every other way that matters the two talented assassins are polar opposites of one another with Honor Guest cast as a type of anti-Deathstroke. Slade Wilson is a toxically masculine white male womanizer of European descent, while Honor Guest is a genuinely caring and family-devoted woman of color from Polynesian descent. Slade kills for money and reputation where Honor kills to safeguard the lives of her beloved family. Deathstroke thoroughly enjoys the thrill that comes with a dangerous job, whereas the Silencer takes no direct pleasure in ending a life. Slade Wilson does love his children but is emotionally ill-equipped to ever let them know it, while Honor Guest is a warm and nurturing mother to her precious "Jelly Bean" and would do anything to ensure that he grows up in a happy and healthy way (the shootout in the diner notwithstanding). In any event, the Silencer is a welcome and exciting addition to the DC Universe. Her backstory, personality, and ass-kicking nature make her a great character and definitely one to watch for in the future. And personally, I cannot wait for the Silencer and Deathstroke to lock horns once again.
