Mysteries can sometimes be off-putting in comics. You only have so many pages when you break the story down episodically and that doesn’t leave much room to introduce characters, build said characters, introduce the plot and develop the mystery. Usually one or more of these things go untouched in favor of introducing some kind of mysterious element. That said, I have the general idea of the plot, but there’s still a lot to clear up. We’re introduced to several characters, but it’s unclear how they’re all connected or how they’ll all come to be connected. There are essentially two storylines running at the same time which definitely adds to the confusion.
The first follows a naked woman who a taxi driver found in the middle of the road. He brings her back to his place for some odd reason and dresses her and feeds her before heading out to work. It’s clear that the driver’s family is either dead or living somewhere else. The story itself seems to be following Lorelei, the naked woman in the road. You can guess what she might be from the title.
The other story follows a movie that’s being made. A producer that’s on his last chance, a starlet that put her trust in him to make her a star and the leading man who hates her acting. There are scenes during their filming which seem to imply that Lorelei was there hiding underneath the docks, but it’s really unclear.
The story is entertaining. As I said, mysteries provide a lot of challenges when done episodically. It’s not like a superhero origin story in which you can do an origin story and move on. It doesn’t mean that this issue is perfect, it has several stumbles, but it’s not completely broken because of those stumbles. It definitely didn’t need to spend so much time on the movie side of the story unless it was going to clear up in the first issue how the two were going to relate. If I had to make a guess, I would say that Lorelei is going to end up starring in the movie for some reason. The dialogue is good and avoids having too many info-dumps. There’s no character development and I kind of doubt there ever will be based on the type of story it is.
The art is in all black and white with some shading that’s meant to look like charcoal. It’s photo realistic and I wouldn’t be surprised if some real actors provided the reference. The details are often times in consistent though. The people look realistic, but then backgrounds are left mostly dark or just empty looking. Our taxi driver’s house is nowhere at the same level as the rest of the art and ends up looking out-of-place and amateurish.
The story was successful in making me want to read more and at the end of the day that’s all any comic can really ask for. There’s a lot left on the table for this mystery, but that’s how a lot of mysteries are. If you’re in the mood for something indie, something different and like a good mystery with a pinch of horror then give Siren’s Calling a chance.
Score: 3/5
Siren’s Calling #1 Writer: John T. Trigonis Artist: Lauren Clemente Website