We all know the 1980’s weren’t that great right?
Yeah, I know that’s blasphemy for some people to read, but once you get past the popular music, art, and the Stranger Things induced nostalgia you realize there were a lot of problems that made the 1980’s unpleasant and created some of the issues we’re still dealing with today.
If you don’t believe me you can either ask someone who actually remembers the 80’s, or you can read today’s comic: “Sirens of the City” #1
Written by Joanne StarerCover by: David Aja
Illustrated by Khary Randolph
Lettered by Andworld
New York City. 1980s. Runaway teen Layla struggles to survive on the mean streets, far from home.But now every supernatural creature from the darkest corners of the urban grime is after Layla… and the child-to-be she never wanted growing inside her….
This gritty urban fantasy created by Joanne Starer (The Gimmick) and Excellence’s Khary Randolph shines a light on bodily autonomy in a patriarchal world.
It’s New York in 1987 and Layla is miserable and desperate. She never knew who her parents were, and for some reason every foster home she lives in seems to have strange and mysterious accidents when she’s around. What’s even worse is that she’s pregnant and the father is part of some sort of gang with ties to the dark magical gangs and criminals of New York, and to put a crappy cherry on top of a garbage sundae, they all seem to want Layla and her child for some mysterious reason.
It’s a deep dive into the strange, fascinating, and terrifying world of ghouls, vampires, and spirits during a time when New York was at its most exciting and most dangerous.
“Sirens of the City” #1 is written by Joanne Starer and opens with the main character walking into an abortion clinic, so let it be said that Starer isn’t afraid to grab the reader’s attention and force them to confront some pretty hot button issues. Also, Starer isn’t afraid to build on it and establish Layla as a tough, no nonsense, and street smart teenage runaway who isn’t afraid to call it as she sees it and refuses to pull her (sometimes literal) punches. Despite the tough and angry exterior, Starer does a great job of making the main character relatable and vulnerable and showing the reader that her actions and behavior may be a bit extreme, but they are extremely justified. Layla is a great protagonist and it is very easy to root for her survival. Also, this is a book that isn’t afraid to show some of the uglier sides of the 1980’s, especially in the pre gentrified, run down neighborhoods of New York.
While the writing for “Sirens of the City” #1 does a great job of crafting a fantastic main character, it does so at the expense of the rest of the comic. Since this is an urban fantasy setting, there is an entire world hidden from our own with its own cultures, rules, and power brokers, and while Starer does a good job of showing them to the reader and planting the seeds of future conflicts, there is a feeling that it could have been presented in a way that is clearer and easier to understand. Perhaps it has to do with more modern storytelling practices where exposition and world building has to be woven into the narrative instead of dumped on the reader at the beginning, or maybe the comic is saving more of the worldbuilding for later issues. Either way, it’s something that was noticeable enough to mention and leaves some room for improvement.
The artwork for “Sirens of the City” #1 is provided by Khary Randolph and it is definitely a highlight of the comic. The first thing a reader is going to notice is that the comic is black and white with some pretty bold splashes of color mixed in to enhance the themes and characters of the story and to provide some pretty interesting contrast to grab the reader’s attention. While a lot of seasoned comic book readers will immediately gravitate towards something like Sin City for inspiration, “Sirens of the City” #1 is arguably better at utilizing grayscale and color to tell its story. As for the details of the art itself, Randolph has some pretty heavy and interesting manga influences, with the comic displaying some pretty familiar tropes such as big eyes, minimal facial features, and exaggerated panel angles. As for the 80’s nostalgia, Randolph does prevent the comic from becoming too much of a trip down memory lane but he does seem to have a soft spot for a lot of the punk/hip hop fashion that was prevalent in New York in the 1980’s. All in all, this is a visually striking comic that does a great job of using very little to do a lot.
“Sirens of the City” #1 is a great character piece that looks great and provides a healthy and awesome dose of late 80’s punk and hip hop fashion and attitude into the 1980’s nostalgia mix and presents us with a weird and interesting alternate New York City that is somehow even more aggressive and dangerous than the real one.
Final Verdict: 7.9- What it lacks in worldbuilding and exposition it makes up for with great characters and a fantastic sense of style.
