Cover Illustrator Shannon Maer makes his comic creation debut with Dynamite’s Siren’s Gate #1.
Writer Tara inhabits a mysterious world … she bartends at the Cat Club in the evenings, dishing out drinks to the cocktail waitresses. When a handsome stranger in the Club approaches her and seems to know all about her, she is intrigued. He says that her favourite author wants to meet her! NOW!! All she has to do is jump into a car, and drive away with him! Yikes!
Maer’s approach to his first full comic book story is unconventional; he tackles writing, illustrating, and lettering. (Editor is Becky Fuller) Why do I say it’s unconventional? There are no panel borders. The lettering is big, in upper and lower case, positioned in ‘mid-air’ as if suspended there. The idea here is obviously to meld the words and images together seamlessly, but in my opinion, the end result is large-sized letters reversed out of the background, on a tilt. Not ideal, and not seamless. Distracting.
The illustrations, of course, are amazing. Shannon Maer is known for his impressively realistic Slot Machine (Casino Games) images, and limited edition comic covers. His computer rendering work here is some of his best. The atmosphere, lighting, and positioning of the figures is very very good. However, something is missing. The poses seem a bit stiff, and the moody dark lighting, while uh, moody and dark, does not make up for a lack of background environment. The figures often float on a dark page, as if on stage, lit by coloured spotlights, with no props and minimal furniture.
The story itself is loosely constructed. Tara embarks on a strange journey, full of (again) mysterious mysteries, but little is actually revealed about her or the other characters. It feels improvised, unanchored.
It’s fun, it’s full of beautiful people, but not a strong beginning. Hopefully, Maer will move further toward using the standard comic lettering and panel format, tighten up the script and give us a glimpse of what we know he is truly capable of!
Dynamite Comics, Siren’s Gate #1, $3.99 for 34 pages of content. Teen+
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