The Spirit Reviews: Lorelei Rox

This comic, although mildly entertaining, didn't really keep my interest on a second and third read. I guess I have a few problems with this issue, primarily the story. And I think that I should at least make it clear before my analysis that my problem with the story due to my experience with the storyline, which I found to be ripe with redundant fictional elements.

The first problem with this story is that the whole siren character, in this case Lorelei, is entirely played. This is a story everyone has seen a million times before, ever since reading the Odyssey in grammar school. I even find that it is all too often that I encounter the twist where the siren mysteriously avoids any consequences. Furthermore, the relationship between the hero and the siren was not even established until their confrontation, completely ignoring what is often to the most intriguing element of this particular storyline.

And while I am aware that this comic was released well before the development of most modern superheroes, this story bears an uncanny resemblance to just about every Wolverine one-shot Marvel has been endlessly churning out since time immemorial (most recently in "Switchback", released three weeks ago and "Chop Shop" before it).

I do like seeing singing in comic books though and I will give Eisner credit for his "singing bubbles". His ability to signify the bizarre effects of Lorelei's voice by drawing erratic musical notes was fairly intriguing.