REVIEW ‘Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens’ #1

I remember, as a child, watching episodes of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller. I was awestruck by the practical effects, make-up, and puppeteering. Every episode seemed imbued by a certain magic that could only come from Henson’s studio. Years have passed since then, but thankfully nostalgia is a powerful force, resulting in a return of the legendary series now in comic book format. However, things that are spawned from nostalgia sometimes are misguided and fail to capture the feeling of the original material. Thankfully Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens #1 from Boom Studios and the creative team of writer Bartosz Sztybor, artist Jakub Rebelka, and letterer Jim Campbell manages to do an admirable job of recreating the tone and feel of the original series, even if it doesn’t quite recapture the magic.

The issue opens as all good Storyteller episodes do, with the Storyteller and his talking dog sitting in front of a fireplace. The dog, who can talk for anyone unfamiliar with the TV series, asks the Storyteller for a treat, prompting the two to discuss the virtues of settling for less versus taking as much as you want when it is available to you. This leads to the Storyteller doing what he does best and telling a story. This tale begins with a fairly successful fisherman. He has everything that he could ever want but remains unsatisfied. Seeking to pursue his dreams, the fisherman falls in with a group of scoundrels who promise him more. But soon the cost of these expanded pursuits hits the fisherman where it truly hurts and he is forced to come to terms with the choices he has made.

The script by Bartosz Sztybor is effective and keeps the plot moving along despite the limited action involved in a story of this nature. He clearly understands the subject material that the series is inspired by and the story is thematically appropriate as something that would have been featured on the show. What I like best about Sztybor’s writing is the sense of melancholy. It may have just been me, but the Storyteller TV series always seemed kind of sad. As if every story was tinged with loss or heartache. Whether I read too far into it or understood something that should have been beyond my five-year-old mind, that feeling has stuck with me. When I read this comic, that feeling returned. The melancholy that I always associated with the show seemed to emanate from the page. This was all in a good way, mind you. I was happy to feel that same nostalgic sadness that I had felt so many years ago.

The art is by far the most difficult aspect of a series like this. Henson’s work is iconic because of his workshop’s keen eye toward the visuals. Artist Jakub Rebelka does a fine impression of those famous practical effects, but translating them to the page is nearly impossible to do perfectly. The artwork itself is quite good and portrays a world full of both the vibrant and the drab as the story necessitates. By far the most successful aspect of the art is the characters whose exaggerated features give them the same feel as the prosthetic wearing inhabitants of the Storyteller’s tales. The lettering, from Jim Campbell, is clean, uncluttered, and used to great effect to portray the beauty and emotion of the mermaid’s song.

Overall, I enjoyed Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens #1. As I read it I was able to bask in the warmth of the nostalgia for something I loved. It didn’t manage to reclaim the full magic of the series it is named after, but it still provides an entertaining and thoughtful experience. Fans of the original series should still read this, as well as anyone who likes a good, old-fashioned fairy tale.

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens #1 is available in comic book stores everywhere now.