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With dry riverbedMelody Calderón makes the best kind of horror comic: one that relies almost entirely on its images to tell its story. This is a story about the Latin horror urban legend La Llorona, the “Crying Woman.” She is said to have drowned her children in a fit of rage over her husband’s infidelity, and now prowls bodies of water in search of new victims. A stream is a narrow ravine formed by rapidly flowing water. In the story, a man drinks from a fountain that is an almost upside-down statue of La Llorona. He falls asleep, only to wake up to a flooded house and city (a stream) and La Llorona’s long hair telling him to give her hands to receive her blessing. As expected, it doesn’t go well.
What makes this comic so good is its attention to detail. From the elongated letters of La Lloronna to the use of paint as a flat color to represent her bleeding forehead, Calderón’s willingness to lean into the exaggerated aspects of the story gives her power. Its page layout is innovative, especially as it has a repeating motif of hands submerged in water. The outstretched hands initially look like prayer hands, and La Llorona’s similarity to the Virgin Mary in the story is not lost on me. There is no mercy here, as his “affections” are arbitrary and merciless. Calderón has it all working here and this makes me want to see a lot more.