Customer Reviews

Mercy Thompson: Homecoming

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(36)

 

 

So I woke up this morning anxiously awaiting the book store to open so I could rush to get a copy of "Homecoming". Unfortunately, I was not able to get to the book store until 5 minutes before 10pm (which is when they close). By that time, I was able to read early reviews of the book and 90% of the reviews were bad. Like others, I was not aware that this was a graphic novel but I still wanted to give Patricia Briggs a chance since I loved all of her previous works. I got my copy and raced home and arrived around 10:11pm. I finished the book by 10:34pm. Lets just say that I'm not really into graphic novels and the story was a boring for me. In all fairness, if you go to Brigg's website, she informs us that this is the first installment of a Mercy Thompson graphic novel series NOT the 5th book in the Mercy Thompson novel series. The fifth book is set to be released sometime in early (February) 2010. So all in all, let's give Patricia Briggs a break. If you are into comics and graphic novels give "Homecoming" a shot. If not, don't waste your time or borrow a copy from a friend. This story line just gives us background info on Mercy before she moves Tri-Cities (People who have been following the series won't really find the story interesting or exciting). I did purchase her other book that came out today "Hunting Ground" which has received good reviews so far so I'm looking forward to a good read (So far Patricia's good for it!). I hope this helps you all :). Happy reading!

Every time I turn around, another fantasy series is being adapted into graphic novel form. Some good, some bad, and some that just aren't ugly enough.

The newest addition to this genre: "Mercy Thompson: Homecoming," a prequel that explores what happened upon Mercy's arrival in the Tri-Cities area. It's a tightly-written, fast-moving little graphic novel with solid character introductions and some intriguing twists and turns, although the ever-shifting art is a bit offputting.

As the story opens, Mercy is going out for a run, when she is attacked by a pack of werewolves. Just in the nick of time, ANOTHER pack comes to save her, but her car is wrecked in the fight. After a disastrous job interview ("It's more important that a history teacher can coach track than explain the Bill of Rights!"), Mercy heads to the local garage to get her car fixed -- and it turns out the person running the place is is a nine-year-old boy with a fae daddy -- and he quickly runs afoul of a vampire's human "sheep."

Mercy intervenes and offers to help fix it, since she knows how to replace a clutch. The kid even offers her a job, which Mercy finds herself seriously considering. But in the meantime, the savage rogue werewolves are still hunting Mercy, intending to force her to help them. While a friendly local vampire named Stefan helps her a few times, it's only a matter of time before she becomes entangled in a bloody pack war.

Patricia Briggs is something of a rarity in urban fantasy, since her Mercy Thompson series focuses on a small rural town full of "ordinary" (read: nonglamorous) vampires, fae and werecreatures, and its heroine is a shapeshifting mechanic.

So "Mercy Thompson: Homecoming" is not written to be glamorous or sexy, which is part of its rough-hewn appeal -- especially since Briggs dodges many of the cliches. She and David Lawrence spin up a solid little story explaining how the scrappy "walker" came to the town, how she met the vampire Stefan (who looks an awful lot like Vincent Valentine), her boss Zee, and how she got her job.

After the confusing introduction, the taut, quiet plot smooths out into a stream of snappy dialogue ("Adel... bert... smiter? So you smite Adelberts?"), blood-spraying action, and I-need-a-job stress (Mercy's brief stint in a fast food restaurant). In fact, it adds to the supernatural goings-on that Mercy's personal woes are so down-to-earth, though black-and-white flashbacks show her experiences as the Marrok's ward.

And Mercy is a likable heroine -- she's strong enough to stand up for herself, while still being vulnerable enough to stumble. And despite being quickly established as a coyote walker, she seems very much like an "ordinary" woman -- she needs a job, needs an apartment, hopes to be a teacher, and can rearrange the internal parts of a car with no stress.

Francis Tsai's artwork is quite good, albeit kind of uneven -- a shadowy, murky experience filled with grimy walls, blue Washington nights, glitzy fae bars, big hairy werewolves and pallid befanged vampires. Mercy is rather harshly and exaggeratedly drawn initially, but Tsai's lines become more delicate and less cartoony by the midpoint. And with the arrival of the good-guy weres, the color palette shifts from the rainy night colors to burnt lighter ones.

"Mercy Thompson: Homecoming" sets up this prequel nicely, and will leave readers wanting to see more of Mercy's move into this small town.

Mercy Thompson is a walker, a magical being with the power to shapeshift into a coyote at will. As a child she had been handed over to Bran Cornick "the Marrok" who ruled the werewolves, to be raised. The Marrok is the biggest, baddest werewolf of all. Since the age of sixteen Mercy has been on her own.

Mercy leaves Portland for an interview in the Tri-Cities of Washington. Mercy hopes for a teaching position. She ends up being hired by a nine-year-old named Tad as a mechanic for his father's auto repair shop. Tad and his father, Zee, are part of the Fae. Mercy finds herself in the middle of a war zone. She would have left, but the Marrok erred and Mercy decides to spitefully stick around. Seems the Marrok has sent Adam Hauptman to deal with a band of rogue werewolves in the area. Adam is an Alpha, leader of the Columbia Basin Wolf Pack. And whether Adam or the Marrok likes it or not, Mercy is making the war for territory her business!

***** FIVE STARS! An outstanding and original graphic novel set in the Mercy Thompson universe. If, like me, you have not read any of the Mercy Thompson novels, then you are in for a sweet treat! For those fans who have kept up with the series, you will finally get to see how Mercy and her mentor, Zee, met.

As most know, when morphing into another form, the clothes being worn are shredded. The illustrators have done an amazing job of keeping true to that fact by using some pretty cool techniques. I could not be more impressed! Very tastefully done indeed! Mercy's personality and her sense of dark humor flows naturally and I often found myself chuckling aloud as I read. More than once my son stopped, while walking by my room, to glance in and wonder what I was laughing at. That just made me laugh louder.

In the back of this hardback graphic novel, readers will find an art gallery and an interview of the author, Patricia Briggs, by David Lawrence. Will there be more Mercy graphic novels in the future? The interview has me believing there will be. But this one is an original story; made especially for this graphic form. I have no doubt what-so-ever that fans will flock for this major collectable item. And new fans will be won as well. A magnificent graphic debut that will be long celebrated! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

As I'm a major fan of the Mercy Thompson series, I've been looking forward to this first graphic novel by Patricia Briggs. Overall I was very pleased. I did feel the quality of the artwork improved as the storyline progressed, though the wolves are still a little too shaggy for my taste. (The panel where Park and Adam attack each other reminded me more of crazed Pomeranians than wolves.) I honestly rate the book a four, though I almost gave it a five to counter somewhat all the unfair one star reviews from people who didn't realize it was a graphic novel.
Please, people! Briggs is not the only excellent fantasy writer venturing into the graphic novel format. You might want to at least wait to order a book until you see its cover. (Though it WOULD be nice if "graphic novel" showed up somewhere in the title or product details, Amazon and/or publishers, as a courtesy to the potential buyers and a way to avoid future misunderstandings.)

`Homecoming' is a graphic novel short story set in the Mercy Thompson universe. The story is by Patricia Briggs and David Lawrence with illustrations by Francis Tsai and Amelia Woo, and cover art by Daniel Dos Santos.

`Homecoming' is a prelude to the events in Mercy Thompson's first book, `Moon Called'. Bran has just kicked Mercy out of his pack and she's moved to the Tri-Cities to put her teaching degree to good use. But in the span of 24 hours Mercy is attacked by one werewolf pack and rescued by a second, beaten bloody by a vampire's human minion and threatened by one of the local vampire queen's flunkies.
`Homecoming' tells the story of how Mercy came to settle in the Tri-Cities. The graphic novel details her first meeting of Stefan, Siebold Adelbertsmiter (Zee) and his son Tad and the Columbia Basin wolf pack's Alpha, Adam Hauptman.

I perused the reviews of `Homecoming' on Amazon and was thoroughly disappointed to see that it's been given a 2.5 star rating. Read a few of the reviews and it becomes apparent that `Homecoming's' unpopularity has nothing to do with the graphic novel itself, but rather reviewer's stupidity.
Many of the Amazon reviewers thought that `Homecoming' was the next novel in Patricia Briggs' `Mercy Thompson' series, and they bought/pre-ordered the novel thinking it was follow-on from the 4th Mercy book `Bone Crossed'. One indignant reviewer even accuses Dabel brothers of misleading fans by giving no indication on the cover that this is a graphic novel... that's despite the fact that on the cover are the words "an original graphic novel".

Another reviewer sniffs that comics "cheapen the series". Actually, it does nothing of the sort. Adapting books into graphic novels is fast becoming a popular occurrence in the publishing world.
Diana Gabaldon is releasing a graphic novel short story set in the `Outlander' universe, telling a new Jamie and Claire story set in the timeframe of her first book.
Kelley Armstrong has an online comic called `Becoming' which is a prologue to the events of her first `Women of the Otherworld' book, `Bitten'.
Melissa Marr has released a graphic novel set in her YA `Wicked Lovely' universe, with a second graphic novel due for release next year.
Laurell K Hamilton has had great success adapting her `Anita Blake' series into comic book format with `The First Death' (2007), `Guilty Pleasures' (2008) and she is currently working on `The Laughing Corpse' for release later this year.

Graphic novels do not cheapen a series - they add a new dimension to the universe the author has created. And when it comes to Urban Fantasy in particular, comics are a logical extension of the book series. They offer another layer to the vivid universe the author has created, and visualize the fantastical characters that were previously relegated to the printed word.

I think the comic adaptation of Patricia Briggs's `Mercy Thompson' series made perfect sense, especially because her cover artist, Daniel Dos Santos, has done such a wonderful job of providing a visual framework for readers. Anyone who is familiar with the Mercy books will know that Daniel Dos Santos is a cover-art genius - and his has given Mercy a very distinct look.
Unfortunately Dos Santos only did the cover-art for `Homecoming', Francis Tsai and Amelia Woo are responsible for the beautiful illustrations within. Daniel Dos Santos's work is magnificent, but probably too detailed for the comic book format. Regardless, Tsai and Woo do a fantastic job of visualizing Zee, Stefan and especially Adam.

`Homecoming' is a beautiful novel, with wonderful illustrations and an essential story to read if you are a die-hard Mercy fan like me.
Unfortunately, due to lacklustre response, I highly doubt Patricia Briggs will be releasing a second Mercy comic. However, I have already pre-ordered the Alpha & Omega graphic novel `Cry Wolf' (released November 3rd this year) and look forward to seeing that spin-off world made comic manifest.

I loved `Homecoming', but then again I am not prejudiced against comics like some Mercy fans seem to be. I loved the story, especially Stefan and Mercy's meeting (and a certain picture of shirtless Adam - not since Trent from `Daria' have I found an illustration so sexy). If you are a Mercy fan, check out `Homecoming', it is a damn good GRAPHIC NOVEL.

5/5

First I'm a little disappointed in the folks who never bothered to read the product description that clearly states this is a comic, and just assumed Homecoming was the next in the Mercy Thompson novel series, and are now crying because it's not what they thought. That said, this graphic novel is awesome.

It is an original story, that takes us to when Mercy first arrived in the tri-cities. Of course she can't show up to a new city and not get herself in the middle of werewolf pack politics. She takes a few knocks on her job search, and is all ready to pack up and go home, til the Marrock (leader of all the werewolves and who's pack in which Mercy grew up) sends a check with a note saying to go home. Mercy's nature is too contradictory to pack it in after that, and decides she's going to make it work.

We see as Mercy first meets Adam, Stephan, Zee and Tad. Some of the art is dead on with what I pictured from the book, some not so much. What kind of tripped me up is that the series had to get a new artist half way through. I can't imagine it was easy for her to come into a work already started, but I liked it when I got use to the slightly new look.

The book has some great scenes: Mercy as a coyote pup with torn shirt in her mouth. The porche wrapped around a tree. The lamb necklace delivered to her from the Marrock via Adam. All things that tie in great with the series and add depth and perspective to what we already know. I hope that there are more Mercy comics in the future!

"Mercy Thompson Homecoming" is a prequel to the series. This sets up Mercy's character as a 'walker' and an adopted kid of the werewolf leader, Bran the Marrok.

The story begins with newly-graduated Mercy Thompson coming to the Tri-Cities area to apply for a teaching job and discovering that the school didn't want a History teacher, they wanted someone 'well rounded', in other words a coach. She's about to leave town when her car breaks down and she ends up in a garage with a nine-year-old kid working there.

When a vampire comes to make trouble, Mercy steps in and gains the kid's trust and a job. She also ends up in the middle of a war between two werewolf packs.

While the book's short, it's beautifully illustrated by Amelia Woo, who draws Mercy just as I have seen her in my head. If you're a Briggs fan and have enjoyed the series, you're going to like having this piece of art to accompany the books.

Rebecca Kyle, August 2009

I am not a big fan of graphic novels but occasionally a decent one comes along with a real story line. This is one and the graphic part is pretty good. The story is a little weak but not at all bad and the characters are well done and its pretty good overall. I thought Rapunzel's Revenge which I bought for my niece was better (she really .liked it too).

Unlike many reviewers, I did know that this was a graphic novel. I thought is was very well done, and I liked the story line. I'm not complaining, and I can't wait for the next novel.

Before I bought it, I already knew that this one is to be a graphic novel.
In fact I went to Dabel Brother's site for more info and was shown a few pages from the novel itself.

That said, I would like to say that I really enjoyed reading it.

The changes into werewolf or coyote is very well done, reminds me a bit of the vamp-face morphings in Buffy the vampire slayer

The story was way too short, but quite informative on how she, as the outsider coyote, finally settled down in the Tri-Cities.

The characters came to life, finally seeing portraits of Tad & Zee, Uncle Mike and of course Stefan.
The way he changed Zee's mind is just soo masterfully done and Zee's outbursts on rogue werewolves was funny to see.
I did not expect Darryl to have dreads, but it does make him look cool, so I'm fine with that.
I am not sure if it's supposed to be a running gag, but Mr. Hauptman does show up quite often and unexpectedly at that (unexpectedly for Mercy of course).
It's also good to know that Medea became Mercy's companion when she finally has her own "home sweet home".
Homecoming indeed.