Mercy Thompson: Homecoming

I'm far more enamored of the storyline than the artwork. I would have enjoyed this more if it had been written as a straight short story or novella. Still, it was great to learn some about Mercy's background history.

Though, y'know, I don't consider myself to be a prude, but did anybody else find the skinshots in this graphic to be gratuitous? It bothered me enough that I calculated the percentage of frequency. Mercy appears in human form on 81 pages of this book (that's a tally counting every page in this graphic novel, frontispieces and end art gallery included). She's naked in 10 of those total pages. She appears in a towel in 4 of those (that's two separate scenes and a flashback to one of those scenes). She's in her underwear in 3 show more pages (although she was also in towel on one of those, so I ought to count that page for one or the other and not both). And her midriff showed in 30 pages.

So. Mercy has her midriff showing in 37% of the pages in which she appears and is naked, in a towel, or in her panties in 19.7% of the pages. I cannot think of any other graphic novel wherein the main character is showing skin for nearly two-thirds of the pages where he or she appears. And, yeah, the midriff thing is almost standard for Mercy, as that's how she's depicted on the covers of the novels, and the frequent nudity is defined as part of cannon, it's part of how Briggs has structured the shapeshifters in her world; but I find it irking to see the nudity repeatedly splashed up in the artwork. Did I gloss over this aspect in the novels, or was lesser noticeably more a factor of Briggs' own writing style? I feel the urge to reread the books and compare.

I guess my problem seems to dwell on Mercy repeatably being drawn as ruminating while she is dressing. Why is that necessary? So she needs to be naked when shapeshifting (except not really and not even here in this book; she's even drawn once in a sort of action shot while going straight from clothed human to coyote) — Why does she also have to be naked between action scenes? Why can't she be depicted as thinking while having a cup of coffee or something, instead of while she is putting on her bra? If, say, Batman is ruminating with his shirt off, at least it's got a purpose and generally so the artist can draw his suddenly unveiled scars. With Homecoming it's just skin for the sake of skin.

Bah. show less

When I learned that there was a graphic novel of a Mercy Thompson story I had never read, I ordered it. Mercy Thompson: Homecoming is not about Mercy going back to her mother and stepfather's home in Oregon, nor is it about her going back to the Marrok's home in Aspen Creek, Colorado. It's about how she came to make the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland) area of Washington State her home.

Mercy was hoping to use her bachelor's degree in history to get a teaching job. How she was treated at the job interview reminded me of when I, with a new Master of Library Science, tried to get a school librarian job decades ago.

Mercy gets attacked by werewolves, only to be saved by other werewolves. Her car has taken more damage than she show more has, which is how Mercy comes to Zee's German car repair shop in Kennewick. Zee's human wife died some weeks ago, so he's too busy getting drunk to work. His nearly-nine-year-old son, Tad, is doing his best. Unfortunately, he's not strong enough to repair the clutch on the car belonging to Marsilia, who rules the local vampire seethe. A vampire shows up to threaten Tad, but Mercy offers to fix the clutch. This leads to Mercy meeting another supporting character in the series, Stefan Uccello, the vampire Scooby-Doo fan.

Other supporting characters introduced are Adam Hauptman, alpha werewolf of the Columbia Basin pack, and his second, Darryl Zao; Uncle Mike, the fae who owns Uncle Mike's Tavern, and a calico Manx cat who is 'Molly' before she becomes 'Medea'.

The werewolves who attacked Mercy are a rogue pack. Their Alpha, Orson Park, wants the Marrok to make Adam and his pack leave what Park considers to be his territory. They know that the ruler of werewolves, Bran Cornick the Marrok, is very fond of Mercy. (Bran works behind the scenes in this book, although he does have a cameo in a flashback where Margi, Mercy's mother, brought her little shapeshifter to Bran for help.)

The rogue pack demonstrates that they need to be put down, every one of them. Their showdown with Adam and his pack makes a satisfying climax.

The trademark humor in the series is preserved, especially Mercy 's snarks. I enjoyed her Scooby-Doo joke while being given a ride in Stefan's van, which is painted to copy the 'Mystery Machine' from the cartoons, although the bit from Warren Zevon's 'Werewolves of London' coming from the van's radio was almost too appropriate. There's also a cute moment with a very unfortunate farm family where the father and little boy are watching 'Duck Rabbit, Duck,' the third of the rightly famous Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Elmer hunting trilogy cartoons directed by Chuck Jones.

I liked most of the art. Things I didn't like: the artist didn't paint the dog collar Mercy mentions when Adam and Darryl come to her room at a local Holiday Inn, giving Adam blue eyes instead of brown, and the way neither Francis Tsai nor Amelia Woo drew Mercy properly during the action scenes when she's nude. I hope it was an editorial decision because, as a woman reasonably well-endowed in the chest area, I know they should have been drawn in different positions. Mercy hasn't had plastic surgery there.

The book includes an art gallery and an interview between Mercy Thompson: Homecoming editor David Lawrence and series author Patricia Briggs. (Ms. Briggs wrote this graphic novel with Mr. Lawrence as her co-author.)

I definite recommend this book to Mercy Thompson fans as well as graphic novel urban fantasy fans! show less

Patricia Briggs has really been feeling the love for her Mercy Thompson series lately. With Bone Crossed released in hardcover earlier this year combined with her first Mercy Thompson graphic novel - Mercy fans have plenty of reasons to become giddy. For myself, I'm not really a comic book person, but I am a dedicated fangirl of Mercy and couldn't wait to catch a glimpse of her adventures in full-color.Homecoming is basically an origin story for Mercy Thompson: how she meets both Adam and Stefan and how she lands the mechanic position at Zee's shop. Although it is a stand-alone story, unless you've already had the privileged of reading Mercy's other adventures, Homecoming may not feel as robust as the others. It's fun, it's fast but I show more did miss the trademark Mercy narration. Several little details of Mercy's life are revealed that only long-standing Mercy fans will appreciate the significance of - little things like how Mercy gets her cat.As for the artwork itself: Beautiful and suitably shadowy yet very powerful. Though it was a little jarring to see how often Mercy herself changed. I know there were multiple artists working on this book, but since she is the title character, I would have expected a little more continuity with her character at least. But that said, her action scenes were fabulous. Consequently, I had buckets of fun matching up my mental picture of Mercy's gang with the artists' rendering. Adam and Zee were just as I pictured, but I was a little disappointed with Stefan as a '80s grunge rocker. Not really the way I pictured the mystery machine driving vampire.On a side note, Patricia Briggs and the artists of Homecoming did choose not to shy away (at all) from the shape-shifting side of Mercy's life - which to be honest, I'm happy with because Mercy herself is never really concerned about whether she is clothed or not. But gentle readers be warned: there are several panels of Mercy naked which might be off-putting. The artwork is stylized and the important parts are usually covered, but it is all still quite clear, which may keep the book out of the hands of Mercy's younger fans.Homecoming was a fabulous fast-paced action story and an efficient reminder of why I love the Mercy Thompson series so much. I do wish it had been longer, but I understand the format is more suited to quick action and less dialogue. Thank heavens we have Silver Borne coming in March 2010. show less

It was so crazy actually seeing the characters I usually just read about. Plus I loved that this was like a prequel. First of all, props to the artist who drew all that because it was really nice. I feel like all the characters turned out really well! Except Stefan. He looked super creepy and it scared me. Everyone else was spot on though.

I've never really read a graphic novel before so this was a new experience for me. It was short and sweet with lots of pretty pictures. I loved the story though. I thought it was really cool seeing Mercy when she first moved and met the pack. It was really interesting.

If you're a Mercy Thompson fan, I suggest you pick this up right away. It's 100% worth it.

"It's always hard to see a book you've imagined in your head get produced visually...if the art isn't quite what you pictures. This gets it sort of right. The first half has Mercy a bit more comic-sexualized than I liked, but I thought the second half was spot on. The story is backstory for the novels, some pieces of which fans of the series will already know, but this is worth the read anyway."

For fans of the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series by Patricia Briggs, this is an essential addition. Originally published as a series of comic book issues, this storyline has now been gathered into a beautiful graphic novel format. The painted art, by Francis Tsai and Amelia Woo captures the characters fairly well, but it is the story, by Briggs and David Lawrence, that worked best for me. This is almost an "origin story" for the Mercy Thompson character. It tells of her earliest experiences after first moving into to the Tri-Cities area of Washington State, and therefore pre-dates the first book in the series. Looking for Mercy's first encounters with all of the regular characters in the series, like Adam, Stefan and Zee? This is it! show more A fun read, full of action. My only complaint is that they switched artists partway through the project, which is a bit jarring, although each of the artists did a good job on their own.

Originally reviewed for my local library's website: http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/depts/bookguide/srec/staffrec10-01.htm show less

Just got it from the library and I'm psyched. The beginning story in comic form. HMM.

Really just 2 1/2 and only because I already know Mercy Thompson. This had no real character building and seemed to jump around, even in time. We have the vampire attack at the shop, the werewolves attack in the woods, the Marrok and Hauptman tell Mercy to go home, Mercy's bad job interview, Zee throwing her out of the shop, her working at a burger joint, the rogues kill a family, the rogues kidnap Mercy to challenge Hauptman. One scene starts at the hotel with Mercy opening the door to Hauptman, the next scene she is out to dinner with Stefan. The Marrok, who is explained as thinking Mercy a pet, and switches to the name Bran which anyone from the show more series would understand, but anyone reading this as a start wouldn't understand. A stand alone this isn't.

It was interesting to see the artwork and characters in comic form but even those jump form, Mercy being voluptuous at the beginning and then becoming the more thin and muscular book description in later pages. Fun to see how others picture the characters from the series but I think I'll keep my own pictures in my mind. I like my Stefan a bit more handsome, along with Hauptman (I mean he is supposed to be movie star looks) and Hauptman I think of as thicker and more muscular than what was painted here. I think of Zee as an old bear of a man in early books instead of the skinny, pot belly wolverine that is how he looks in this comic. Also, though Bran is not pictured in the story itself, there is a picture in the end, of his character. He looks like a man in his 30tys. Bran is a perpetual teenager, I imagine him as right on the edge of 20, thin but muscular, not as a mid-30tys, wide shouldered man. Stefan looks more like a teen in the picture.


Well it was fun from a Mercy fan point of view. If you are not a Mercy fan, don't bother, it is disjointed and does not explain well... well anything. It jumps around in story line and jumps around in time. I liked seeing characters realized, some I agreed with, some I could except, and some I just thought were off. Mercy realization changed throughout and some were better than others. I liked the story over all but only because I understood the characters and world. show less