Mercy Thompson: Homecoming

Comic books, anime, graphic novels, manga: it’s all big stuff in my house. So, I was really excited when I heard that Patricia Briggs’ Mercedes Thompson series was going to be made into a series by Dabel Brothers Publishing, the same people who produced the Dresden Files series.

The first in a 4 or 5 issue story arc (comic says 1 of 4, website says 1 of 5) was just released. Homecoming is a prequel to the book series, taking place when Mercy first comes to the Tri-Cities area.

Here is the description:

Mercy Thompson is born of two worlds but at home in neither.

The daughter of a human woman and a coyote shape shifter, raised by werewolves, she lives in both shadow and light.

The search for her place in the sun has brought Mercy to Washington’s Tri-Cities, looking for a new life and a new career.

Instead, she’s stumbled upon deadly struggle between packs of rival werewolves and wound up smack in the middle.

Still, if Mercy can get out alive, she might just have found a home.

I just finished reading Moon Called for the Re-read Challenge, so the book was really fresh in my mind when I read this issue, Chapter 1: “Wolf at the Door.”

The cover is really beautiful and I found artwork in the opening scene really interesting. The first chapter opens on a night scene, and is very dark with lots of dark blues and black. The art style is more painterly than the Anita Blake series.

My favorite parts of “Wolf at the Door” were: getting a brief glimpse of Mercy’s childhood, seeing how she comes to work at the VW garage, and Stefan’s introduction (he wasn’t anything like I imagined, but I’m cool with that!)  :-)

In a Dabel Brothers press release issued last June, Patricia Briggs is quoted as saying:

My first exposure to werewolves goes back to the old Marvel comic Werewolf by Night, which I read when I was still in grade school,” said Patricia Briggs. “The image of the werewolf as a good guy, a tormented hero who could be dangerous to anyone around him, stuck with me all these years and manifested itself in the Mercedes Thompson series. To have Mercedes and her world become comics is almost karmic – having the Dabel Brothers producing them is nothing less than fabulous good luck.”

Chapter 1, “Wolf at the Door” is written by Patricia Briggs and David Lawrence. Cover and painted artwork is by Francis Tsai.

For some great images of the first 11 pages, check out the Sneak Peak at the Dabel Brothers site. (All the images can be clicked on to enlarge.)

You can buy issue 1 of Homecoming at your local comic book store, or online directly from Dabel Brothers or from Heavy Ink. Check out the upcoming cover shots on Heavy Ink’s site.