Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Woman Warrior Wednesdays #14 by Kate Krimson

Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson: Moon Called #1 (“First Blood”)-Dynamite Entertainment-$3.99


Mercy Thompson is just the typical average woman. She fixes cars. She can turn into a coyote. You know the usual. She comes upon Mac, a fellow mechanic, who is being ordered by two men to get into a van that looks like the Mystery Machine. If he doesn’t get in the van, they’ll shoot him. Mac is a werewolf and these men want to “cure” him. One of the men apparently is a werewolf and the cure doesn’t work too well because he becomes a werewolf and attacks his friend. Mercy, just like her name, comes in just the nick of time as her coyote-self to protect Mac from the vicious brute. She bit him in the neck and ran. The werewolf ran after her, but died because he didn’t take the time to heal his wound. Mercy feels bad about killing someone, but returns to the garage to see if Mac is ok. He is and her mind wanders to when she met Mac a few days ago.


That past Friday Mac came into the garage looking like a fright and looking for work. Mercy could sense that he was a werewolf, but felt bad for him, so she gave him a job and some food. When she got home that night, she found her cat, Medea, in a crate with a note from Adam Hauptman, a leader of a werewolf pack. His note said that if Medea was ever on his property again that he would eat her.


On Monday Mac comes back to continue working at the garage. They have a quiet day of working and then go home. Mercy goes back to the garage to pick up her purse. When she gets there, that’s when she sees Mac with the two “cure” men. After the werewolf dying and making sure Mac is safe, Mercy decides that Mac should get werewolf tutoring by Adam, so she calls Adam and tells him that she just killed a werewolf in order to make sure that he will definitely come.


Writers (Patricia Briggs and David Lawrence): These writers sure know how to draw you into the world of Mercy Thompson, the werecoyote mechanic, and her werewolf surroundings. Picking up the next issue definitely seems like must.


Illustrator (Amelia Woo): Woo’s illustrations bring to life the battle between Mercy and the werewolves with the gnashing of teeth and gushing blood. Woo also reminds us of Mercy’s humanity with her soft kind eyes and with her tough, but loving grip.


Cover Art (Brett Booth): Booth’s cover depicts both the handsomeness and darkness of the werewolf community. I’m not sure who all the characters are, but the friendly redhead in the background must be me.


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