Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson: Moon Called Volume 1: 01

Mercy Thompson is one of the cooler heroines of urban fantasy -- instead of a glamorous-sounding "tough girl" job, she's a simple car mechanic. Who works for a faery. And turns into a coyote.Okay, maybe she's not a "simple" car mechanic, but she is a pleasantly down-to-earth protagonist. And "Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson: Moon Called Volume 1 TP (Mercy Thompson 1)" is a solid adaptation of the first half of the first Mercy Thompson book -- lots of lycanthropic action, solid art, and some perplexing color choices.When a young werewolf runaway named Mac wanders into her garage, Mercy takes the kid under her wing. She even rescues him from a couple of thugs who previously caged and experimented on him, leaving one of the thugs dead.When she hands Mac over to Adam Hauptmann, the local werewolf Alpha, it seems like her part is over. But then she finds Mac dead on her doorstep, and finds Adam severely wounded. Her only chance of helping him -- and finding out who did this -- is to go in search of the ancient werewolf leader known as the Marrok."Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson: Moon Called Volume 1" is a textbook example of how to do comic book adaptations RIGHT -- the plot is lean, smooth and fast-moving, with no fat that needs to be trimmed. And David Lawrence balances out the action, dialogue and inner monologuing nicely ("All the testosterone might turn a girl's head...").As for the art... don't worry. The ugly Brett Boothian cover is NOT representative of the art inside. Amelia Woo's artwork is spare, realistic and detailed, with lots of purple-toned nights, golden-hued indoor shots and grey flashbacks. It's obvious a lot of care went into this work.The one problem with the art: Why is Mercy white? She's supposed to be half-Blackfeet Indian with coloring to match, yet she has pale skin and reddish-brown hair. To make it even MORE confusing, the half-Salish Charles is given olive skin and black hair, the same coloring Mercy has on the COVER. What gives?"Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson: Moon Called Volume 1" suffers from some bizarre color choices, but otherwise is a solid adaptation of a gritty, suspenseful urban fantasy.