Isn't that cover gorgeous? Just saying, Daniel Dos Santos always makes me a happy girl. Now if only the artwork continued to be as well drawn in the book itself...

I read a lot of comics--from the 'Big Two' (Dc and Marvel) to the comparatively smaller imprints (Top Cow, Image, Oni, IDW) to web comics (Full Front Nerdity, Otaku no Yen, The Dreamer) so I'm used to all sorts of artwork styles and can usually find little fault in the overall style if it suits the book/series. Unfortunately Todd Herman's artwork style did nothing for me. At all. And this hurt my overall enjoyment of the volume.

"Damn, Lay Off the Bleach" has an excellent post about why none of the above matches the book descriptions at all (though their grief is with the 'white-washing' moreso then anything else...and I can see where that could be an issue).

While I understand there is room for changes from one medium to the other, I think I'd forgive the book more if the artwork was at all appealing. Laying aside how not attractive any of the folk or wolves are, the art makes everyone appear sinister, evil and/or angry. The backgrounds are barely worth mentioning and the awkwardness in the body posing is obvious (look at Charles' arm around Anna, his right shoulder is way above where his left shoulder is, despite the fact Anna is shorter then him).

The storyline hems very close to the book itself--which is a saving grace since I eventually abandoned looking at the artwork to just read the captions and speech bubbles. But the fact remains if I was going to do that why would I pay $25 for the graphic novel when I can get the paperback novel for under $8?

When this book was originally announced (like...4 years ago? More?) I was so excited. I love the Cry Wolf and to have it in comic form as well sounded great. But I wasn't able to get the individual issues (my comic shop didn't carry them) and until I received this in the mail I hadn't realized it was being re-compiled by 'InkLit', the graphic novel imprint of Penguin.

This isn't worth it for $25, do yourself a favor and just buy the paperback. ( )

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I still love this story, but I'm not sure its entirely comprehensible without knowledge of the books as well (although that's one of my complaints about Cry Wolf in general because it really requires you to have read the novella Alpha and Omega first). I'm quite disappointed in the artwork. Characters' faces change so much from panel to panel that you have to depend on other cues (or book knowledge) to figure out who is who, and the artwork in general just seems really unsophisticated. Some images are lovely, but others just seem rough and unfinished. Still enjoyable, but I was hoping for something a little prettier. ( )

I'm really disappointed in the art in this graphic novel version of the Alpha & Omega series. I think I was expecting something a little slicker like I saw in The Dresden or Outlander graphic novels. ( )

Cry Wolf is the first full-length book in the Mercy Thompson spin spin-off series. It is a great story - and a nice look into the lives of the Marrock and his pack in Montana, where Mercy was raised. The only downside is - having read all the other books in the Mercy series first - the storyline isn't as uncertain as the Mercy Thompson books have been [since the reader already knows a bit about which of the main wolves are still alive]. Still, it reads just like you'd expect from a book by Patricia Briggs - so it's still one you'll enjoy if you liked the Mercy Thompson series. ( )