At the age of 15 Harper Connelly was struck by lightning.
Since then she has had the ability to locate the dead and
to see their last moments of life. She and her stepbrother
Tolliver now make a living traveling around the country and
finding dead bodies for anyone who is willing to pay them.
Their most recent job has taken them to Sarne, Arkansas to
search for a missing teen girl. Hired by the mother of the
girl's boyfriend to prove that her son didn't murder the
girl, the job seems simple enough. But just when Harper
and Tolliver think they have things figured out, another
mysterious murder takes place in the small town. Now they
are both being drawn deeper into the investigation, and
their own lives may be at risk.
GRAVE SIGHT, PART 1 is the first part of the graphic novel
adaptation of the first book in Charlaine Harris' Harper
Connelly series. The comic accurately follows the
storyline of the novel conveying all the major happenings
despite the necessity of having much less text. Harris is
a brilliant mystery writer, liberally presenting clues and
suspects while keeping readers guessing throughout the
story. Part 1 of this graphic novel does a great job of
laying a solid foundation by presenting the character and
their backgrounds, setting up the murder, and presenting
possible suspects. The only thing I feel didn't translate
well from the novel is the depth of the characters, and
this is more than challenging for any writer moving to a
graphic novel format. Some writers use lots of text boxes
to convey background information and the feelings of the
characters throughout the story, but Harris doesn't do
this. She instead manages to keep the text to mostly
dialog and still gets the story through to the reader.
Personally I appreciate this since I think too much text
can take away from the feel of a graphic novel.
The illustration in GRAVE SIGHT is very well done.
Illustrator Denis Medri uses simple depictions and lots of
color in his drawings. I particularly liked the way he
uses varying monotones on different pages to express mood
and tone. I would have liked to have seen a little more detail
in the character's faces, but other than that I really
enjoyed the artwork. Overall, I think Harris' first jaunt
into the world of graphic novels is a success. Fans of her
Harper Connelly series will be satisfied with the
translation, and new readers will enjoy the unique
characters and entertaining storyline. Now I am anxiously
anticipating part 2!
At the age of 15, Harper Connelly was struck by lightning,
an event that gave her the ability to find the dead and see
how they died. Since then, Harper's scratched out a living
selling her services to anyone with a checkbook. It's not
the best life, but it beats the alternative - at least until
Harper and her brother Tolliver roll into Sarne, Arkansas
and find themselves embroiled in a murder mystery!
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