Woe to the demon that tries to drink from the cup of both humans and demons too! Witness the warnings of the book of Mirka Andolfo’s Mercy, chapter 5, verses 1-32!
This is the gospel according to Mirka Andolfo, who both wrote and illustrated this tome. (Controlling much?)
The official plot:
“Lady Hellaine’s elaborate plan takes shape, but the dark heroine…has not yet dealt with the consequences of her actions and with the hazy memories that more and more often emerge from her conscience. Is it really possible that the only answer for all her troubles is…love?”
Image Comics
Elaborate plan? First I’ve heard of it…and there’s only one issue left. This actually felt a lot more like a hastily drafted back-up plan. I suppose I may have missed the original plan, but how good can the book be if that’s the case? As for the memories and emotions…well that’s what you get when you take over the body of a human! All the alien/demon possessors know that you damned rookie!
My Impressions:
- What works: It’s vaguely reminiscent of The Thing.
- What doesn’t work: The characters. The story just doesn’t do a good job building them up enough for the reader to care about any of them. If I can’t remember their names from one month to the next…your book is in trouble.
- But how did it look?: It tires hard and uses all the tricks. Colored speech bubbles, blurs for motion, tinted panels for flashbacks…it even tries to be risque with a post coital page.
Notable Appearances/Events:
- Lady Hellaine (alien/demon wearing someone else’s body)
- Mr. Goodwill (another alien/demon thing)
- The little girl that thinks Lady Hellaine is her mother (or maybe Hellaine’s wearing her mother?)
- No one else appears to be remotely important…and they all sort of blend together.
Bottom Line: 2 Stars!
Save your money. Better yet, go buy Batman: Three Jokers. Mercy started out quite promising, talking about the Woodsburgh Devil and mysterious killings. Lady Hellaine shows up and turns the town on it’s side, along with the tease that she’s not exactly human. It held tight until about issue 3 when it just seemed to unravel into unrelated plot lines that couldn’t hold my interest. What a wasted opportunity! Mirka Andolfo shouldn’t have been so keen to put her name all over this comic…because now I know to avoid her work.
