'Grave Sight' Harper Connelly Graphic Novel by Charlaine Harris

‘Grave Sight’ is a graphic novel adaptation of the first book in Charlaine Harris’s paranormal ‘Harper Connelly’ series. ‘Sight’ Volume 1 was released in June this year, with two more instalments due for release (the second instalment is coming in September).

When she was younger Harper Connelly was struck by lightning. Ever since then, she has been able to ‘sense’ death. If she is near a dead body she can recount the final moments of the corpse’s life, often giving clues as to the where, what, how and who of their death (and often, murder). Harper is the ultimate lemons into lemonade girl, turning her ability into a profession; she (along with her step-brother, Tolliver) tours the country, helping search for missing persons (for a price).

When ‘Grave Sight’ begins, Harper finds herself in Sarne Arkansas, helping local law enforcement and a grieving family search for answers in a runaway teen cold case. But the longer Harper and Connelly stay, the messier their investigation gets. Harper finds more mysteries with her ‘sense’ and the longer she stays in town, the murders keep piling up . . .

It seems that 2011 is the year of the under-appreciated paranormal. I just recently read Volumes 1 and 2 of Richelle Mead’s ‘Dark Swan’ graphic novel, adapted from her least popular paranormal series of the same name (least popular in comparison to ‘Vampire Academy’, mind you!). ‘Harper Connelly’ is the same sort of beleaguered darling of literary juggernaut, Charlaine Harris.

Harris’s ‘Southern Vampire: Sookie Stackhouse’ series has been ruling bestseller lists and dominating the box with its HBO ‘True Blood’ TV adaptation. By comparison, Harris’s other work of paranormal fiction is an under-appreciated afterthought. For a little while there was rumblings that ‘Harper’ could be as big as Sookie, especially when CBS bought the film and TV rights to Harris’s work, with every intention of turning it into a TV series. But this year CBS passed on the ‘Harper Connelly’ pilot and it looked as though Harper had missed her time in the spotlight . . . but now the series has been given a new (and better?) revisit, via the ever-popular graphic novel adaptation!

I have been a big fan of ‘Harper Connelly’ for years now. It’s not as supernatural as the ‘Sookie’ books – there’s not a vampire or werewolf in sight. But Harper has a somewhat similar ‘ability’ to Sookie, not telepathy, but rather a sixth sense for death. Harper’s world is our world, real life examining the supernatural from a realist perspective – and Harper is a protagonist dealing with other people’s pessimism and blatant distrust of her and her abilities. In this series Charlaine can explore the ‘what if’ aspects of the supernatural in everyday life.

The ‘Harper’ series is darker than ‘Sookie’ (or, rather, it’s as dark as the most recent Sookie books). Not only is Harper frequently fleeing from pitch-fork-wielding townies who claim she is a witch, but Harper and Tolliver are dealing with their own grief over a missing person. When they were younger, Harper’s older sister and Tolliver’s step-sister was abducted while walking home from school . . . never to be seen nor heard from again. As Harper tours the country, selling her ability to uncover death, she is always on the lookout for Cameron, hoping that the next body she ‘senses’ will be that of her missing sister.

The ‘Harper’ series is dark indeed, as can be expected when it’s all about a woman’s ability to find the truth of death. But this is also a series with real heart – seen in the bond between Harper and Tolliver, and the step-siblings constant hunt for the truth about Cameron’s abduction.

This graphic novel adaptation is covering the plot of the first book, ‘Grave Sight’, in three volumes. To be honest, ‘Grave Sight’ is perhaps not the best ‘Harper Connelly’ novel to visually adapt. That first novel is a lot about the nuances and whisperings of the small town of Sarne, Arkansas. In the novel, Harper and Tolliver spend the majority of their time wheeling and dealing with the town folk who hired them to find a missing girl . . . meanwhile, having talks with a few locals who have a few things to say about the missing teen. So in this graphic novel there’s lots of speech boxes and little action.

Regardless, I’m quite impressed with William Harms’s screenwriting of Charlaine Harris’s work. There’s lots of back-story about Harper to condense – both about the lightning strike that changed her, and Cameron’s disappearance. Harms uses very poignant storytelling, coupled with some sublime images from Denis Medri, to communicate a lot of story in very few panels.

I was also impressed at the way Medri visualized Harper’s ‘sight’. In the novel, Harris writes a visceral experience of the visions that plague Harper when she approaches a dead body . . . Medri has done well to make these visions equally chilling, represented in distinctive blood-red panelling with a mesh-effect to disorientate and frighten.

This first instalment of the ‘Grave Sight’ graphic novel is slow-going, but only because of the back story that must be told in order to understand the complicated Harper Connelly. It’s dragged down by a lot of conversation and nuanced double-dealings. But both Medri and Harms shine in the scenes of more action, and eerie flashback. There is promise for a graphic Harper yet. I know that the books get darker, and Harper comes up against some formidable foes – I look forward to these future instalments, because I also know that Harper is an impressive leading lady in her own right.

3.5/5

Written by: Charlaine Harris & William Harms

Art by: Denis Medri

Colors by: Paolo Francescutto

Letters by: Bill Tortolini

Cover A by: Benoit Springer

Cover B by: Denis Medri

Contributing editor: Rich Young

Consultation: Ernst Dabel & Les Dabel

Volume 2 coming September 2011

Urban Fantasy MOVIE adaptations

With the release of the new Twilight trailer for 'Eclipse' I got to thinking about how much the Urban Fantasy genre has blown up. There are so many great movie/TV/graphic novel adaptations going on - the genre is really branching out into different forms of New Media. So I thought I'd do a little post updating you on what's coming, what's cancelled and possible future endeavors.... Enjoy!

Melissa Marr:

It was announced last year that the first book in Melissa Marr’s ‘Wicked Lovely’ series would be coming to the big screen.

Many in Hollywood believe Marr’s project was chosen to compete against the adaptation of Aprilynne Pike’s book ‘Wings’, which has confirmed Miley Cyrus for the lead. Both books are aimed at the YA audience. Both are about fairies, which is tipped to be the ‘next big thing’ after vampires for 2011.

‘Wings’ will be made by Disney, and is being produced by the same team who made ‘Twilight’ (Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey). ‘Wicked Lovely’ has no cast as yet, but is being adapted by Universal Pictures. Both have a tentative 2011 release date – and I wouldn’t be surprised if they went head-to-head to battle it out at the box office.

Patricia Briggs:

In 2008 the ‘Mercy Thompson’ books were optioned to 50 Canon Entertainment. 50 Canon created TV show ‘Huff’, but they’ve also done movies such as ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. It’s unclear whether the ‘Mercy’ series was optioned with the intent of turning them into movies or a TV show.

Since 2008 nothing has come of the contract. It might just have been a case of 50 Canon hedging their bets. At the time ‘True Blood’ (adaptation of Charlaine Harris’s ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ series) hadn’t hit our TV screens, so maybe they bought the ‘Mercy’ rights and then waited to see how ‘True Blood’ fared.

Since the HBO success, 50 Canon may have decided not to compete against such a high-rating show, or they could be waiting to see how audiences respond to the werewolf storyline of season 3….

Also at the time of the contract, Briggs’s comic book adaptation of her series hadn’t hit shelves. ‘Homecoming’, the first ‘Mercy’ comic by Dabel Brothers, came out last year to an underwhelming fan response. This could have impacted 50 Canon’s decision to adapt, but it’s highly doubtful.

The contract between Briggs and 50 Canon was rumoured to be in the six figures (if, or when, they decide to adapt). So regardless of whether or not the adaptation gets a green light this was a huge coup for Briggs professionally.

I, personally, think that the ‘Mercy Thompson’ books would make a great TV show… but at the same time I feel very precious about the series and would want it to be done *just* right.

Laurell K. Hamilton:

Last year Hamilton announced on her blog (with much ego-stroking) that her ‘Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter’ series was being bought to the small screen by IFC (independent film channel).

I was actually really excited for ‘Guilty Pleasures’ (the first book in the Anita Blake series) to be adapted. Hamilton’s first books in the series were great (it all went downhill around about ‘Narcissus in Chains’) and I think they would have made for a really entertaining mini-movie.

Unfortunately the deal with IFC fell through, rather disastrously.

Ms. Hamilton told fans about the no-go ‘Anita’ movie back in November 2009. She posted this rather quizzical statement on her blog: “It has been frustrating watching other shows in the genre I pioneered go on the air while we didn’t, but in the end I believe most things happen for a reason. I would rather have no television show than a bad one.”

Fans have been left to speculate about this cryptic blog post. It’s pretty obvious that there was some sort of creative difference going on between Hamilton and IFC.

And her reference to ‘other shows’ being made from adaptations – she can only mean Charlaine Harris’s ‘True Blood’. Maybe it stuck in Ms. Hamilton’s craw that Ms. Harris got HBO while she was stuck with IFC? Who knows? All we know for sure is that an adaptation of vintage Anita Blake is probably never going to happen now. If Hamilton was ‘difficult’ to work with, chances are other movie production companies will follow in IFC’s footsteps and not touch her.

Hollywood’s a big damn pond, and authors are small fish – especially when the Urban Fantasy genre has blown-up and there are plenty of possibilities for adaptation.

Charlaine Harris:

Ms. Harris has said in numerous interviews that she was quite surprised that, of all her books, it was ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ that was made into a TV show. She always thought that ‘Harper Connelly’ was more screen-friendly, and a more likely choice for adaptation.

Well since 2008 ‘True Blood’ has been going from strength to strength, and has regained HBO’s status as the premier network (not since ‘The Sopranos’ have ratings been so high). So it’s no wonder that people are sniffing around Harris’s other work.

It was recently announced that Harris’s ‘Harper Connelly’ series was being adapted into a graphic novel. ‘Dynamite Entertainment’ bought the rights to the 4-book series – which is about a young woman who can ‘sense’ the dead and see the last moments of a deceased’s life.

There’s no release date as yet, but it’s likely the graphic novel will come out late 2010, or early 2011.

This might just be the first step before turning the ‘Harper Connelly’ books into a movie or TV show. No doubt the media will be abuzz over this adaptation, purely because of Charlaine Harris’s recent fame with ‘True Blood’ and the ‘Sookie’ books being a staple of the New York Times Bestseller’s list. If the comic book gets enough hype, I wouldn’t be surprised if a production network snaps up the movie/TV rights.

I, for one, would love to see a big/small screen adaptation of this series. All of Charlaine Harris’s series’ are great, and deserve as much attention as ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ – but I have a particularly soft spot for the brilliant ‘Harper Connelly’.

Kelley Armstrong:

Back in 2004 Armstrong’s ‘Bitten’ was sold to Warner. Bros and several screenplay drafts were written. Angelina Jolie was even rumoured to star.

Since then the contract has run out and Warner. Bros decided not to renew. That means another production company could try and buy the movie rights, but Ms. Armstrong has advised fans not to hold their breath.

Bummer.

Maggie Stiefvater:

September last year Ms. Stiefvater broke the happy news on her livejournal.

Her ‘Wolves of Mercy Falls’ trilogy has been picked up for movie adaptation. It’s being made by ‘Unique Features’.

No news yet about casting or release dates – but I think the movie will be a sure thing. Werewolves are so hot right now; the YA/tween audience cannot get enough of Taylor Lautner.

‘Shiver’ will be like a “what if Jacob got Bella in the end?” to satisfy all those who weren’t in the ‘Team Edward’ camp.

‘Shiver’ is a gorgeous book and absolutely deserving of this happy news!

Kim Harrison:

In July 2009 Kim Harrison announced that her series 'The Hollows' was going to be adapted into a Graphic Novel by Del Ray. Ms. Harrison is actually writing the script herself, so expect plenty of that snappy dialogue and dry wit that we've come to love.

The novel will be told from Ivy's POV (*squee!*) and is set around the time of her 'Hollows' novella in 'Dates From Hell'. And Kisten is still alive (*SQUEE!*).

The 8th 'Rachel Morgan' book was released this month (to much success, of course) and the Graphic Novel is tentatively scheduled for a fall 2010 release (could possibly turn into a 2011 release though). The artist is Pedro Maia and Ms. Harrison has posted some (very rough) sketches on her blog.

The graphic novel looks and sounds great so far. I especially like the idea of it being told from Ivy's POV - hopefully we'll learn a lot more about the 'behind the scenes' of the vampires and their politics. And I think it will be great to get into Ivy's psyche and maybe discover when her feelings for Rachel changed.

I think the 'Rachel Morgan' series is one of the best Urban Fantasies out there. Hands down. Brilliant. But I think a movie/TV adaptation would be very hard, if not impossible to accomplish. The world is so intricate and there's so much back story... I don't know that such a screen adaptation would be possible. But a graphic novel is just the right kind of new media for Ms. Harrison. It allows her to work closely on script and visualize her 'Hollows' world without constraint. Fantastic!

'Grave Secret' Harper Connelly #4 by Charlaine HARRIS

From the BLURB:

Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface.

To make matters worse, Tolliver learns from his older brother that their father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members. Tolliver wants no part of the man- but he may not have a choice in the matter.

Soon, family secrets ensnare them both, as Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister, Cameron, so many years before.

And what she finds out will change her world forever.

This is the 4th and (according to Charlaine) last book in the Harper Connelly series. It’s sad going into ‘Grave Secret’ knowing it will be the last time we journey with this wonderful character. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end.

‘Grave Secret’ is a bit of a hodge-podge of a novel. On the one hand, Harper and Tolliver are dealing with very serious circumstances in the present as a case Harper is working on takes a curious and dangerous turn. On the other hand, an anonymous call brings up their past as someone claims to have seen Harper’s missing sister, Cameron, at a local shopping centre. The book is split between current events, while also backtracking through Harper and Tolliver’s troubled childhood and the events surrounding Cameron’s disappearance eight years ago.

It is interesting to delve into Harper and Tolliver’s past. Harper has confided little bits and pieces about her past in the previous three books, but not to the extent in ‘Grave Secret’.

Harper and Tolliver are not related by blood; Harper’s mother and Tolliver’s father found one another and got married right when they were both at the bottom of their respective bottles – both Laurel (Harper’s mum) and Matthew (Tolliver’s dad) were junkies. They sold drugs from the trailer where Harper and her sister Cameron, and Tolliver and his brother Mark were living with them.

Most of Charlaine’s female protagonists have bleak pasts (with the exception of Aurora Teagarden) – but Harper has the worst of them all. Her stepfather would frequently pass her off to the highest bidder in exchange for pills, and she was the primary caregiver when her little sisters were born. Then she was struck by lightening and dealing with the physical side effects as well as the supernatural ones. Harper is a warrior, and Harris’s austere description of her and Tolliver’s past is chilling, but an amazing indictment of their character. Charlaine Harris seems to be really fascinated by how people’s pasts can affect their future and their personalities. She favours female leads who have overcome great personal tragedy, and been made stronger for it. This is very much true of Harper, and at several points in the book she quietly muses about how she and Tolliver ended up ‘okay’ despite their childhoods and genetics. Putting aside her ability to locate dead bodies, Harper is a fascinating character for her past alone. She is a strong, hard-working woman and in ‘Grave Secret’ you really appreciate all that she had to overcome to get that way.

People who meet me in my line of work fall into three categories; those who wouldn’t believe me if I produced an affidavit signed by God, those who are open to the idea that there are strange things in this world that they might encounter (the “Hamlet” people, I call them), and the people who absolutely believe I can do what I do – and furthermore, the love that connection I have with the dead.

For three books now, Harper has been making mention of her sister’s disappearance 8 years ago. Harper has never suspected her sister was anything other than dead, and has been keeping her feelers out for any ‘buzz’ of Cameron’s bones ever since she went missing. For three books readers have been as anxious to know Cameron’s fate as Harper herself – even more so after a huge foreshadowing in ‘An Ice Cold Grave’. Fans can be assured that this issue is laid to rest. But be warned – it is a tricky and convoluted explanation that is made somewhat hollow for its loopy plot.

I wasn’t terribly satisfied with ‘Grave Secret’. Knowing that it was the last ever book in the series, I expected great things. But I don’t think Charlaine delivered, much as it pains me to admit.

The novels big mystery is hastily wrapped up, and in a manner that I absolutely detest in murder-mysteries; the villain explaining their reasoning and execution of their devious plans while still in the process of completing them. Urgh. Having read her other novels, I can assure you that this is Harris’s sloppiest wrap-up ever, and it’s a shame because the build-up beforehand was perfectly suspenseful.

I was also disappointed with the progression of Harper’s new romance. I love this couple (not going to say who, that would be a MASSIVE spoiler) and I wanted a few more cutesy moments (like we got in ‘An Ice Cold Grave’).

All in all I think ‘An Ice Cold Grave’ was a far more satisfying book and I would have preferred that that be the final book in the Harper Connelly series.

Once again, having read Harris’s other books, I can assure you (and warn you) that even when Charlaine is concluding a series, she doesn’t like to tie things up neatly, but prefers to leave a certain open-endedness for her characters. That is once again the case with ‘Harper Connelly’. The open-endedness isn’t a frustrating cliff-hanger, just potential for more. And after reading and being disappointed by ‘Grave Secret’, I really, really hope that Harris relents and writes one more, just to redeem the series.

2.5/5

'Harper Connelly' series by Charlaine HARRIS

‘Grave Sight’ from the BLURB:

Harper Connelly has what you might call a strange job: she finds dead people. She can sense the final location of a person who's passed, and share their very last moment. The way Harper sees it, she's providing a service to the dead while bringing some closure to the living-but she's used to most people treating her like a blood-sucking leech. Traveling with her step-brother Tolliver as manager and sometime-bodyguard, she's become an expert at getting in, getting paid, and getting out fast. Because for the living it's always urgent-even if the dead can wait forever.

This is my favourite of Charlaine Harris’s series, after ‘Southern Vampire: Sookie Stackhouse’.

Fans of the Sookie books can appreciate that ‘Harper Connelly’ does have a supernatural bent. Harper’s world is our world, real life in which there are no vampires, werewolves or fey. The ‘Harper Connelly’ series looks at the supernatural from a realist perspective – and Harper is a protagonist dealing with other people’s pessimism and blatant distrust of her and her abilities. In this series Charlaine can explore the ‘what if’ aspects of the supernatural in everyday life.

Like Sookie, Lily and Aurora, Harper is an ordinary woman living an extraordinary life. When she was younger Harper was struck by lightening. Ever since she has been able to ‘sense’ death. She turned her ability into a profession and tours the country, helping search for missing persons (for a price).

You will feel conflicted about Harper’s line of work – but Charlaine has written a very pragmatic character, and Harper doesn’t mind defending her vocation and maintains that if she had to be lumped with a disability she may as well make money out of it. Fair enough. But there is more to Harper’s working gift. For one thing, her little sister was abducted when they were children. After Harper was struck by lightening and gained her ‘ability’ she instantly recognized that it could be a way to find her sister – a way to finally have closure and put her guilt and worry to rest. Furthermore, there seems to be a certain connection between Harper and the spirits she feels;

It’s hard to describe the feeling – but of course, that’s what everyone wants to know. It’s a little like hearing a bee droning inside your head, or maybe the pop of a Geiger counter – a persistent and irregular noise, increasing in strength the closer I get to the body.

As much as Harper tries to maintain her pragmatism, readers will no doubt see through the armour she dons to shield herself from the weight of her gifts’ responsibility.

They want to be found, you know.

Harper is a tricky character. She does shield herself emotionally, and there is a contrast between her thoughts and actions, especially where romance is concerned. But it is clear that Harper has been burned in the past – aside from having an abusive childhood and less than stable home life growing up, her ‘gift’ has caused Harper to become a social pariah. People believe she is a charlatan, and those few who are convinced of her abilities believe she is a crook for not providing her services for free. So, Harper has developed a tough exterior. It makes her a fascinating woman to read. On the one hand, readers are privy to her biting wit, loyalty and compassionate nature – and we know that if people would only give her a chance they would come to see her for the amazing woman she is. But on the other hand we do see people’s negative reactions to her and her gift – and as readers we want to shield her from further abuse and heartache. Unlike Sookie, Harper is living with her ‘gift’ without the crutch of a totally open supernatural community – and it is fascinating to see how people deal with her, and how she deals with her own uncertainties regarding her dubious ‘abilities’.

Like her other series, ‘Harper Connelly’ does have a love story at its centre. I can’t give this massive spoiler away – but many fans expressed dismay when the romance came to the fore. It will throw some readers for a loop, be warned. But I personally thought Charlaine did such a wonderful job with characterisation and the slow burn of the romance that it was a natural and inevitable progression for the two characters.

I love this series especially. There are moments when it is quite bleak; but that is to be expected when death is the subject matter. But the romance is definitely at the heart of the ‘Harper Connelly’ books, and that lightens the mood somewhat. Furthermore, Harper is a fascinating woman. For any fans of the ‘Sookie’ books who ever wondered what life would have been like for Sookie without the help of vampires, werewolves and fey – Charlaine is able to answer that ‘what if’ question through these books. It is supernatural in the real world and a completely compelling read.

Unfortunately Charlaine has said the series will only go as far as 4 books. ‘Grave Secret’ came out October 27th this year and that ties up the series. What a shame. But just because it ends so quickly, that’s no reason not to enjoy the hell out of it.

5/5