Mother, Come Home

    (Dark Horse, 2003)
™ and © 2003 Paul Hornschemeier

With the untimely death of Sarah Tennant, her husband David and young son Thomas must cope with the respective holes in their lives. However, things are more complicated than they seem. The fair-haired boy watches the mental decline of his father: a balding, bearded, and bespectacled teacher. Unwilling to embrace his care-taking aunt and uncle, the 7-year-old hides under a lion mask and red cape and dives into the comfort of daydreams, where he lays the ground rules on a chaotic world.

The flat landscape of muted colors mirrors the emotional barrenness of the characters that reside there. Ironically, though, the characters are stiff in gait and manner, struggling to repress the torment that boils within them. Of course, making sense of a life fraying at the edges is a messy business, no matter how old you are.

Hornschemeier’s style is an odd blend of Beavis and Butthead and Chris Ware. Classically packaged as a masterwork, this is an admirable first graphic novel that tackles such heavy topics as euthanasia and suicide. But, by infusing a child with an adult sensibility beyond his years, the narration is overly perceptive and, ultimately, one that tries too hard to be profound.

— Oliver Chin
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