In reading the finale of A Sort of Homecoming, I came to the realization that I really want to see Hurd and Camello do something a little bit longer. Because although the story of David and Owen comes to a pretty satisfying (and definitely final) conclusion, it also really feels like there are a lot more stories that Hurd could tell about these friends and their lives, both separate and together. However, while I certainly think there are more stories for these characters, the general story of A Sort of Homecoming is one that makes sense and has nice thematic closure, and fans of Hurd and Camello's blend of drama, humor and real-life stories will be well pleased with the finale.
Hurd's stories have a realism to them that I really enjoy, which is part of what makes me suspect that there is an autobiographical component to ASOH just as there was to My Uncle Jeff. The friendship between Owen and David feels absolutely real, as does the blow-up that ensues between the two of them as a variety of things that have gone unsaid finally come out into the open. We've all had friendships disappear quietly or detonate completely, and I like that the relationship between Owen and David, over the course of three issues told mostly in flashbacks, has been explored with all the same variety that real relationships come with.
At the same time, Hurd did go a little bit more into the "Hollywood" style drama in this issue, giving us moments that I could believe really happening but that feel just a little bit more extreme. I was very touched by Owen playing a Beatles song for David, or David tossing a copy of Rubber Soul onto the grave, but at the same time, these felt like the sort of moments that would be manufactured in a Hollywood flick, not the more genuine moments that Hurd has given us so far. This was a fairly minor shift, though, and the payoff in emotion that comes with it mostly makes up for the mildly forced nature of some of these moments.
Camello continues to impress me as well, using a fairly simple, "animated" art style to convey a lot of heavier and more adult emotion. There's beautiful detail to be found in Camello's backgrounds, like the snowed-in bar or the solemn, packed to the gills and yet so lonely church service, or the geek-decorated Star Trek premiere, and these details really set the mood for the story. In addition, Camello's characters remain wonderfully expressive, conveying sadness, anger, introspective behavior and other key emotions that really drive the story. He also gives all important changes to the hair style or age of David or Owen or other characters while Hurd's story is seguing between similar moments at different time periods (like the two funerals), which makes these transitions, which could easily be confusing, relatively smooth.
A Sort of Homecoming is the sort of thing I expect to see from seasoned pros, not from a couple of guys who really are just getting started out in comics. It's emotional and real, funny and sad, touching and thought-provoking. I'd recommend it to anyone with a love for comics, but especially those who are looking for the more dramatic style of something like Strangers in Paradise without the unreal elements that have been added as that book has continued on.
