Graphic Novel: Dresden Files; War Cry by Jim Butcher & Mark Powers w/ Carlos Gomez, Mohan, Bill Tortolini

The graphic novel series of the Dresden Files gets another interesting and weird-magic entry in War Cry, this time dealing with the horror of the Red Court and of the shoggoth (think Lovecraft).

War Cry
Jim Butcher and Mark Powers
pencils by Carlos Gomez
colors by Mohan
lettering by Bill Tortolini
ISBN: 9781606905746

This story falls between Dead Beat and Proven Guilty in the novel sequence, and significantly after the events of Ghoul, Goblin in the graphic novel narratives.

This short graphic novel collection sees newly minted Warden Harry Dresden playing nanny to two wet-behind-the-ears baby Wardens, along with old friend and ally Carlos Ramirez.  The group of them is tasked with evacuating or protecting a midwestern coterie of Venatori (the Dresden Files equivalent of Potterverse Squibs; no powers, but lots of knowledge of the arcane world).

Of course, this being the Dresden Files, everything goes to shit before the story even properly begins, and the tiny outnumbered group is confronted with a night full of horrors.  Not to worry, Harry has horrors on his own side, not the least of which is his family.  The night may be long, but the sun always rises in the morning, and like any good Dresden Files story, there are going to be fireworks before the end of it all.

I'm not as thrilled with Gomez' characterizations of women (seriously, the sexy librarian trope has GOT TO STOP), but his work on Harry and the trio of Wardens is clear and defined, while the Red Court and the shoggoth are appropriately nasty and unsettling.

While I'm sad that the graphic treatments of the books hasn't continued (I was really looking forward to seeing the illustrated treatment of Grave Peril) I have to say that I'm enjoying these narrative interludes.  Now that the main sequence has gone so far down the dark and powerful path, I have not been keeping up with them, and these little short bits allow me to still enjoy the universe even though the current work is too depressing for me.  
 

Graphic Novel: Dresden Files, Ghoul Goblin, Jim Butcher

The Dresden Files Ghoul Goblin

Jim Butcher and Mark Powers, illustrated by Joseph Cooper and Mohan 

ISBN: 9781606904381

Hardcover Graphic Novel, 160 p.
Read January 9, 2014

I've missed Harry.  The last novel I read was Ghost Story, and I'm holding off on the more recent ones because they've gotten a bit too dark and heavy-hitting for me, at least for the winter months.  (I did get to read Molly's story Bombshells in the Dangerous Women anthology (GRR Martin, ISBN: 9780765332066) this past weekend (January 5th, 2014), and I can say it's a measure of how much I miss the Dresdenverse that I chose to read that instead of Sanderson's Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, which I STILL have not gotten to read.)  So it was an unreserved pleasure to backtrack to Harry's early days, when his weight class is measured against everyday ghouls and goblins and sea monsters.

The story starts shortly after the events of Fool Moon, with Dresden still reeling over the first real casualties he's been responsible for, and Murph giving him the cold shoulder.  When a small-town deputy from Missouri shows up with a tale of a family of orphaned siblings dying in unusual circumstances, Harry is all too willing to leave Chicago's bad memories behind for a while, and do his part to help another set of orphans.  Unfortunately, the kids are the remnants of a family cursed due to an ancestor's stupidity (elaborated in the prologue, with a Lawrence of Arabia cameo in Egypt), and now the kids, the last of the family line, are literal pawns in a supernatural turf battle.  Just identifying the nonhuman players is taking all of Harry's strength and wits, and it doesn't help that there is a reactionary Sheriff itching to arrest him for being a con artist, and a shady lady Mayor with a mysterious connection of her own to Egypt.

Obviously Harry can't die (yet), but the body count does get pretty rough before the end.  

The storyline is tight, and what's really interesting is comparing the graphic novelization with the original text summary included at the end of the book.  While characters and events mostly line up, the entire ending is drastically different, and in my opinion, much stronger, in the graphic novel than in the summary.  Makes me wonder who was responsible for the changes, and how that process developed through the creation of the original 6-part series.  

The art - oh lord, the art is beautiful.  I think I mentioned in my review of Fool Moon Part 2 that I was not entirely thrilled with how Chase Conley was interpreting the characters there.  Well, we've switched back up, and I'm LOVING Joseph Cooper's work.  It's simply beautiful.  The characters are expressive in face and body without looking like caricatures.  Even the really tough work like making the goblin subtly off-kilter without looking overly inhuman were just delightfully done.  I especially liked the lantern-jaw on the ghoul, and how Cooper used body posture and viewing angle to really show up that grotesque deformation.  In addition, Harry doesn't look emaciated or nuts, and the female characters have mouths and eyes that fit their faces.  A special bonus for me was the set of covers by Ardian Syaf, who started this whole shindig up in style, and who I've sorely missed.  I was a little nonplussed by his choice of Harry in his pentacle and orange prison jumpsuit, which isn't at all the way it goes down in the story, but I can't deny that it's an impressive and intriguing image to catch someone's eye.

Here's hoping that Butcher sees fit to give us more of these original story graphic novels, or perhaps some graphic treatments of some existing short stories.  I would love to see Harry and Bigfoot in graphic format, not to mention a certain werewolf wedding.       

Previously Published Review: (Graphic Novel) Storm Front Volume 2, Jim Butcher, Ardian Syaf, Brett Booth

This is the second half of the hardcover compilation of the comic adaptation of the first novel of the Dresden Files, Storm Front, created by Jim Butcher (e'way are not orthy'way), adapted by Mark Powers, and illustrated in sequence by Ardian Syaf (through about the halfway mark of Issue 2 of this volume) and then picked up expertly by Brett Booth (although sadly, we aren't allowed to get too used to him either, as he'll be replaced at the beginning of Fool Moon by a new artist, Chase Conley.)

Did you get all that?

So, if you're considering this graphic novel for your reading pleasure, I would highly suggest picking up the first half (otherwise you'll be a little confused, and miss some great artwork) titled Storm Front: The Gathering Storm. I also suggest going a little further back in the chronology and picking up Welcome to the Jungle, which is a very nice piece of work as well.

Now, on to the actual review.

The story isn't Butcher's best, but it was good enough to get the Dresden Files going (and at book 14 out in July, that's no small feat) and to me at least, this particular story seems tighter and better suited to graphic novel form than to an actual novel. As (almost) a librarian and someone who reads at a frantic pace, that's a big admission to make.

Powers does an amazing job of keeping the characters, the snark, the one-liners, and the noir feel of the novel, while paring it down to the bare bones, and they're some pretty good bones. The baddies are bad, the women are cliched (necessary to the genre) without being wince-worthy, the magical ju-ju is creepy, and the pace builds strongly to the ending, closing out solidly (none of this cliffhanger crap here, but there is an inked teaser for Fool Moon, the next in the series).

The artwork is lovely. I enjoy Syaf's compositions and creatures more, but Booth's interpretation of Harry's and Murphy's faces (and Mac, oddly enough) make me really feel for them as characters. Something about Harry's eyes and that vulnerable heart-shaped face really helps position him as not quite as magically bad-ass as he desperately wants you to believe. I can SEE this Harry being panicked, being worried, being afraid.

I have to say, I'll be sorry to see that go so quickly, but the teaser at the end reassures me that Conley has his own very appropriate interpretation for the hand-off, and it's one that I don't think I'll dislike. Thankfully, each of the subsequent artists has hewn close to the original character idea and the dark, gritty environmental feel visioned by Syaf, so even in the transitions between artists, nothing like the horrors of the "Restoration of Faith" short are in evidence.

I have been anguishing for ages over the much-delayed and many-times imperiled release date of this concluding hardback, but that is entirely due to circumstances beyond any of the artists' controls. I am VERY happy to see this finally out, and to clutch it protectively to my heart. This one's MINE - go get your own copy!