Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files Omnibus By Jim Butcher, Mark Powers

Summary

Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher, Ardian Syaf - Welcome to the Jungle was another enjoyable short story in the Dresden Files series, this time in graphic novel format. I rarely read graphic novels, but have to say that this one was quite fun. It was kind of like reading a movie or watching a book.:-) The illustrations were very appealing and complimented the text perfectly. They also expressed the emotion and action of the scenes quite well. The illustrator, Ardian Syaf is billed as a rising star in the comic book world, and I'd have to agree. He is very talented.

The story itself is a fairly simple one with Harry investigating the mysterious and brutal murder of a security guard at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Those who don't believe in the supernatural are quick to blame it on a gorilla, but Harry knows better. Each of the Dresden Files shorts I've read so far have drawn me into Harry's world. He's almost like a super-hero with his wizard powers, but at the same time, he's just an average everyday guy who's easy to relate to. He's something of a hard-boiled detective, but also has a softer side and seems to really care about people. The tidbits of Harry's backstory that are revealed in this graphic novel really intrigued me, and make me eager to read the first full-length book of the series so that I can delve into this character and learn more about him. The two Chicago PD officers Harry works with, Murphy and Carmichael, are introduced in this story as well. Overall, Welcome to the Jungle was a very enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours of my reading time and really has me looking forward to continuing the series. Star Rating: 4; Sensuality Rating: 0

Storm Front by Jim Butcher, Mark Powers, Ardian Syaf, Brett Booth – This review is in two parts, because I originally read the graphic novelization of Storm Front in its two separate stand-alone volumes.

Part 1: The Gathering Storm is a graphic novel adaptation of the first half of Storm Front, the inaugural novel in the Dresden Files series. The book contains four chapters, and each chapter was originally released in comic book format, then collected together into this one volume.

I won't bother critiquing the overall story, because I've already done a review on the full-length novel version of Storm Front, a book that I very much enjoyed. What I will say is that IMHO, The Gathering Storm is an excellent adaptation of the novel into graphic novel form. Even though it's been a while since I read Storm Front, it's all coming back to me, and now in living color.:-) I really like Ardian Syaf's illustrations. I feel like they capture Harry and the other characters, as well as the situations in which they find themselves, quite well. While I've categorized some of the other Dresden Files graphic novels under young adult as well as adult, I would say that The Gathering Storm is firmly in the adult category. It contains some mild to moderate sexuality. Harry is seen naked throughout one scene, although the important parts are strategically covered. There is also a fair bit of violence, including a particularly bloody, gory murder scene.

Overall, I very much enjoyed The Gathering Storm and don't think they could have done any better job of capturing the look and feel of the novel as well as the salient plot points into a comics style format. It was extremely well done, stayed true to the original source material, and is highly recommended by this reader for graphic novel fans. Star Rating: 5; Sensuality Rating: 2

Part 2: Maelstrom is a graphic novel adaptation of the second half of Storm Front, the inaugural novel in the Dresden Files series. As with the first volume, The Gathering Storm, the book contains four sections, and each section was originally released in comic book format, then collected together into this one volume.

Once again, I'm not going to review the overall story, because I've already written a review on the full-length novel version of Storm Front, a book that I very much enjoyed. Just like with The Gathering Storm, I thought the adaptation of the story was done extremely well, definitely hitting all the important plot points and staying true to the original source material. Again I would consider this book to be firmly in the adult graphic novel category as there is a fair bit of violence, some of which can get bloody and gory, both male and female nudity is depicted with the important parts strategically covered, and in two frames, a couple is seen in the background in the throes of passion. None of this bothered me, but since graphic novels tend to be popular with teens, I wanted to provide the information for those who might be concerned. My only small complaint is that this time, the illustrations were done by two different artists. I guess overall, I was generally satisfied with both artists' renderings. They each had something unique to offer, but I still have a bit of a preference for Ardian Syaf's work. Where I had a slight issue with it is that I found the switch in styles about halfway through the book a little jarring. I'm not sure why the book publishers did it this way, but I do wish they'd stuck with one artist for the entire series. Otherwise though, I thought it was an excellent graphic novel adaptation that I would definitely recommend. Star Rating: 4.5; Sensuality Rating: 3

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher, Mark Powers, Chase Conley - Fool Moon is the graphic novel adaptation of the second full-length novel of the same name in the Dresden Files series. Much like with my review of Storm Front, I’m not going to critique the story too much, because I’ve already written a review of the novel. Overall the story was adapted to this shorter format pretty well, hitting all the important points. Since it’s been a couple of years since I read the novel, I didn’t remember a whole lot of the story, so this was a great refresher. My only complaint in this regard is that there were a few places where the narrative felt a little choppy to me, like something was missing, and I was having a hard time following it. This made me wonder if I wasn’t already familiar with the story if I would have been able to figure things out at all, but it wasn’t too bad.

The artist for this graphic novel, Chase Conley, is a new one to me, who hasn’t done the artwork for any of the comics up to this point in the series. His illustrations were OK, but I’d have to say they’re my least favorite in the Dresden Files graphic novels I’ve read to date. For the most part, his renderings weren’t as spot on with how I’ve imagined the characters, and I was also somewhat annoyed by the fact that he created most of the female characters with impossibly huge breasts. This didn’t seem to be the case with any of the previous graphic novels I’ve read in the series, or at least, if it was, the artwork overall was so good I didn’t notice. I was also somewhat confused at times by his framing techniques and occasionally it was difficult to discern who was speaking in dialogue. All of this somewhat distracted from the story for me, hence the reason I gave this graphic novelization a lower rating than the novel.

As with the Storm Front graphic novel, Fool Moon is IMHO firmly in the adult category. There is one brief moment that implies sex. There are also numerous frames depicting nudity, both male and female, but mostly it’s one female character who is almost constantly running around naked. At these times, the characters are either only seen from the back and/or with sensitive parts strategically covered, but I thought it worth mentioning since teens often read graphic novels and some sensitive readers, teen or adult, could be offended by it. Overall, Fool Moon was a pretty good adaptation, but I felt there were a few things that could have been better, mainly the illustrations. If one of the other artists whose work I previously enjoyed had done the illustrations for this one it probably would have earned keeper status from me. Star Rating: 4; Sensuality Rating: 3

Restoration of Faith by Jim Butcher, Grant Alter, Kevin Mellon - The graphic novelization of Restoration of Faith was done very nicely. When I read the short story, I must have missed that Karrin Murphy was the cop who helped out Harry and his young charge. It was probably because I wasn't yet familiar with the characters who would be playing key roles in the books, so it was nice to get that little blast from the past. I didn't like the art work in this one quite as well. It was done by a different artist, and there was just something about it that didn't quite speak to me in the same way as Ardian Syaf's work on The Gathering Storm did. But overall it was a nice addition to the book. I also enjoyed seeing the original comic book covers at the end. Star Rating: 4; Sensuality Rating: 0