Mark Powers (2)

In Down Town, wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden and his apprentice Molly Carpenter must descend into Undertown, home of Chicago’s most dangerous supernatural creatures, and enter into an uneasy alliance with crime lord John Marcone to stop an evil sorcerer and the monster he has created wreaking havoc on the city.

I read this title because I’m a long time fan of the books and have always liked storylines where Harry and Marcone are forced to work together; despite their antagonistic show more relationship, the two of them work well together when their city is threatened. That being said, the story was only so-so and the villain was really just a generic baddy. On the positive side, the interplay between Harry and Molly was fun and it’s was nice to see her allowed an important part in a story.

I liked the way Harry, Molly, Mouse, Mister, and Bob were drawn, but Murphy and Gard looked like clones of each other. I had also hoped that Undertown would be more visually interesting and look like more than just a sewer system.

While it was hardly the best graphic novel I’ve ever read, Down Town was a decent enough way to get my Dresden fix while waiting for the next book in the series.

Received via Netgalley. show less

I don't really expect much from the Dresden Files graphic novels except a decent story to keep me entertained until the next novel comes out. I enjoy some of them more than others, but I have never been disappointed by one until Wild Card.

The premise sounded good: a powerful creature from the Nevernever pits the mob, the police, and the White Court of vampires against each other, with only Harry Dresden to keep all of Chicago from plunging into war. However, the creature's motives are never show more really explained, Lara Raith and John Marcone--two of the most intelligent characters in the series--seem like idiots here, and the simmering war is averted by dumb luck. Add in art that makes it hard to tell one character from and you have the worst Dresden Files graphic novel yet produced.

Received via Netgalley. show less

Wild Card is the sixth Dresden Files graphic novel. According to Jim Butcher’s website, the story is set between Small Favor and Turn Coat in the greater series story arc. In this one, we have a mysterious and powerful entity who is trying to pit Chicago’s most prominent factions against each other. He has murdered two women in an attack meant to look like it was perpetrated by White Court vampires, and when one of their own is also attacked, the cops are out to kick some vampire butts. show more Then two vampires are killed, leaving their leader, Lara Wraith, believing it was John Marcone. Meanwhile one of Marcone’s lackeys is found dead, supposedly at the hands of the cops. All of this leads to a fast-brewing civil war that will tear the city apart it Harry can’t find the culprit and put a stop to it.

I enjoyed the story for the way that it brings together a number of characters from the Dresden universe who must manage to put aside their differences to take on a common enemy. This is no small order for our wizard PI, Harry Dresden, who is the only one who can talk sense into the leaders of the various factions, and ultimately he’s also the one to defeat their enemy, although not in his typical flashy fashion full of things that go boom. Some of the characters are ones who’ve been a part of the series for a while, and others are new to this graphic novel format. Harry’s brother, Thomas; his good friend and CPD cop, Karrin Murphy; and his apprentice, Molly, act as his closest allies and have all been seen before in illustration. Murphy’s partner, Rawlins, and ME Butters I’m pretty sure are new to this format, making it interesting to see the artist’s concepts of them. In the frenemy camp, Marcone was seen in the previous graphic novel, Down Town, but I don’t believe that Lara Wraith has been in one of these books before and neither has Harry’s fairy godmother, Lea. Then there’s our evil villain who I can’t really say much about because giving away his identity is a huge spoiler. It made for a very well-rounded cast. I also enjoyed the couple of scenes that are written from Murphy’s POV, another first in the series. It was nice to get a little bit of insight into her past.

Most of the illustrations are done by Carlos Gomez who has worked on previous Dresden Files graphic novels, although according to the credits, Sean Izaakse worked on Issue 4. Their styles match closely enough that I didn’t find the transition jarring in any way. For the most part, I liked the artwork, although I have a few minor quibbles. I’m still not a fan of the way that Thomas is portrayed. As illustrated, he’s just not that attractive to me, considering that he’s always been described as impossibly beautiful. I also thought that Murphy and Molly looked a little to much alike in their facial features. The only way I was able to tell them apart is by Molly’s colorful hair and piercings. The last thing is that I feel like the female characters are a bit over-sexualized. However, I realize that this sadly is often par for the course in comics. Otherwise, this was a well-written and nicely illustrated book, that I very much enjoyed. show less

Book source ~ Gifted – birthday present

For those who like to read things in chronological order this story is set between the novel White Knight and the graphic novel Down Town.

I love the world of Harry Dresden and I delight in each book and graphic novel I can get my greedy little hands on. This one was a birthday gift from my hubby, so yay! Even though this is a short story in graphic novel form, everything I love about the Dresden Files is present: humor, snarkiness, Big Bads, mystery, show more and magic. I love it. On the other hand, I’m not so enamored with the artwork. It’s only so-so for me since I don’t think anyone looks how I pictured them. Which wouldn’t ordinarily be a bad thing, but I just had a hard time with everyone being so buff. Harry? No. And Marcone? Seriously?! Absolutely not. Anyway, great story, meh artwork. show less