Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: War Cry

I got a copy of this to review through NetGalley. This TP compiles issues 1-5 of the War Cry story arc of the Dresden Files Graphic Novel series. This is an original story and takes place during the war between the White Council and the Red Court.

The White Council and the Red Court are at war and as more and more Wardens fall Harry Dresden is called in to lead a strike group of Wardens. Harry’s first mission is a tough one. He is supposed to take a group of rather green Wardens to a isolated town where the Red Court has targeted a bunch of civilians. Unfortunately the bunch of civilians being targeted have a pretty big secret of their own.

This was a very well done graphic novel. I loved the story; it is action packed and we get to see show more a lot of awesome fighting and magic on both sides of the conflict. I loved the secret that the civilians were hiding, it was amazing and very entertaining.

The story is mostly a stand-off between Dresden’s Wardens and the Red Court. There are lots of shoot-outs and hand to hand combat. The graphic novel moves quickly, the story is easy to follow, and things never get boring.

The weakest part of this graphic novel is the illustration. It’s not hard to follow, but sometimes the characters faces look awkward...especially when drawn from side angles. It’s not awful but it’s definitely not up to the quality of earlier books in the series. I miss Ardian Syaf’s illustration.

Overall this was a great continuation of this series. I enjoyed the original story and loved all the action and some of the twists in the story. It was exciting to read and fast-paced. I thought the illustration was a bit weak and continue to miss Ardian Syaf’s illustration. I think fans of both the Dresden Files book series and the graphic novel series will enjoy this. Recommended to graphic novel fans who love urban fantasy. show less

Harry Dresden and an assigned team is sent to a house in Montezuma, Iowa, to rescue a group of Venatori Umbrorum from an attack of the Red Court, but it turns out the house holds a secret that should not be unleashed upon the world. I like these "interim" comic books about the continuing adventures of Dresden and company and this one has a good storyline and very nice art, but it is very short and Harry isn't quite his usual sharp self. Don't bother if you haven't read other books in the series (since you have to know about the Red and White Council to get what's going on), but if you are a regular "Dresdener," this one takes place between the events in Dead Beat and Proven Guilty.

I am a huge fan of the Dresden files, so when I was given the opportunity to read the graphic novel, I was excited. Sadly, my excitement did not pay off as the realisation that novel to comic is much harder to pull off than it appears on the surface. The bulk of the novels rely mostly on Dresden's inner narrative. In the novel, it works. Sure, every now and then Harry comes up with a zinger and it's all fun and we have a laugh, but most of his action takes place within his own head. Now, trying to translate that into comic book format is difficult, as comics rely mainly on dialogue. Put in too much narrative, and it just doesn't read right. That's one of the biggest faults with this graphic novel.

The first few pages dealt with sole show more exposition. Yes, I can appreciate that it is likely filling in gaps for new readers that have no idea what's going on. But, that is a weak excuse as new readers will need a lot more than what was given to fully understand what is going on. Secondly, the illustrations were simply not my cup of tea. Some of the illustrations were well done, and fantastic, such as the Red Court vampires. Then, you have the horrific attempts at drawing women. I could not take anything seriously when women were put in the most ridiculous, unrealistic poses simply to illicit a provocative reaction.

Aside from those flaws, the comic was enjoyable. The story was fast paced and fit in well with the Dresden universe. Plus, Thomas Raith made an appearance, and that's always a fun thing. In spirit, it is very much like the Dresden file novels, and if you like those, you'll like this.

//This title was received for free in exchange for an honest review//
Dresden: War Cry Review was originally published on By Lulu with Love show less

Free review copy. Set after Harry becomes a Warden but before recent books, this graphic novel sees Harry sent with three other newly-fledged Wardens to protect an isolated house in Iowa from the Red Court. What’s there is far worse than the Red Court itself, and Harry and his trainees have to fight a desperate rearguard action. The graphic novel format gives visuals at the expense of the dominance of internal voice, and I enjoy the internal voice more than the boom-boom. For some reason, Harry’s impressive powers are more impressive to me when I can imagine them. It was nice to see Thomas come to help out, though.

A swell Dresden romp with lots and lots of action. Not all the characters are drawn the way I wanted (I never imagined Thomas so muscle-bound), but the artists did a great job portraying the action, which, as noted, was most of the book. I liked this story a lot more than the last Dresden comic I read.

[Note: This is the first time I've reviewed a graphic novel.]

I thought this story made for an interesting Dresden Files tie-in in a place where the series definitely needed it. Because the novels only focus on short periods of time with long skips in between, we only ever hear of Harry's non-novel escapades in passing, if at all. So, in that regard, I enjoyed reading this graphic novel because it added a little more dimension to the largely off-screen war with the Red Court. Most of that supposedly awful warfare was ignored in favor of more local issues in the Dresden-verse -- this graphic novel helped flesh it out a lot more and really showed how terrible the fighting got at times.

The original characters were pretty interesting, if not show more a little on the generic side (but then, I almost always have that issue with vampires antagonists). I liked Harry's team, and the idea of the creepy-looking outsider creature the Red Court was after. The fighting scenes were pretty well done, and I didn't really think the story lagged anywhere.

On the other hand, I wasn't super pleased with the "easy" resolution of the conflict, and I think a few of the plot threads were fairly underdeveloped. Things were compressed in places they should have been expanded, and some minor scenes went off for far too long. It other words, the pacing was a bit off for me.

Finally, and this is a criticism unique to graphic novels, I just...didn't like the art style of this graphic novel. A lot of the character designs struck me as really weird, and I felt the scenes depicted left out a lot of the important details to focus on the less important ones (in line with the plot pacing issue). That being said, there were several awesome panels that really did capture the spirit of the story being told, and the full page spreads were gorgeous.

So, I did this think was a fun tie-in for the Dresden-verse, but I also thought it could have been improved in a few places.

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Rating

3.5/5

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...// Disclosure

I received a free ebook copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

This fits into the Dresden Files oeuvre pretty seamlessly. The plot is consistent with the stories; in the time between Dresden's appointment as a Warden and his trip to South America to rescue his daughter, this graphic novel covers a skirmish between Dresden (and a few other new Wardens) and a contingent of the Red Court vampires. The illustrations are aesthetically pleasing and the layout is interesting, so this also succeeds at the "graphic" portion of its genre. The only representation I was disappointed in was Thomas Raith's; he looks pretty scruffy, but in the books he is described as incredibly handsome. Maybe his famous sexuual magnetism is only apparent in person? The Red Court vampires are pretty resplendent in their rubbery show more black semi-humanoid shapes, and the illustrations of magical abilities (which I had thought would be tough to render) came out very well. Overall, if you're a fan of Harry Dresden, you'll be a fan of this graphic novel. show less