Having been less than impressed with The Dabel Brothers' Anita Blake comics, I somehow missed - or managed to avoid - their take on Jim Butcher's urban wizard Harry Dresden.However, the four issues of their first Harry Dresden mini-series, Welcome To The Jungle, have now been collected in a fantastic hardback.
Written by Dresden's creator himself, Jim Butcher, exclusively for the comic, Welcome To The Jungle serves as a prologue to Storm Front, the first book in the Dresden Files series and The Dabel Brothers' next mini-series, which begins this month.
Dresden is called in by the Chicago Police department to investigate a murder at the zoo where current thinking has reached the conclusion that the "ape did it".
Dresden soon recognises supernatural involvement in the death and, teaming up with cute zoo keeper Willamena, heads off in pursuit of the real killer.
Welcome to The Jungle doesn't really have a complex plot, concentrating on a single incident, unlike the multi-layered Dresden novels, but within the space of four comic book issues, Dresden - and his beloved Volkswagon Beetle - get the snot whacked out of them, as usual, there's magic aplenty and the bad guys meet their comeuppance. What more could ask for from a short Dresdenverse story?
Wonderfully drawn by newcomer Ardian Syaf, the large, elegant illustrations complement Butcher's pseudo-hardboiled writing style to create an easy flowing, exciting story that both entertains old fans and introduces the main characters of the Dresdenverse to newcomers.
Thanks for reviewing this, Tim. I've been wondering how the comic version works.
ReplyDeleteI like the cover a lot, too. I believe that it was an alternate cover for a past Harry Dresden book, and one of the few cover images I've seen of him without the hat (and I'm trying to remember, but either he doesn't wear a hat in the books or else it's a minor element that gets a lot less play than other elements--certainly not the focus it gets on all the book covers). The cover is by Chris McGrath, who also painted the cover of Devil's Cape.
I've only read a couple of the books (and am just starting Grave Peril) but I don't seem to recall Harry wearing a hat.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words about my review, Rob. I was impressed with how well a short Dresden Files story works in comic book format; which is why I shall find the Storm Front adaptation so interesting - remembering what a botch the first version of the pilot to the TV show was (as another trimmed down version of Storm Front)