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The Dresden Files: Storm Front (Jim Butcher's Dresden Files) (A graphic novel) Hardcover – June 2, 2009
If circumstances surrounding a crime defy the ordinary and evidence points to a suspect who is anything but human, the men and women of the Chicago Police Department call in the one guy who can handle bizarre and often brutal phenomena. Harry Dresden is a wizard who knows firsthand that the everyday world is actually full of strange and magical things—most of which don't play well with humans.
Now the cops have turned to Dresden to investigate a horrifying double murder that was committed with black magic. Never one to turn down a paycheck, Dresden also takes on another case—to find a missing husband who has quite likely been dabbling in sorcery. As Dresden tries to solve the seemingly unrelated cases, he is confronted with all the Windy City can blow at him, from the mob to mages and all creatures in between.
- Print length128 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDel Rey/Dabel Brothers
- Publication dateJune 2, 2009
- Dimensions7.25 x 0.5 x 11.75 inches
- ISBN-100345506391
- ISBN-13978-0345506399
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About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
I remember the first comic book I ever bought with my own money. It was 1978, and I was seven. My family was on vacation in Acapulco, and I got myself the kind of sunburn that leaves you lying on your stomach for a day or two while you heal up. Being seven, and speaking no Spanish (and thus unable to understand the TV), I was bored out of my mind in short order. I'd already read through my copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and I wandered down to the hotel store to get a snack and look for another book. They didn't have any books in English, or at least nothing good.
But then I saw that they had Daredevil.
I don't remember the issue, but Daredevil was taking on Tatterdemalion, and it was, for a seven-year-old, an extremely dark, creepy, and rather scary story. I was so young, I'd never seen the word “damn” in print until I read that issue.
It was amazing.
I went back to the hotel store. I bought them out of all, I dunno, eight or nine titles they carried. The Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Thor. Batman, Teen Titans, and Superman. Since they were all the reading I had, I made the most of it. I read them all, several times. I studied the art. I tried drawing a few of the pictures myself (making the discovery that I had almost zero natural talent for such work). And it was all downhill from there.
I read comics for the rest of my childhood, and when I started writing my own stories, they were all strongly influenced by the characters and scenes and situations I found there. Harry Dresden, in my head, has always been a comic book hero. The biggest scenes and confrontations in The Dresden Files almost always crystallize into a single image in my imagination, and that image becomes the basis for the scene around it. I don't have the skill to share those images with other people by creating them myself. I've always had to do it with words, instead.
But then the Dabel Brothers came along with a good idea and a guy named Ardian Syaf.
Ardian is amazing. I mean, it's one thing to turn out a single good piece that you focus enormous thought and effort in. It's another thing entirely to turn in one solid piece after another, on a deadline, day after day. And it's still another thing to do that with someone else at your elbow going, “Hey, no, you need to fix this detail. Hey, his nose is too long. Hey, why is this shadow laying over that detail? Can't you make all the shadows fall different ways so we can see better?”
If you'd asked me before we got started, I never would have thought that an artist would have the patience to keep working to make me happy with the characters he's giving a face and form to. I have frequently sent him pictures of two people who look nothing alike and said things like, “He looks like both of these guys, make him look like that.” I have asked him to convey aspects of a character that, frankly, simply cannot be displayed visually. Week after week, poor Ard has put out one page after another, all of them solidly professional, many of them truly outstanding, while getting the kind of feedback and requests that would try the patience of a saint's guardian angel.
Here are some of the results. It's my story, adapted almost too faithfully from the book by Mark Powers. Ardian has given the characters faces and bodies, and breathed life into the action. Sometimes looking at the pages is positively eerie for me-because I'm seeing, in the real world, things that I'd only previously seen in my imagination. Sometimes, actually seeing those images has been downright shocking. I'll stare and blink for a minute and then say, “Did I write that?” And I'll look and read it from the book, which brings up all the associated images that have been back in the dusty vaults of my head, and THERE THEY ARE, on my computer monitor.
It was, is, and continues to be amazing.
I hope you enjoy reading this work as much as I enjoyed both creating the story and seeing it come together on the page. It's even more fun than Acapulco.
Product details
- Publisher : Del Rey/Dabel Brothers; First Edition (June 2, 2009)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 128 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0345506391
- ISBN-13 : 978-0345506399
- Item Weight : 1.05 pounds
- Dimensions : 7.25 x 0.5 x 11.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,315,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,171 in Mystery Graphic Novels
- #4,800 in Fantasy Graphic Novels (Books)
- #6,146 in Science Fiction Graphic Novels (Books)
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About the author
Jim Butcher is a bestselling author and martial arts enthusiast. His resume includes a long list of skills rendered obsolete at least 200 years ago, and he turned to writing because anything else probably would have driven him insane. He lives with his family in Independence, Missouri.
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For readers who don't know about Harry Dresden, I think this would reel them in and be curious enough to get into the novels. For those that caught the Dresden Files on SciFi (boo-hoo to not giving it another season) and liked it, can see the graphic novels as the hors d'oeuvres with the books being the main course.
That said, I was very happy with both the art and the text and found the transfer from novel to comic smooth and reader friendly. Reader friendly meaning I didn't have any difficulties following the dialogue. I think the only complaint I had was not wanting to see it end. It would have been nice to see the whole thing in one sitting and not in more than one volume, but that doesn't stop the overall satisfaction I have of Storm Front. I am very happy with this purchase and looking forward to Volume 2!
If you've read the book of the same name, Storm Front , you pretty much know what this is about. To copy my review of the book:
"Harry Dresden is the only practicing wizard in the Yellow Pages and often works with the police on their "paranormal" crimes. One day, Lieutenant Murphy calls him up and presents him with a crime scene: two dead bodies, killed in a most brutal and obviously unnatural method, which some are trying to blame on Harry. Meanwhile, Harry is also hired to find the missing husband of Monica Sells."
As with the novel, I really enjoyed the character of Harry (a good thing, as he is our protagonist!). He's your average wizard--obviously skilled, but not so omnipotent that the action scenes are boring. Harry has weaknesses (he's terrible with women, for one), he's grumpy, he overworks, he passes out when he's tired...all around, he's a pleasant guy to learn about.
Dresden's world is pretty interesting too. I loved learning how the magic works (in some ways, I feel this area was nicely "cleaned up" from the novel version, which had a tendency to be a bit unclear and almost too detailed, I felt), seeing the faeries, seeing Morgan, seeing the demons, seeing Bianca...and so on.
The story is very interesting. I like how Harry is working on two cases at the same time. Also, the story was well translated into graphic novel form, something that can have varying results, I've seen. I wasn't confused about what Harry was doing or why (though I have to wonder how much of that is because I've read the novel and knew what he was doing and why).
Specifically about the graphic novel, the art was very good. Harry Dresden wasn't quite what I expected, but I grew to like him regardless. Morgan was also very good. As I mentioned above, the vampires, demons, Bob, Toot-Too...all cool to see. My big complaint here is towards the women. Every single woman, from Karrin Murphy to Susan Rodriquez to Bianca to Monica to Linda had sharp chins not that dissimilar from Harry's. I was particularly perturbed about Karrin Murphy because I got the impression she had almost a cutsey doll face (Drew Barrymore maybe??), not a sharp, pointy-chinned face. Susan Rodriguez did not look Mexican or Hispanic in the slightest, merely like a tanned Karrin. By the time I reached Bianca, a red-haired Karrin, I ceased to be surprised at all the pointy-chinned ladies (btw, I always imagine Bianca more like Angelina Jolie). I won't even talk about the other ladies, I think you get the picture.
One last graphic novel comment: "Harry text" (Harry's interior dialogue, or the first person narrative in the novel) is well translated here. Perfect balance of exposition and letting the art speak for itself.
I was impressed with the graphic novel, overall. Sure some of the art is wonky (namely the women), but the story is the best. This novel was truly meant for this medium. The action sequences are well-rendered, the characters are like their book counterparts, and the story is intriguing--so much that even though I've already read the novel, I'll be checking out Volume 2. If you like Dresden, you definitely need to check these out.
Brought to you by:
*C.S. Light*
I thought the artwork was good. A little gory at times but I think that was to capture the darkness in Dresden's World.
As for if I would read Vol. 2 in the graphic novel version, I think would but I don't know if I would read it before I read the book it originally came from. I feel the book might be more memorable because you come up with your own images from reading the descriptions.