Review – Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files: War Cry #5 (of 5) (Dynamite)

Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Writer(s): Jim Butcher, Mark Powers
Artist: Carlos Gomez
Release Date: 1st October 2014

I am huge fan of Butcher’s Harry Dresden books, so Dynamite’s comic version of one of his early (ish) adventures (well, comes about halfway through the book continuity, if you’re keeping track of such things, between ‘Dead Beat’ and ‘Proven Guilty’). Hardboiled detective novels, Harry’s the only wizard in the Chicago phone book (no love potions or bottomless wallets); Butcher gleefully hops between fantasy and crime, and he’s built up a dedicated fan base. The magic is well thought-out (difficult, complex, and obeys a certain sort of logic), the setting rich in references to myth, legend, and geek culture. There have been mistakes – the frankly awful TV series – and stand-alone comics – Welcome to the Jungle, a prequel to the novels – so I was interested to see where ‘War Cry’ fits.

Without going into too much backstory/fanboy obsession, the series is set in the middle of the White Council’s (“good” wizards) ongoing war with the Red Court of vampires: there are 3 bloodlines of vampires, with the Hispanic Red Court the most visible – they can masquerade as human, they feed on blood, they are monstrous bat-like skin sacks; and, they turn humans most regularly, as well as using them as slaves.

The challenge in the whole series was to make this accessible to newcomers, without alienating fans. To be honest, I’m not sure that it achieves it, with some fairly hurried exposition at the start of the series. However, the dialogue is as sharp as one would expect, the action frenetic, the art tight, and has been throughout. From the outset, also, Butcher touches on one of the few areas that he’s not fully explored in the novels, the Outsiders: in other words, the gods of the Cthulhu mythos. It’s a good way to add a level of accessibility, as that’s a setting that most are more familiar with.

So how does this come down as a final issue? Well, we’ve had action, excitement (cue joke…), a neat narrative switch, and everything tied together with a couple of off-ramps to be explained anon, no doubt. The mythos creature is executed really well (no pun… well, yes, alright, it was intended), and diehard Dresden fans will love it – and for newcomers, it’s a great way into the setting, far more so than the prequel comic or indeed the book adaptations. It’s not perfect, but boy is it good.

Rating: 4/5

PREVIEW ARTWORK.

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