Review – Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files: Down Town #6 (Dynamite)

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment:
Writer(s): Jim Butcher and Mark Powers
Art: Carlos Gomez, Mohan
Release Date: 22nd July, 2015

[NOTE: CONTAINS SPOILERS]

So yet again I have been given the unenviable task of trying to critique Jim Butcher and Mark Powers’ comic adaptation of the Dresden Files. These files follow the adventures, or struggles (depending how you look at things) of Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard.

This edition sees our band of “frenemies” (yes, I said frenemies and I’m not even ashamed) tackle the dark sorcerer and his hulking clay golem in the final showdown to save the good – and oblivious – people of Chicago from this behemoth of destruction. Commonly our protagonist Harry attempts to overcome evil menaces single-handedly which never really ends well for him (am I right Dresden fans?) often forcing him to eat a large piece of humble pie and admit that he is punching far above his weight. Well, the comic is no exception to the rule and covers the same structure as the books.

Harry and crew soon band together to defeat this unstoppable force and return the survivor to his “normal” life. Once they have made their way to the surface Harry and Marcone have a few respectful, but choice, words before departing and the story is neatly tidied up in a nice little package.

As a huge fan of the Dresden files, and of the work of Jim Butcher, I cannot fault the series as a whole. As mentioned previously, it follows the same structure of Jim Butcher’s prior work and brings to life the world and characters that many readers (myself included) have grown to love and admire. The story itself is simple and easy to follow, allowing old and new fans a ike to easily hit the ground running. This would also serve as a good “toe-dipper” for anyone who’s a fan of the books to enter the world of comics as the pencil work of Carlos Gomez and colouring of Mohan perfected compliment the writing style of Butcher and Powers.

However, my one criticism of this edition is simply that, whatever way you look at it, it’s a very dull ending to the run. On the whole I get why this is the case, however, if you were to add, say, five pages to each of the previous comics in this story you would have had a much more action-packed last comic. I mean, you wouldn’t want the last episode of your favourite television show to feature the lead character saying goodbye, or “good job” then to have 25 further minutes of credits, right?

But as I said, this is a fan trying hard to pick faults. Please everyone give this a read, if for no other reason than to be inspired by Harry’s grit and determination, teaching us that the sometimes we have to rely on the help of other to get the job done, and that – if you surround yourself with the right people – there is no obstacle that can’t be overcome, especially those that we put in front of ourselves.

Rating: On the whole as a series I would easily give this a 4/5. Unfortunately, on its own #6 only gets a 3/5.

INTERIOR ARTWORK
[Click to Enlarge]