World Famous Comics: The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle (Dresden Files (del Rey))
The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle (Dresden Files (del Rey))
By: Jim Butcher, Ardian Syaf Publisher: Del Rey/Dabel Brothers Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Del Rey/Dabel Brothers Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 160 Publication Date: October 14, 2008 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: October 14, 2008
Product Description: When the supernatural world spins out of control, when the police can’t handle what goes bump in the night, when monsters come screaming out of nightmares and into the mean streets, there’s just one man to call: Harry Dresden, the only professional wizard in the Chicago phone book. A police consultant and private investigator, Dresden has to walk the dangerous line between the world of night and the light of day.
Now Harry Dresden is investigating a brutal mauling at the Lincoln Park Zoo that has left a security guard dead and many questions unanswered. As an investigator of the supernatural, he senses that there’s more to this case than a simple animal attack, and as Dresden searches for clues to figure out who is really behind the crime, he finds himself next on the victim list, and being hunted by creatures that won’t leave much more than a stain if they catch him.
Written exclusively for comics by Jim Butcher, The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle is a brand-new story that’s sure to enchant readers with a blend of gripping mystery and fantastic adventure.
Yes, it's unfair, but ... WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE is a graphic novel that takes place in professional wizard Harry Dresden's early days as a freelance consultant for the Chicago Police Department. As in the rest of the Dresden Files series, diminutive detective Karrin Murphy is Dresden's often-skeptical, sometimes friendly liaison with the PD. In this particular adventure, Dresden encounters an evil somebody/something that is attempting to perform one of those all-too-familiar rite of ascension things (happens all of the time in "Buffy"), using the Chicago Zoo as a base of operations. The police think that the gorilla did it, but they're wrong. Can Harry find the big nasty and at the same time clear the poor gorilla? And how's about that cute zoologist?
Overall, WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE is just OK. There's not a lot to the story, although it does give us some glimpses into Harry's deep dark past. The artwork is fine, but doesn't do anything for me. You can't fault WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE for being a graphic novel, that's just what it is. Nevertheless, if you're a Dresden Files fan and not a comic book/graphic novel fan, you can't help being disappointed at how little you get in this package.
Recommended mainly for hardcore fans and for graphic novel fans. WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE does not presume knowledge of the Dresden Files universe and so is perfectly suitable for newbies.
Dresden Files Love Jim Butcher's characters....always a new turn in the road and I love how Dresden just doesn't give up. Have the whole series
It begins here Meet Harry Dresden, WIZARD FOR HIRE.
In this prequel to Storm Front Harry Dresden works on an earlier case with the Chicago PD. People are getting ripped apart and no rational explanation is available. Harry Dresden must track down the killer and try to keep alive while doing it.
In this first attempt at writing for this medium, Jim Butcher (an avid fan of the medium), does a wonderful job at bringing Harry Dresden to life in graphic novel form. If you like this, I suggest you pick up the graphic novelization of STORM FRONT as well.
This was great.
Great adaptation, fairly mindless fun A prequel to the first Dresden Files novel, "Welcome to the Jungle" is the first graphic novel addition to the series - a full adaptation of the first novel, Storm Front, is to come shortly. The comic's plot is boilerplate Dresden Files: a gruesome murder, this time at the zoo, has Lt. Karrin Murphy of Chicago PD's Special Investigations calling in Harry Dresden, the only professional wizard in the phonebook. Harry has 24 hours to uncover the killer, and, of course, has no idea where to start; in the meantime, the murder has been pinned on one of the zoo's prized (and innocent) gorillas, lending extra urgency to Harry's search for the real culprit.
Unsurprisingly, the Dresden Files, with their spectacular action scenes, car chases, and colorful magical rituals, translate perfectly to comic-book form, with quick panels here capably taking the place of the lengthy descriptions required in the book. Indeed, Butcher explains in his introduction that his storytelling is strongly influenced by the multitude of comics that he read when young (something that I definitely sympathize with).
For the most part, I really enjoyed artist Ardian Syaf's work: he has dynamic paneling and slick coloring that perfectly captures the Dresden Files' noirish ambiance. Crucially, he also renders action scenes well, leading to some spectacular doses of slavering beasties, crashing masonry, and explosions galore. There are some enjoyably subtle touches thrown in, too, like a potion label sloppily applied with bits of Scotch tape in Harry's lab. My only quibbles were that Harry, though saved from the realm of lantern-jawed superherodom by a generous helping of stubble and eye-rolling, seemed too buff for my tastes - I'd like more gangling with my wizard, please. Likewise, an improbably flowing-tressed Murphy seems a bit out of line with the books' button-nosed, pony-tailed Murph. Otherwise, many of the creatures and scenes in the comic could have been pulled directly from my imaginings of the novel, which is all that a fan can ask for. I especially liked the scene in which Harry walks the crime scene while imagining potential paranormal culprits, which gives the reader a great visual overview of the series' bestiary.
A few sprinkled flashbacks also fill the reader in on Harry's childhood, making this as good an entrypoint as any into the series for any unfamiliar readers (and arguably much more newbie-friendly than the increasingly complicated later books in the series). Overall, this is classic Dresden Files, with Harry brawling, detecting, and quipping his way to the final showdown in wizardly style. By turns irreverent and gruesome, snarky and slightly cheesily heartfelt, it's what I like to call brain candy: consummate entertainment paired with a modicum of emotional and intellectual content. "Welcome to the Jungle" is a decent addition to the collection of a Dresden fan, and a good taste of the series for those curious about starting it, though it lacks the stronger emotional draw and character development of the novels. The hardcover edition also has a number of fun goodies tucked in the end - the original issues' covers, Syaf's concept sketches for the characters and creatures, along with Butcher's notes, and some previews of iconic scenes from the upcoming Storm Front adaptation.
Stick with the Books My first thought was, why didn't they let the artist who penned the cover art do the entire book? The Harry Dresden on the cover looks like the Harry Dresden of my mind and as how Jim Butcher paints him in all of the books. I found the Marine-styled Dresden on the inside pages to be not at all a person I could connect with. And why do they (this artist and the SciFi series) keep missing what Murphy looks like? She's short. She's got short blond hair. While a fan of many graphic novels, I found that I just could not reconcile this presentation with the extraordinarily vivid imagery of Butcher's novels. I have to believe, as much as he said he gave the artist a lot of feedback, that he wasn't entirely pleased with the outcome. Hence no more graphic novels have come out. Stick with the Butcher books. That's all you need. As it appears a cancelled SciFi series and this one-off graphic novel have attested, nothing can beat them.
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