Customer Reviews

The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

First, I'd like to address some of these more negative reviews.

Yes, it is a comic book, not a novel. But the idea that Amazon "hoodwinked" anyone is ridiculous. The book has listings of its sales ranks and has for a while, and it is listed under "graphic novels". Additionally, it has TWO authors listed, not just Butcher, and the picture used to advertise the product has it clearly depicted at the bottom "ILLUSTRATED BY..."

So you whiners who think Amazon pulled one over on you are just too lazy or stupid to read the product description.

Additionally, this is a PREQUEL, so people whining about this and that not looking right or not addressing larger issues brought up later in the series, it is as it should be based on his Pre-Stormfront days.

It is also funny people whining about how it looks, maybe Butcher is just a liar and he writes forwards to sell his product, but according to his own introduction to the book, much of what is depicted is close to how HE sees it in his mind. So he seems to like it and being that he created the characters that is good enough for me.

It is a joke to say that "comics are for kids and books are for adults". Come on, the Dresden Files is good, but it isn't as if you have to be above the age of 10 to read and enjoy them, and Harry Dresden (and Jim Butcher) are comic fans (Butcher himself even says he has always seen the Dresden Files as an Animated Cartoon) so Harry translates well to the medium.

As to the product itself: I found it a thoroughly enjoyable Dresden Files mini-adventure. It is 132 Illustrated pages detailing a Dresden adventure just prior to the start of Stormfront.

It has all the fun and action that you expect from a Dresden Files story, just on a slightly smaller scale, more in line with the early books than the later "heavier" fare. I like the art for the most part, there are some complaints with how the illustrator draws his women, they just don't seem as attractive as they should. The guy has a real Steve Dillion style, and I think faces are his weakest point, everything else looks really good.

Even with the illustrations, there is a LOT of text for a comic book, so the story still is comparable in length to a long short story.

In all it is worthwhile, especially considering individual issues cost $4 and you can get it all hardback for $12. At the very least it is a nice little Dresden snack that, combined with Backup, will take the edge off the wait for Turn Coat.

Not just that, but Dresden quotes from Big Trouble In Little China, it doesn't get any better than that!

I wasn't going to write a review for this book originally, but seeing the pile of unfair negative reviews, I thought I'd add my two cents to bring the rating back up.

The primary complaint people seem to have is that this is a graphic novel. Yes, readers, this book really is a graphic novel compilation of an original 4 issue comic series by Jim Butcher. If you don't like graphic novels, don't buy it. And if you categorically don't like graphic novels, please stop reviewing it. I hate rap. I don't write reviews on rap music. I would be horribly biased and wouldn't know what I was talking about. Any item should be evaluated on its own terms, not based on flaws with the company selling it. If you feel you were misled, then return the product.

Complaint number two seems to be that the book has no ties to the current Dresden Files plot lines. This book is a prequal. It is set before the beginning of the series. Butcher did it as a side project for a bit of a break, he hasn't forgotten his current plotline. As a prequal, the book stands well on its own, and introduces the characters of Harry, Murphy, and Bob reasonably well. The story is tightly contained, and the only possible flaw is that Harry & Murphy's relationship seems better than it was in the first few books where she was always arresting him for something.

The illustrations are beautiful. I'm not fond of the cover art, but that's not the style used on the interior, which is more lush and less photoshop-ish. I have one small problem with the artist representations in that Harry is drawn too short and Murphy is drawn too tall. This is most noticible when they're in the same frame together. Murph is 1-1/2 feet shorter than Harry, but in the comic she's as tall as his shoulder, about 1/2 foot shorter than he is. I suspect the artist tinkered with the heights so that he could fit Harry & Murphy's faces together in the comic frames more often, but it can be irritating to know Harry is an almost freakishly tall 6 foot 9, but in the book he is merely tall. I would suggest the artist pick up Back to the Future and study how the movie managed to fit the small Michael Fox and tall Christopher Lloyd in the same scenes together.

Butcher has a nice intro to the book, talking about his love for comics, and he clearly learned well from them. The number of narrative boxes is high, but somehow the story still flows and they don't overwhelm the pictures. The end result has me considering purchasing Storm Front's graphic novel version despite already owning the standard novel. If nothing else, it makes me hope he'll write a graphic prequal to book 3.

Extras!: Yes, there's additional stuff in this book. The standard and varient covers are included, as are some concept art and writer's notes on the characters. And of course there's the lovely introduction/homage to comics.

The book is worth it if you're a Dresden fan. It's high quality, beautiful, and fun.

"Like any jungle, it is a world of predators and prey. Some of the most dangerous creatures in the world live here. Very few of them are in cages..."

Having appeared in bestselling books and on TV, detective/wizard Harry Dresden now has his own comic book series, the four-part "Welcome To the Jungle". And it loses nothing in translation -- author Jim Butcher wonderfully preserves the sharp, witty, literate fantasy-noir flavour of his books, which is brought to colorful life with Ardian Syaf's solid artwork. This is one to keep an eye on.

A mangled corpse is found outside the monkey house, but the facts don't add to the "gorilla attack" the city wants. So Murphy calls in Harry Dresden (who was killing a Rawhead and Bloody Bones), and after casting a spell to see what killed the man, Harry knows it definitely wasn't a gorilla, especially since the man filled his opponent with bullets before dying.

Unfortunately Harry only has twenty-four hours to find the culprit. And as he starts poking around the gorilla house, he and nervy zookeeper Wil are attacked by bespelled jungle cats, and later by the Big Bad Black Spectral Dog. Harry suspects the mysterious Dr. Watson, but has no idea of her true plans -- or her true monstrous nature.

I'll give it to Jim Butcher -- not only can the man pen two vastly different series and assorted short stories, but he can turn out a pretty thrilling graphic novel prequel. Though "Welcome to the Jungle" is a short work, it's still crammed with action, monsters, magic, and a unique new supernatural threat that Harry alone can deal with. Basically, what one expects of the Dresden Files.

The plot is a pretty straightforward one, and most of the first quarter involves Harry poking around at the zoo. But soon it speeds up as Butcher introduces lots of splattered blood, glowy eyes, monstrous hags, and some solid action scenes involving train tracks, car chases and flying boulders. By the time Harry rushes into the underground lair (complete with bubbling cauldron), Butcher is officially on an action-packed roll.

Since this is Jim Butcher, there's a hefty dose of humor (Harry getting whacked in the head with a notebook, or chatting with a lecherous talking skull), and also some wonderfully snappy dialogue ("I've taken your staff. I've taken your rod." "You should have taken my gun"). But there are also moments of poignancy, such as Harry recognizing the accused gorilla's grief over his human friend's death.

And Ardian Syaf does a simply lovely job with this book's art. Lots of shadows, blurry corners and just enough gritty fantasy realism -- one stunning image portrays the hags as hooded clawed creatures reaching to a blood-tinted moon. Harry is the tall, rangy, stubbly guy you'd expect, and though Murphy doesn't look quite as "cute" as you'd expect, she's a convincing hard-edged cop.

Butcher's anti-hero is no stereotypical wizard -- he's rough, a little sarcastic, and just trying to make the rent with his magical powers. And in the story's quieter moments, we get to see how Harry became such a cynical loner. And on the ordinary-people front, Wil... acts the way you'd expect an ordinary gal suddenly confronted by magic fire and evil hags to act.

"The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle" is a primo example of what graphic novel spinoffs should be -- fast, sharp and action-packed. Definitely a good read.

As someone who watched the so called "Dresden Files" to the bitter end, not that the start was any fun, I can say this book will help wash out the memories of the submissive, metrosexual(?) Harry Dresden. Don't ask me about Bob because I'm still confused.

This is the real "Harry from the books", the guy who takes a licking and keeps on ticking. The guy whose character has developed from the early books into a very well defined character.

Yep, I am a fan of the books.

Jim Butcher's blue collar wizard for hire Harry Dresden continues his career in novels, has taken a brief tour through television, and now has a branch office opening in comics and graphic novels. WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE was a four-issue arc in comics that has now come out as a hardcover graphic novel. In coming months, the books are supposed to be serialized as comics, then gathered again as graphic novels.

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE is an original story set earlier in Harry Dresden's career as a wizard. It's sort of a prequel, which is a good thing because Dresden's life has gotten larger and more complicated as the novel series has progressed. Butcher admits to writing the comics as a personal desire to do new material and explore some of the character's backstory.

The Dresden novels are a fun mashup of noir private eye novels and urban fantasy. Dresden drives a heavily used Volkswagen Beetle, consults for the Chicago Police Department when they run into magical trouble, and barely keeps his bills paid. The concept feels familiar but offers something different and occasionally distinct.

In this story, Dresden's relationship with the police department again comes to the forefront when a mysterious mauling at the Chicago Lincoln Park Zoo turns magical. Detective Kerrin Murphy (a regular from the book series) pulls Dresden into the case, and the wizard's senses start tingling immediately, though he doesn't know what precisely causes the reaction.

The story is straightforward and enjoyable without being a strain. Although the first three issues end on cliffhangers, I didn't feel compelled to finish the book in a single sitting. The breaks are natural and give the reader a chance to read the whole story in bits and pieces without demanding too much.

The narrative sections were a little heavy for the graphic novel medium, but Butcher was also telling the story in first person, which lends itself to a lot of verbiage, but none of it's truly wasted. They offer interiors of character and backstory.

Ardian Syaf's art is really good. He lays out the panels with strong, clean lines and manages to bring muscular action to the page. As I was reading, I often found myself flipping back through pages of a scene just to re-experience the art without dealing with the dialogue and narrative. I enjoyed his viewpoint shifts a lot, and there is more than enough variety to keep the story from turning into a montage of similar drawings. His supernatural creatures looked amazing and menacing at the same time.

Although regular readers of the Dresden series may be frustrated with the fact that Butcher backtracks on his story in a big way, WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE offers a good detour and a great way for new readers to jump into the books with both feet . This is a younger, less cynical Harry Dresden, but all the action and danger is still there.

You're read him in books, you've seen him on television, now Harry's in the funny papers. Okay, graphic novels, but I had to say it.

"Welcome to the Jungle" is a collaborative effort between author Jim Butcher and artist Ardian Syaf. In my opinion, most of the characters (except Harry) look more like what I expected in the graphic novel version than the televised one.

Our story opens with a murder at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. A zookeeper is found outside the gorilla house mutilated. All fingers point to Moe the gorilla. The only folks coming to Moe's defense are Harry and the gorilla's custodians. Harry's got to solve the case before the police opt to put the gorilla down.

Regardless of whether the story's written or graphic, Jim Butcher's humor comes through. Syaf's renderings are well done and definitely resemble the images of the characters I had in my mind. Syaf's a talented illustrator and very much worthy of keeping an eye on.

Rebecca Kyle, October 2008

I love the harry Dresden novels. Liked the tv show but really was much more of a fan of the books. The books always paint such an awesome picture of Chicago but the Chicago that no one knows about. I have to say that they're some of the most fun novels out there.

That being said, when there was a shot to read another Dresden novel of sorts, I took it. This one will keep fans who are waiting for the next book in the series satisfied for a little bit longer. It's hard waiting for Jim Buthcher to write the next novel so having a comic book to hold me until then works quite well. The story and characters are true in keeping with the story line. They look like how you would imagine they would look. The art is decent if not good. I'm happy with this and very happy with the story.

How the hell can you go on Amazon and give a book a low rating because you were too stupid to realize you were buying a graphic novel? How is that the novel, author, or illustrator's fault? If anyone deserves 1 star, it's YOU.
There's no logical way to justify giving a graphic novel a bad review simply on the grounds that you yourself don't like graphic novels. You are all retarded.

As far as graphic novels go, I think it was brilliant. It's a nice little insight into Harry's back story and I think the art is good as well. Stupid little details are overlooked as someone else mentioned-like height differences and stuff, but really-illustrators get creative leniency in this department. Worth the purchase.

Prequel to Storm Front, this is an original Harry Dresden story done in a graphic novel containing four chapters. The graphic stories from Storm Front are to be released soon.

This story centers around the killing of a guard at the zoo and the attempt to lead police to believe that a gorilla escaped from it's cage, killed the guard, and locked itself back in. Harry is given twenty-four hours to find out what really happened.

The graphics are well done, very close to what I imagined them to look like from the descriptions in the novels. The only `way out there' characterizations belong to the monsters. I found the first four pages a little confusing with the rectangular boxes. After those pages, they were used to either tell us what Harry is thinking or what's going on.

Harry's sarcastic wit isn't lost in this format and the action in this story is exactly what you'd expect from this series.

For those that don't know, the Hugos are the genre's version of the Oscars, except they are selected by the readers. This may not jive with the 13 reviews of 1 star on here, until you do a little digging and see that the low reviews of this book are based on the reviewers who purchased it thinking it was a new Dresden novel, instead of an original comic, scripted by Butcher and a prequel to his novels.

(Storm Front is now halfway through being adapted, and will be sold by Del Rey in two volumes...the equivalent of four issues each. Welcome to the Jungle was a four issue miniseries)