Comic Break: Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files Storm Front #2 (Dabel Brothers)

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Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Storm Front
Issue #2
Writer: Jim Butcher, Mark Powers
Artist: Ardian Syaf
32 pp. Dabel Brothers. $3.99

Reviewed by Paul Stotts

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“I’d made a vampire cry. Great. I felt like a real super hero-Harry Dresden, breaker of monster’s hearts.”—Jim Butcher and Mark Powers, The Dresden Files Storm Front #2

The best thing about the second issue of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files: Storm Front, we get some Toot-Toot. No, I’m not talking about wizardly flatulence. Harry’s hometown of Chicago may be known as the Windy City, but it’s not for that reason. Toot-Toot is a faery. Not even a flatulent faery. Just an awkwardly named one.

Toot-Toot makes a grand appearance early in the issue providing Harry with some valuable information regarding his investigation into Victor Sells. Only Harry Dresden would have a faery informer. (As long as he doesn’t get addicted to pixie dust he should be reliable.)

Toot-Toot’s not the only memorable character introduced in the issue. Morgan, the warden of the White Council, shows up to dangle the Doom of Damocles over Harry’s head. Morgan’s convinced Harry is responsible for the murders Harry is investigating, and promises to keep an eye on him. It doesn’t seem to change Morgan’s mind that Harry is helping the police. Such is the life of Harry Dresden.

If having Morgan watching over his shoulder wasn’t bad enough, Harry has a meeting with the vampire madam Bianca who tries to get intimate with his jugular. Only Harry’s wizardly wiles saves him. Maybe then he can convince Bianca to talk, giving him a potential lead in a murder investigation which seems to be drying up quicker than summer rain.

Writer Mark Powers has done a tremendous job adapting Butcher’s source material, staying true to the humor and tone of the novels. Powers has been able to retain much of the novel so far, excising little, which I was skeptical about considering the series is slated to run for only four issues. Artist Ardian Syaf is doing a bang-up job drawing the characters that have been described for years in Butcher’s novels. It’s nice to finally have a definitive picture of characters I’ve only poorly imagined previously.

Fans of the series take note, all the fun and enjoyment you’ve come to expect from the novels is now in comic form. Besides, you really want to see Toot-Toot, don’t you?

Final Grade: 85 out of 100

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Comic Break: Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: Storm Front #1 (Dabel Brothers)
Comic Break: Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle (Dabel Brothers)
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