Dresden Files: War Cry #1 by Jim Butcher and Carlos Gomez

There’s a war on. The Red Court of Vampires is in conflict against the White Council. Who has the Council chosen to help champion their cause? Harry Copperfield Blackstone Dresden, professional wizard and Warden for the White Council.  In this issue, Warden Dresden is given a team of young magic users and the simple mission to safeguard a group scholars as they travel.  If you're familiar with Harry Dresden, you know that it won’t be that simple. Things go very bad in a very short amount of time. It’s classic Dresden.

The story itself was pretty good. It had a bit of the ‘Monster of the Week’ feel to it but, since I’m also a Doctor Who fan so, I like that sort of thing. With a little more filling out, it could have been a regular novel. It occurs further along the Dresden Files series than I have read but, there were very few spoilers for me. I’m only up to the sixth book, just in case you need a timeline reference. There are  a few new characters introduced in this story. The Dresden Files has a pretty good stable of regular characters but, in this story, they opted to use a small core of regulars and bring in a few new people. I think that and the change in setting is what helps bring a level of freshness to the series. It can’t be the only place that has monster problems is Chicago. I mean, New York City alone must have enough to require the services of two wizards and don’t even get me started on L.A.

To honest, I am not a big comic book fan or even a graphic novel fan. I was given the chance to read this one before the hardcover release so, I took it. I thought it might be a simplistic story with a lot of things going “Whoosh” or “Bang!”. While there was typical comic book dramatizations it also had a decent story and good characters. It hasn’t sold me on comic books or graphic novels as true literature but, it was entertaining. If you have a Dresden Files fan in on you Christmas list this year, it might be a good stocking stuffer.