The Dresden Files: Fool Moon. Volume 2

The Dresden Files Graphic Novels #2.2

by Mark Powers (Adaptor), Jim Butcher, Chase Conley (Penciller)

The star of Jim Butcher's New York Times bestselling novel series, The Dresden Files, Harry Dresden is a private investigator whose clients require a detective with supernatural expertise - in other words, he's a wizard for hire. The Windy City has been hit with an outbreak of savage werewolf attacks - a case made even more chaotic and challenging by the fact that Harry's uncovered no less than three lycanthropic groups, each seemingly in conflict with one another. On top of that, Harry's lost the faith of his one friend and ally among the Chicago Police Department, Karrin Murphy. Now she, along with werewolves and hostile FBI Agents, hunts Harry while he races against the rise of the next full moon to discover who - or what - is behind the string of murders!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery, Magic

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 23, 2013

About the author

Mark Powers is the writer who created several of the graphic novels adapted The Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher and co-writer of The Encoded from Devil's Due comics. He is a writer at Mega Powers Entertainment and a producer at Volta. At Mega Powers Entertainment he has written comic books and graphic adaptations for various companies including Drafted, Rest, GI Joe, and adaptations of The Dresden Files. He was also a Senior Editor at Marvel managing the X-Men line of titles.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tolerable adaptation of the novel. It's nice to visually see characters from the Dresden Files, one of my all-time favorite series, but this adaptation doesn't hold a candle to the novel. The art is frankly, not that great. Not only are the character designs not that much like the novels, but the scenes with multiple wolves are almost impossible to follow who's who. I would read the novel first, and then revisit this if you want more.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars ...

Fun, but too many characters

[Tyrell ⚔️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

An epic adapted graphic novel of the secondDresden Files book. I was very excited to read the graphic novel due to the intense imagery that the standard novel created.

Random thought but I was a bit disappointed that they didn't capture the brutality of the police station scene a bit better.

[William Bentrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was weaned on comic books. I lusted for them far sooner than any other recalled lust. I credit comic books with infusing me with the love of reading. They also must take credit for my writing as well. Comic books were the foundation of my learning. That makes it hard to explain that this is one of the few graphic novels I have ever read. I read the book that inspired this graphic novel. The book was better but this was good. It has nuances that you miss in your own reading. It is interesting to see how the illustrator show his vision of what is occurring and compare it to your own.

The story has werewolves, a wizard, a cop, a mysterious criminal mastermind and some FBI agents with questionable credentials. It is traditional Butcher with Harry Dresden way over his head in violent intrigue.

The illustrations are darker than I see the story. Color and shading can infer emotions. I didn’t find the book as dark as the graphic novel. I suspect that I would find Jim Butcher’s work appealing regardless of the venue.

I recommend the book.

[Vikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Dresden and his struggles, the art could've been better but it was still good and it was fun to again travel back to the second adventure of The Dresden Files. I had read the book long back after all I have read the entire series except for the latest two books that I would get to soon enough hopefully.

I finally decided to read few books for Halloween month because I am in India, October is never the horror month for us but I could read a few scary or works set in the supernatural world and this book just falls especially in the zone.

I have always loved comics, and I hope that I will always love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics or Diamond Comics or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on the international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I can. I Love comics to the bits, may the comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too busy. Too much action, not enough substance. Still a fair translation from book to graphic novel. Just not especially enjoyable. And way too many werewolves, though quite the right number of vampires. And no reason to appreciate the young werewolves in this one, luckily they get better.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read.

A great conclusion to this graphic novel, was free on Amazon so I got them both to do refresher, hoping the new Harry Dresden is out next year.

I may do reread of the last 4/5 books in this series.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable graphic novel adaptation. Somewhat felt that it didn’t capture the full ending of the actual book.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable recap of Fool Moon, which I really enjoyed this time around.

[Yodamom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry, gets his fur up in this exciting tale of him verses the Loup Garou. he is forced to break into jail and try to save people from the change that happens before he can get there. Things get worse, Murphy shows up puts him under arrest and then the fur really starts to fly. Harry gets broken, beaten and lost in his own suffering. Marcone, is up to his normal evil acts. Can Harry live through this ?
Great story slightly rough animation, at first it bothered me but as the story went on the illustrations blended into the background and it all clicked together. This comic had my adrenaline pumping !

[Ford Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again great Adaptation!

The art is really subjective in these, and I just hate the way they make the MC so weird looking, and hero handsome in other shots. The second part of Full Moon let's us meet the Alpha's. They are young people with just magic to turn into wolf's and are a pack to protect against the supernatural evil. Harry keeps them as friends and joins them in RPG games in later books! Great story, art is what it is. The story shots are very good telling the novel true to it's story line!

[atmatos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me, this is too far from what I picture Dresden looking for my tastes.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read and review this title.

[Pam Bales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, Dresden is great. I'm glad I found graphic novels are available on my tablet.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t like the art in this book. The adaptation was done well.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

The quality of the artwork has taken a sharp dip toward the ugly side which doesn't help the final battle at all, but the story more than makes up for it. The covers are still top notch. Dresden has allies close to him for a while, but he still has to rely on his skill to face his enemies.

Dresden infiltrates the police precinct to free MacFinn. He gets there too late - MacFinn is already turned into a mindless warewolf. Dresden is almost killed before Murphy gives him the chance to fight back. She and her colleagues willingly jump into the line of fire. Only Dresden has a chance against the out of control and unstoppable warewolf.

Dresden's thaumaturgy spell scares the beast off, but not before several police officers fall victim to it, including Carmichael. Only then does Dresden have time to ponder what has happened. He blames himself for what has befallen the ones closest to him. To protect Susan, he stays behind to fight to Street-Wolves still out to get him, but gets overpowered. They were ordered by Marcone to capture Dresden.

The scene when Marcone shows up is spectacular. The animosity between Marcone and Parker of the Street-Wolves devolves into violence. Denton and his two FBI colleagues show up and reveal they are warewolves as well - the hexenwolf kind that made a deal with a wizard to gain their ability to transform into warewolves. They started with attacking the criminals that got away from justice. When they lost control, they needed a patsy, so they framed MacFinn.

Dresden heads for Marcone's compound for the final battle. Denton had a deal with Marcone, though he turns on him in the end. Marcone helps Dresden turn into a warewolf using Denton's belt. Dresden easily overpowers Denton while they are both in warewolf form. He almost loses himself in the raw strength from the transformation. Sarah stops him before he deals the killing blow. As MacFinn attacks, Dresden hits him with his mother's silver amulet, finally ending his killing spree.

[JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fool Moon, but as a comic book/graphic novel!

It's one of two novel adaptations (Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: Storm Front Vol 1 #2 being the other) and I think the weaker of the two. Still a lot of fun though.

A few random comments:



The agents just look weird. It's comic book muscles/proportions compared to otherwise mostly normal looking people? This isn't even the worst case.

Conversely, I love the look they gave Chauncy:



The glasses!

Also, did you know that Dresden is supposed to be around 6'9"? That's insanely tall and probably way overdone. But they do occasionally emphasize it when you can actually see him standing with others.



Honestly, that's probably not enough of a difference.

Oh, and remember the nudity with convenient smoke from Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: Storm Front Vol 1 #2? Yeah, Fool Moon has werewolves. There's soooo much more. Mostly hidden by shadows or abstract lines. It's to the point of amusing:



True...

[Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry: Murphy had risked her ass and her job for me more than once, shown me a level of trust I didn't deserve -- I'd have GLADLY given my life to save hers. Carmichael beat me to it.

This collects the last 4 issues of the Fool Moon graphic novel. The full moon rises and the loup garou goes on a rampage in jail despite Harry's intervention. Funniest issue so far, with humor sprinkled throughout including Harry's "Bastard chewed up my good boot." which causes the remaining cops to laugh. I don't know why Murphy is so stubborn and won't trust Dresden, who's trying his best to save her. Is it the dumb blonde in her or does she just have a death wish? Kind of annoyed at this to be honest. Betrayal is one thing but she's a cop and should know better. The wolf is out there, and only Harry's intervention saves the remaining cops but not before Karrin almost dies.

Eventually we meet all THREE types of Werewolves, with Marcone getting involved. There's numerous humorous quips, my favorite is when Harry muses "Oh, good grief. The Mickey mouse Club of werewolves wanted to throw in on my side." Live for stuff like this! Harry and his unlikely allies are going in to "save" Tera's fiancee, it's almost a suicide mission, but that's what Heroes do, right? The double cross becomes a triple cross as all hell breaks loose! The final battle has everything I wanted, intrigue, excitement, blood, betrayal, surprise and just all round great writing. Very, very satisfied with how it ended for 2 reasons. What happened between Dresden and Murphy, because those are the things friends do for each other, and where Tera went.

The art is great, but the writing on these last 4 issues is superlative, making this a very enjoyable and fun read.

[Otherwyrld · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part 2 of this story basically has the same problems as part 1, so nothing really much more to say about it. This sort of adaptation really only works if the picture on the page at least comes close to the picture you have in your head, and these just don't do it. Harry Dresden just isn't tall enough for one thing (he's supposed to be 6'7"), and he just doesn't look serious enough.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part 2 is just as well done as the first part. The epic scene where the loup garou wreaks havoc in the police station comes to vivid life in the bright colors and dynamic artwork of this graphic novel. The end seems abbreviated, but the last scene with Dresden and Tera has the same power. I think I'll have to get the audiobook to read this one again.

[Molli B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good (comic) series/book! I liked the story, might even still read the original book, and the art complemented it nicely.

I'm not entirely sure why there were so many naked women and not many naked men...???? :)

And I am REALLY over Murphy, even though they seem to have made up at the end (for now!). I feel bad about Carmichael, even though he was a prick.

[Elaine Lintzenich · Rating 1 out of 5]

I haven't read the graphic novel. Probably won't.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was something fun about rereading this story in a different format. Loved it both as a book and a graphic novel. Even if most of the characters look nothing like they do in my head

[Dalidja · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was disappointing. In its defense though, I didn't enjoy the book it's based off of either. Comparatively, Murphy was a bit more tolerable here, and since the story is so packed with action, it translates well to a graphic novel and helped me better understand what was happening in each of the altercations. But that's where my positives end.
They cut out alot of things from the story, and though I understand why they would do that, and even thought that at times it was an improvement... it also removed most of the emotions. The scenes that made the book redeemable to me were not included in this Graphic Novel. Susan and Dresden's emotional and intimate scene, Tera and the Alphas' struggle to abandon revenge, and Tera and MacFinn's fight, were all removed and left the novel emotionally stunted. And Dresden himself lost some of his likeable spark and personality as his lines were cut or replaced.
Maybe it would have survived these changes if the art were better, unfortunately I found it to be quite crudely done and not really pleasing to look at. The characters almost looking like putty at times. And they did not have one static look, I had to often look at clothes or hair to know which character I was looking at, as their features changed so much throughout.
I will continue with the series though, hopefully the original stories will be better reads.

(I was provided with a Netgalley copy in exchange for a review.)

[Daniel Hruskocy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graphic Novelization of the second Dresden files book, Fool Moon. It should not be too spoiler-y to state this one introduces and focuses on the series werewolves and establishes the universe's rules and guidelines around them. It was not as beautiful artistically as "The Stand", "The Dark Tower" series or even the never finished "Talisman: Road of Trials" series, but it was OK.

Overall, I am struggling to buy into the Dresden Files concept of a modern-day crime genre with a supernatural horn-dog magician constantly leering at women and bedding them down in series... but the tales move fast, without a lot of fluff and the graphic novels are actually not too bad on the overall.

I have heard this series REALLY picks up in another couple books, and these are bite-size novels (around 300 pages total each one - which is blessedly short compared to the Stephen King works and bloated classics I have been reading lately!).

I'd say this is 3.25 out of 5, not terrible and a decent "in" for the series, but maybe my thoughts will grow fonder in time?

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

We finish up Dresden's quest to protect Chicago from a rampant werewolf and those who would use him for their own nefarious purposes.

The more of these I read, the more I feel like they should only be used as a refresher. While it's no surprise that a lot is lost in adapting the novels to a comic book, I feel that *too much* is lost. I enjoyed these because I'd already read the books, but I think some plot points aren't completely clear in this format.

Conley illustrated the last volume, but he seemed to change to a more cartoon-y style. Mobster Marcone still looks too elegant, instead of the kind of guy who once was capable of beating people to death with his bare hands. I'm still holding out hope that someone can draw Murphy closer to how she's described in the books...

[Julie Ditton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the second half of the original novel translated into a graphic novel format.
Frequently when a novel is transformed into a different medium, it suffers from the translation. Like a when making a movie, fitting a book into a graphic novel format requires massive editing. Despite the fact that the text is strait from the original books, the story suffers from this lack of detail. It is a great book, if one primarily loves graphic novels, it just suffers from comaprison.

Readers can also find this book included in Jim Butcher's the Dresden Files Omnibus Volume 1.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was another great one and so many mysteries all coming together with the werewolf battle on all side and I loved it so much, the mystery with Tera and who she is and whats going on exactly, the mystery of Harley and how the big battle goes, then the denton reveal and war on all sides.. its wolves vs wolves like I said and its just pure fun and carnage like I said. Great ending and I love the character resolutions by the end with how it all resolves between him and murphy and also susan to some extent and the big story of who gave them the werewolves belts so that will be a fun story thread that will continue!!

[Kerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good audiobook - fun, not too serious (although there were a few scenes that, if this were a paper book, I would have skimmed rather quickly - since it was an audio book, I was forced to listen to a few cringeworthy pages). The narrator has a particular interpretation of the character (sighing, grunting, etc), which listeners will like or dislike. I got used to it and now have it firmly entrenched in my own mental rendition of the character.

[Adrian · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
This was super short and followed directly from the last one (really, no reason to have this as two separate books). I don’t know why but it seems that tons of characters were introduced and made this tiny book hard to keep track of. That was not necessary. Oh well, the drawings were good.

[rainydays · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fool Moon finally done. The first 2 books of the Dresden files were actually among my least favorites. Overall, a good comic based on the book.

The subsequent volumes are based on separate cases, which I know nothing about so looking forward to reading those.