Book Review; Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files: Fool Moon Volume One

Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files: Fool Moon Volume One by Mark Powers and Chase Conley is the graphic novel that expands upon Fool Moon, the second novel in the Dresden Files series. This volume collects the first four issues of the eight issue series. The visual platform here clears away any of the negatives readers might have found in the original novel format of Fool Moon, which was full of categorizing, details, and history of different kinds of werewolves. The graphic novel Fool Moon Volume One gives readers everything they want, a fantastic story coupled with images that are dark enough to convey the feel of Harry Dresden’s world without creating an image of a completely dark and ugly version of Chicago.

In Fool Moon Volume One, Harry Dresden’s life is a compete mess. Karrin Murphy, Director of Special Investigations and someone Harry had counted as a friend and employer, no longer trusts him while there are rumors circulating that link him with organized crime that are causing trouble for both of them. To make things more challenging, there is something in town viciously killing people and the tracks look wolfish. However, stopping werewolves is not as easy as you might think, since nothing that comes from the Nevernever is what it appears to be. There is so much going on that neither Harry, nor the werewolves, has a full picture of what is going on. Promises are broken, the bodies are piling up, and everyone wants a piece of Harry. Friends and enemies alike seem to want him dead, or maybe worse. Meanwhile Harry is just trying to keep anyone else from getting hurt.

Reading the graphic novel versions of my favorite books can sometimes be a scary endeavor. Artist renditions of well-loved characters do not always match the image one has in their head, and sometimes that can distract and completely ruin any enjoyment that you might otherwise get from the graphic novel. I am very glad that this was not the case with Fool Moon Volume One. I think that Conley did a great job of representing the core cast of characters. I will admit to have pictured Harry as a thinner, rangier, man but the difference was not such that it distracted me. The city of Chicago was depicted as dark, but not so dark that it is ugly. Sometimes that can be a delicate balance, but Conley met and matched this challenge with class. I am looking forward to getting my hands on volume two, and the rest of the graphic novel adaptations of the Dresden Files series.