Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files: Fool Moon #5
Written by Jim Butcher and Mark Powers
Pencils by Chase Conley
Inks by Nick Nix and Chase Conley
Colors by Mohan
Letters by Bill Tortolini
Cover by Tyler Walpole
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 22, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

If there is trouble to get into, Harry Dresden will find it. This month in Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files: Fool Moon #5, Harry most certainly manages to get caught right in the middle… as usual. One of the key action parts of this storyline (yes, it’s based on a book that I freaking LOVED!) takes place in this issue and Chicago’s only practicing wizard finds himself between a rock (not “The Rock,” as in Alcatraz, though the reference was intended) and a werewolf. Well, he tangles with a loup-garou at a police station, anyway.

Our story picks up with Harry needing a distraction and Tera providing it. More to the point, a naked Tera provided it. Unfortunately for Harry, Susan (his pseudo-girlfriend/friend-with-benefits) is in the car with him and he doesn’t get to enjoy the view. Not that Harry is that sort of guy, nope…not at all… Harry obviously makes it back into his apartment building because suddenly the story shifts.

Harry walks into the police station, mind you he is wanted for questioning still. Using some magic (he is a wizard after all), he manages to get inside just as the loup-garou starts to change and go wild. Officers converge to stop the monster in their midst and several of them fall prey to this magically cursed creature. As usual, Murphy steps up to the plate and calmly does her job of protecting and defending. Then things begin going slightly awry and just as it starts to get good…the issue ends, darn it!

As always, Jim Butcher and Mark Powers turned out a great adaptation of the original story. Most of the main story is represented here and if you didn’t know what was missing, you would not even notice. The art team of  Chase Conley, Nick Nix, and Mohan do a better than decent job of bringing Butcher’s vision of Harry to life. While the art style isn’t my favorite, what they do, they do well.

I can never say enough wonderful things about this series. I have been a fan of The Dresden Files from the moment I picked up Jim Butcher’s first novel. Seeing them transformed into comic form is so wonderful because it opens the doors to a whole new audience. If you haven’t read any of the Dresden Files comics before then I cannot suggest you start with this one. But I can tell you that you should be out scouring the local comic shop for all the older issues as soon as you can. There is no good reason that everyone shouldn’t be giving this comic a chance. “Stars and Stones,” it’s freaking Harry Dresden after all, you really cannot go wrong with this series. Why are you still reading this? Go to the comic’s website and buy it there if you are too lazy to hit up your LCS!