Harry Dresden - The Madding Crowd, Part 7 - R.A. Wonsowski

Previously: Jack Ryder has been split from his alter ego, the Creeper, by Shade the Changing Man, but with the wrong mind in the wrong body. This has been done under the guise of a medical trial, but may be mystic in origin, as the main researchers have been using black diamonds to separate people's "shadow aspects" from their minds in order to explore the afterlife.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6

Layout: ok, try to think of this as one of those classic Dr. Strange pages, the ones with no borders, but changes POV and creates an overall story flow. This is a realm of magick, so the artist can go as abstract and geometric as he wants for backgrounds, maybe with a few Batman '66 camera angles mixed in to keep everything off kilter. Last element should be straightforward, though...

Upper-left corner - HARRY DRESDEN, dressed in a cheap gray suit, no tie, stands in a doorway of light upon a band of energy, arms outstretched in mystic summoning.

DRESDEN: Lords of Order! Hear me, Dresden, your servant! Come forth and--

Upper-right corner - foreground, the profile of SAS combat magician WILLIAM GRAVEL, clean-shaven and white hair cropped close to the scalp, scowling as he shouts. Background, DRESDEN looks shocked at GRAVEL.

GRAVEL: Oy! Lords of Chaos, yada yada, wankers all, when Gravel speaks, ya bastards best come runnin'!

DRESDEN: ...Jesus, William...

Middle left - a glowing Metatron's Cube and a black gelatinous blob floating and looming large in the aether before DRESDEN and GRAVEL, foreground, who should be small silhouettes, to give the Lords a sense of scale.

LORD OF ORDER: IT DARES.

LORD OF CHAOS: iT thINxss to cOMmANd iTSss LOrDzzz...

DRESDEN: No! We only want to beg your wisdom--

GRAVEL: Idiots, both of ya! Your Creator's discarded Wrath is returned, and you daft buggers're frigging about protocol!

Middle right - DRESDEN (right) elbows GRAVEL (left) aside as he addresses the Lords. They should be looking up and off page at us.

DRESDEN: ...JEEsus, William! Please, Lords! We ask only to... It's time.

DRESDEN: Release your Avatars!

LORD OF CHAOS (off-panel): yEZss...ssO bE iT!

Bottom third of the page - Same POV as previous panel, but zoomed in to just head and shoulders. The light is brighter, but two bird-shaped shadows fall upon their faces, one on each, a raptor-like shape on GRAVEL's (who's grinning wide) and a smaller one over DRESDEN's (whose mouth is agape).

LORD OF ORDER (off-panel, above): SPIRITS OF WAR AND PEACE! SAY YOUR TRUE NAMES AND CLAIM YOUR RIGHTFUL POWER ONCE MORE!

(off-panel): HAWK!

(off-panel): DOVE!

...to be continued...

Harry Dresden – Gone Fishing – Travis M. Holyfield

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Panel 1: HARRY DRESDEN stands in the back of a medium sized fishing trawler. He stares out across the calm sea. The captain, a stereotypical grizzled old salt - he could easily grace the cover of any generic seafood restaurant menu - stands behind him, watching him with suspicion.
 
CAPTAIN: Thought ye said ye meant to go fishin’.

HARRY: I am.

Panel 2: Continuation of previous panel. Harry draws a crystal rod – the length of a car antenna – from his long coat.

CAPTAIN: Wassat, then?

HARRY: Fishing rod.

Panel 3: Harry holds the rod out towards the water. It glows with a pale bluish-green radiance.

HARRY: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.  

Panel 4:  The waters around the trawler start to churn. Harry lowers the rod. He has an expression of grim resignation. The sea captain, still standing behind him, is recoiling in horror. The skies above the boat have suddenly gone dark with storm clouds.

HARRY: Yeah. That’s what I thought.  

CAPTAIN: Jaysus an Mary an alla saints!

Panel 5: A downward angle, as we look over the giant, Lovecraftian monstrosity that is now surging up out of the sea and down towards the fishing trawler, tiny in comparison.  

HARRY: We are DEFINITELY going to need a bigger boat.

Harry Dresden – A Dangerous Game – MK Stangeland Jr.

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: HARRY DRESDEN is walking through the interior wreckage of a game and comic shop. KARRIN MURPHY is standing nearby. The place looks like it’s been torn apart by something highly unnatural. Plenty of marking indicate where there were previously casualties before they were removed from the scene.

MURPHY (1): None of the survivors were able to make much sense of the scene.

MURPHY (2): Not surprisingly.

MURPHY (3): Currently, the story goes that it was a normal game night, nothing out of the ordinary, and then a wild animal started attacking people.

Panel 2: HARRY DRESDEN is crouching as he looks at some burnt game cards – imagine an off-brand/lawyer-friendly version of MAGIC: THE GATHERING. DRESDEN looks like he notices something about the cards.

DRESDEN: A wild animal attack?

MURPHY (1): That’s what I’m reporting it as for now.

MURPHY (2): Truthfully?

MURPHY (3): The witnesses said it was a monster.

Panel 3: HARRY DRESDEN picks up some of the cards.

DRESDEN: What happened to it?

MURPHY: We don’t know.

Panel 4: HARRY DRESDEN turns and looks at KARRIN MURPHY with a look of concern. He nearly drops the cards he was holding, but not quite.

DRESDEN: You mean it’s loose?

MURPHY (1): No. No, not at all.

Panel 5: KARRIN MURPHY explains.

MURPHY (1): At least, we don’t have any reason to think that it’s loose.

MURPHY (2): No signs that it broke out.

MURPHY (3): One moment it’s attacking people, the next nobody knows where it is.

MURPHY (4): Like it vanished into thin air.

Panel 6: DRESDEN looks at the cards in his hand.

DRESDEN: I’m suspecting that may be exactly what happened.

(END PAGE)

Harry Dresden - Motivations - Grant McLaughlin

Mortimer the Magnificent, a failed stage magician who made a deal with the devil (not the literal one - at least probably not) to gain dark magic powers to get his revenge on Harry Dresden, as Mortimer blames his failures as a pretend magician on Harry's status as a real one.  We're right around the climax, where Mortimer has Harry on the ropes and decides to explain his (admittedly somewhat lame) motivations.  This page is Harry's response.

Panel 1 is an inset panel in the top corner of panel 2, which takes up the top portion of the page.  The middle portion is panel 3, which is made up of smaller micro-panels that run the width of the page.  Finally, panels 4 and 5 make up the remainder of the page (they could even be done so that Mortimer and Harry are facing each other directly with the space between them cut out by the gutter).

1 - Inset panel.  A close-up of Harry Dresden opening his eye.

DRESDEN: What?

2 - A stage.  We're in the auditorium where Mortimer did all of his performances.  Mortimer stands on one end, his formerly shabby uniform transformed into a dark and malevolent equivalent through his actions and new found powers.  He is summoning some of the power currently, as an aura of darkness emerges from his arms and body, travels the length of the stage and appears to be holding Harry down / crushing him.  Harry doesn't look great, the damage and violence of the fight wearing on him.

DRESDEN: You summoned a dread being, made an unholy bargain, and promised it the souls of half of Chicago because you can't trick people into enjoying your magic shows?

3 - A group of five micro-panels showing Harry force his way past Mortimer's dark power back onto his own feet.  The darkness should remain around Harry, but as the panels progress, his determination and anger increase with each one.

3.1 - Harry is still lying down, the darkness surrounding him.  However, he has managed to raise his head from the ground to look at Mortimer.

DRESDEN: That, my friend...

3.2 - Harry is elbowing himself up to a sitting position.

DRESDEN: ...is one of the dumbest things...

3.3 - Harry is now in that sitting position, one leg bending to move it beneath himself.

DRESDEN: ...that I have ever heard.

3.4 - Harry crouches, nearly back to his feet.

NO COPY

3.5 - Harry is back standing.  His face remains gritted with the effort, but he also looks mad as hell.

DRESDEN: Ever.

4 - Switch back to Mortimer.  A combination of fear, frustration, and anger washes over his face.  He maintains the spell against Harry, but it doesn't seem to be accomplishing much.

MORTIMER: No!  I was promised enough power to destroy you!  This is impossible!

5 - Back to Harry.  He's mad.  He has his staff drawn, holding it at his side in a ready position.  The darkness seems to already be abating somewhat.

DRESDEN (1): What's impossible is how stupid you are.

DRESDEN (2): But don't worry, I'll put a stop to that shortly.

Harry Dresden - Fuego! - Arby Moay

PANEL 1
POV is a laptop's webcam. We see a young man with thick silly hair and a thin moustache, let's call him ARBY, typing on the keyboard viciously.

(Captions should be as if it's what Arby is writing on the screen)
CAPTION: Harry
Wherever there’s darkness, there is always light. Even if you close your eyes tight, light will always seep in even for just a little bit. Isn’t that beautiful?


PANEL 2
Same. But Arby is now smiling as if he'd just written something very clever.

CAPTION: Harry
We, as a species, have long combatted the darkness with our light. Just go outside during the night time, and you’ll notice it.


PANEL 3
Same. But Arby is now shocked. There is smoke coming out of the laptop, maybe even a little fire.

CAPTION: Harry
We are supposed to be enveloped with our own planets shadow, starved from the light of --

ARBY: What the --


PANEL 4
Zoom out and we see Arby's messy bedroom. He has his hands on his head still shocked and angry about what just happened. With him in the room stands Harry Dresden looking at the computer.

ARBY: WHY?!
DRESDEN: See, I told you this would happen.
ARBY: I thought it'd be inspiring to have you here.


PANEL 5
Dresden points at the laptop, which is now in bigger fire.

DRESDEN: Yeah, well, that's generally what I inspire.
ARBY: Well, can you magic the fire out?
DRESDEN: Sure, I can.
DRESDEN (small): I'm not very great with putting out fire though.
ARBY: What?
DRESDEN: Nothing.


PANEL 6
Close-up on Harry Dresden with a questioning look.

DRESDEN: Hey, I'm still getting paid here, right?

Why Harry Dresden?

...because there was a building on fire and it wasn't his fault.

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden (conjure that name at your own risk) works at an office in midtown Chicago. He may or may not be the only practicing wizard in the country. While the others tend to hide their identities, you can find Harry's name in the yellow pages, under the "Wizards" section. Unsurprisingly, he's the only one there. For the most part, people call him to ask if he's serious.

This, minus the image, is his yellow pages ad.

Harry is a powerful wizard who works as a private investigator for the supernatural, and often times works as a consultant for the Chicago PD. While he is quite a strong wizard, he does lack some fine control and magical manipulation displayed by the others. He usually blasts enemies off with fire and wind spells during battles, though he has displayed abilities using the different elements as well, even channeling lightning from an oncoming storm. He is also skilled with tracking spells, which helps quite a lot in his profession, along with summoning and entrapment spells, allowing him to consult with various supernatural creatures, like demons and faeries. He can create magical circles that'll prevent supernatural creatures from going in (defensive), or going out (imprisonment). His magical aura is actually so strong, in fact, that the energies associated with it disrupts electronic devices around him, causing them to fail.

Fighting a frog-man using lightning while naked.

Because of his lack of finer control in magic, Dresden usually relies on magical items to help focus and channel his magical energy, such as his rune-carved staff, his blasting rod (which is just a wooden stick that he uses to blast fire and kinetic energy), his shield bracelet and protective rings. He also wears a duster with a protective aura. He also carries with him a revolver, sometimes a shotgun, because he's not dumb. Lastly, though he never carries it with him, he also has Bob, a talking skull ghost who possess great knowledge about everything magic/supernatural.

Created by novelist Jim Butcher to be the protagonist of The Dresden Files series (a blend of magic and hard-boiled detective fiction), Harry Dresden has appeared in 15 novels (main medium), a number of limited and unlimited comic series, and even a TV adaptation.

Uhm....