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Posted July 28, 2013 by Alvin Minon in Comics
 
 

COMIC BOOK REVIEW: The Reason for Dragons

Not your usual Don Quixote story

Here’s another comic from Archaia Entertainment that I have truly enjoyed. I’m a big fan of dragons, knights and all the medieval shiznits but I’d say The Reason for Dragons by Chris Northrop and Jeff Stokely would satisfy even if I weren’t.

The graphic novel tells the story of Wendell, the typical bullied kid with stepfather issues, who ventures into the forest after being dared by his well, bullies. He ends up exploring the long-abandoned supposedly haunted Renaissance Faire grounds and there he meets a crackpot who fancies himself as a knight, Sir Habersham. The knight swore to slay the dragon that caused the fire some time ago and has now infested the woods. And guess what, Wendell gets dragged into all of this and embarks on an adventure that will not only have him face to face with Habersham’s foe, but with his own “dragons” as well.

Chris Northrop’s tale is that of coming-of-age, discovering and believing yourself even if nobody else believes in you. It’s about looking past what’s in front of you, seeing beyond the expectations others have placed. Everybody has their own dragons they gotta face, take up arms and wack it to free your realm. Northrop has represented all of it here, from Wendell’s wimpiness backed up by a long history of struggle, to Wendell’s stepdad, Ted who has to deal with a growing kid aside from working on his garage and paying bills, and the “Red Knight” Sir Habersham who’s more than what he seems to be.

This ain’t How to Train Your Dragon. I swear it looks more menacing than that.

The plot and setting’s got everything covered too. Where did the haunted fair legend come from? If this turns out to be one of those spirited-away-to-another-dimension stories, what’ll happen to Ted and all that’s left behind? Who’s the crazy knight and why does he think there’s a dragon roaming around? At first I thought it’ll be some metaphor or perhaps the book would be about Wendell helping the lunatic from his mental illness but I was wrong. Yes, major spoiler: the knight isn’t really crazy. And I love how it all wraps up in the ending with a simple tale while Wendell seems to have grown up in just a few pages.

The short stories are all fun to read, too! They provide more background and personality to each and every character which perhaps Northrop couln’t have put within the main story so that it won’t get too draggy and instead jump right into the action. Not that the short stories are draggy or full of talk. They’re enjoyable and definitely worth checking out even after finishing the main story. After all, the main one’s pretty open to side stories such as backgrounds and even a sequel. Upon finishing, one may ask questions such as “So, what’ll happen to Wendell afterwards?”, “How did that method they used against that dragon work anyway? What’s up behind that?”, or “How about the knight’s tales after the dragon ruckus?”.

As for the art, it’s up to Jeff Stokely to come up with something that’ll match the story and he delivers. The drawing looks a bit kiddy at first but then you’d realize that it’s supposed to be a kid story, only that it later on involves knights and dragons and dealing with family problems. I felt that there’re panels that Stokely favored more than others, with more details or better inking and so on. If this is some way of his to emphasize the heavier parts, I’m not sure but I guess I just let it pass since I found myself dazzled more than nitpicking on the lacking pages. There are parts where I really enjoyed the knight or Ted’s faces. Even a considerable amount of details’ been put into Ted’s most beloved bike, Lilly. Oh and you gotta love that dragon! I won’t describe it here but I’d say it looks radical, more menacing and unexpected compared to your usual medieval dragons. That black face, glowing eyes and fiery drool looks like it could work well in some CG movie.

There’s a reason for dragons. They’ve come from somewhere and perhaps they’re there to be conquered or tamed or what have you. I think some of my dragons have been boredom and idleness but this graphic novel gave me a sword to fight back this weekend. The Reason for Dragons is a good read and I’d love to see more from Archaia’s team that has made this happen.

REVIEW SCORE: 8/10


Alvin Minon