Going Indie: The Reason for Dragons

By A.D. Shadie • 3 years ago • Comics

Written by Chris Northrop

Art by Jeff Stokely, Chris Northrop, & Andrew Elder

The Reason for Dragons is an original graphic novel from Boom!-Archaia that further reinforces this company’s position as one of the strongest independent publishers when it comes to delivering the type of stories that resonate with its readers long after the cover is closed.

Chris Northrop’s coming of age story is not what you’d expect from a title like The Reason for Dragons. Going into this graphic novel, I expected to encounter a sort fantasy adventure, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that and something more. Northrop tells the story of Wendell – an awkward teen struggling with day-to-day life – and James – an actor playing a knight at the local Renaissance Fair who believes himself to be a real knight in shining armor. Taking Stokely’s cover art as an opening salvo of sorts, Northrop is clearly setting a contemporary take on Cervantes’ classic Don Quixote de la Mancha while adding some of his own concerns into the well-worn story of the struggles to regain a more romantic, happier time. This graphic novel tells a memorable tale of trauma and how all of us come to terms with the struggles within our own lives.

The main story focuses on Wendell, a young boy who falls short of his gruff, biker stepfather’s expectations and is bullied by his peers. In the attempt to appear brave to a pair of bullies, he wanders out to the local Renaissance Fairgrounds, now closed after events that are discovered later on in the story. It is here Wendell meets James – who enlists the young boy as his squire – and the pair seeks to defeat the dragon that attacked the kingdom. The real conflict in this story comes not from a real dragon, per se, but instead each person has to face his own personal dragon and emerge a whole from the encounter.

Jeff Stokely covers the pencils and ink in this story, and it shows in the level of consistency from the first page until the story’s conclusion. He varies his line quality to suit each character, such as the hard and sharp lines with Ted the stepfather while Wendell is depicted more curves and softer lines – all of which provide subtle indicators as to each character’s temperament. And considering this story centers on Wendell’s growth into (young) adulthood, Stokley’s choice in drawing the teen with longer hair creates a sort of androgynous appearance, which the more masculine characters might find problematic given their inability to interact with him in a more natural and considerate manner. Northrup and Andrew Elder provide colors for this issue, which also helps bring this tale to life through a combination of bright, vibrant colors to help the action in certain sequences “pop,” to using a more subtle palette during the more somber moments of the narrative.

As James tells Wendell – and reminds each of us, we all have battles to face. Sometimes they are real, physical challenges staring us down. At other times, those battles take place in our very minds, which others cannot immediately perceive. The Reason for Dragons may suggest we need these battles then to help each of become the type of people we are meant to be. It’s a great book and one not to be missed.