Review: Dragon’s Mist by Randy Cruts, Art by Marco Cosentino

Author Randy Cruts and artist Marco Cosentino deliver a wickedly entertaining YA graphic novel in Dragon’s Mist, an unexpectedly riveting ride through the imagination of a young boy, Charlie. Imaginary friends and epic quests are a staple of childhood, making this book deeply relatable for young readers, and nostalgia-inducing for older ones.

After a chance encounter with an Irish priest – a water-loving cousin of dragons – Charlie’s imagination springs to life, spinning out an entire world of adventures to explore. The regular introduction of new characters, from god-like guardians and titanic best friends to shape-shifting villains and avian surveillance teams, makes this an unpredictable sequence of off-the-wall adventures.

Suspension of disbelief is easy in a story this fast-moving and richly creative. The combination of mystical creatures and everyday animals adopting unexpected roles is amusing and original, like a technicolor mash-up of Pete’s Dragon and Animal Farm. Beneath these overlapping tales of heroism is the more significant through-line: Charlie’s shift into young adulthood.

As he approaches the “time to put away childish things,” the scenes with his parents and other adults become more grounded in reality. The conflict between childhood innocence and real-world expectations is visceral, but Cruts navigates these more serious themes well, and resolves the story on a hopeful note: seeing isn’t always believing, and the world can still hold magic if we never lose hope. The idea of elevating and believing children, and respecting their experiences and mental landscape, is also hinted at over the course of the story. Many adults are too quick to dismiss the ideas and impulses of children, and this tale reminds readers that wide-eyed optimism is not the same as naïveté.

This visual aspect of this graphic novel is incredibly strong, as every page bursts with energy, movement and color, sometimes drawing the eye faster than the dialogue can be read. The larger-than-life characters, particularly Shannon and Nessie, are scaled properly, giving the images an epic impact. Within the larger story, these magical adventures with fairy queens, military mice, and evil snow giants are all summoned from Charlie’s imagination, but that doesn’t diminish the aesthetic impact they have on the reading experience. Watching Charlie develop over the course of this story is remarkably moving – compelling illustrations coupled with raw, emotional language is something that makes a graphic novel truly exceptional, and Dragon’s Mist earns that praise.

Occasionally, the dialogue falls flat, but Cosentino’s art keeps the reader’s attention and veritably demands that one turns the page. The first half of the book feels tangential, bouncing from one story line to the next, but the second half becomes more focused, the clip of the dialogue improves, and the overall arc of the story clarifies. On balance, most of the conversations are sharp, creative, and laugh-out-loud funny, and the voice bubble placements are consistently intuitive, an overlooked element where many comics and graphic novels struggle.

Cruts proves himself as a whimsical storyteller who can be timely, profound, and playful – sometimes on the same page – while Cosentino shines with some of the most engaging art you’ll find in a graphic novel for children or adults.