Savage Dragon #140 - Advance Review

Savage Dragon #140

Hitting shelves tomorrow, Savage Dragon #140 is written and drawn by series and character creator, Erik Larsen. Larsen has been away from the series for awhile, working in a more executive manner (as Image Comics Publisher) and recently stepped-down to get back to Dragon and his exploits. And he has returned with a bang!

I never followed Savage Dragon much, but I will say this: of all the original Image Comics characters, Savage Dragon was the only truly original one; while all the rest of the defectors developed characters based on the Marvel properties they had been working on when they left, Larsen invented a completely original one with a completely original backstory. Also unlike most of the other founders' creations, Savage Dragon is still going! Somewhat ironically, this issue features a slew of those founding characters.

Of the handful of past issues I've read (and those are from way back -- single-digits), I can say this much with certainty: Savage Dragon is Erik Larsen's playground. I have no idea what is really going on in Savage Dragon #140, but I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it! Dragon and a few people are in "Dimension X," there's a "God Gun" in play (or was, shortly before the events chronicled herein), and many of the more popular Image Universe characters are facing a nigh-invulnerable fascist by the name of Solar Man... maybe.

I mean, all this is going on, but it criss-crosses somewhere and some of them help one another and... meanwhile, elsewhere... while across town... like I say, I have no idea what is going on, but I could not stop flipping pages! Larsen does a decent job divulging the story, but with so many characters and so much going on, it's impossible to sort it all out since I am not familiar with any of them, or their history (shared or otherwise) -- but his excitement is palpable.

Larsen is a capable writer. He shouldn't be clearing the mantle for any awards, but for what it is, Savage Dragon is a good read. He has a lot of exposition to get through and he does so without boring you to tears or making you cringe -- and you really can't ask for more than that in an ongoing series. Add to this the fact that a one-man team is always going to give better product and the art lends the story the punch the writing lacks, and you've got one hell of an issue.

As for the art, Larsen once again diverges from his peers. Erik Larsen always had a less-than-"Image" style happening just beneath the surface, but it wasn't until Savage Dragon that it really took shape. His is a chunkier, more true-to-format style many do not care for. The closest artist to which I can relate him is Frank Miller -- and you can't mention Frank Miller without mentioning Jack Davis. Larsen does not so much refrain from photorealism as simply ignore it, and the result is an amalgam of all the artists who ever worked in like fashion -- Jack Kirby, Walt Simonson, Al Milgrom, and all points between -- from the unique perspective of a capable fanboy.
But apart from the line quality, Larsen is a master of layout, pacing, and design. He has always had a thing for vertical panels and there are plenty of those in SD #140, but Larsen's greatest strength lay in knowing when to use what -- no multi-page spreads just to show-off his work, no forced splashes; when he decides to go big, it enhances the entire project, moving both the reader and the story. Every panel - from the characters involved to the action shown to the POV it comes from -- is not just an "image," but the actual story being told.

Like I said, Savage Dragon is Larsen's sandbox and he pulls out all the toys, all the sci-fi and superhero staples: alternate dimensions, alien races, God guns, diverging plotlines -- it's like one of those 1970s dinosaurs-and-flying-saucers comic books, with a healthy dose of magic and superheroes and, and, and...

Truly enjoyable to review a master of the medium in top-form. Highly recommended!

© C Harris Lynn, 2008