Comic Review: Savage Dragon #144

Savage Dragon #144

Creative Team:

Perpetrator - Erik Larsen
Letterer - Tom Orzechowski
Colorists - Nikos Koutsis & Mike Toris

Publisher - Image Comics

Story: "One Day at a Time"

Savage Dragon shares with Spawn the distinction of being Image Comics longest running titles. I also known many comic readers wonder why either title still is getting published. "Who buys Savage Dragon, anymore?" is a frequent question which applies to Spawn as well. But as issue #144 shows, Erik Larsen's strength is his willingness to try something new and work against popular conventions, a tactic used in small-press indy comics, what used to be called underground Comix, but which seems distasteful to many, for some reason, in a big publisher like Image.

Cast

Savage Dragon
Angel Murphy
Malcolm Dragon
Many brief cameos by Rex Dexter, Horridus, Dung, Battleaxe, Rock, Invincible, Witchblade, Spawn, Shadowhawk, Heavy Flo, Star, Alex Wilde, Vanguard, evil Dragon, Dart, and (unofficially) the Incredible Hulk

Those of us who are still following Dragon do so for many and varied reasons, I am sure, but one has to be that we love the character. He's a regular guy just trying to do the right thing, but things seem to always be going wrong. But rather than throwing up his hands and sulking into the shadows, he still tries to do the right thing. In as much, Dragon could be symbolic of the human condition. We, generally, really do try to do the right thing, but sometimes we don't see the big picture and sometimes bad stuff happens anyway. The same could probably be said about Spider-Man, but I relate more to Savage Dragon. And it's just a funnybook, so the whole sociological analysis is probably off-base. So let's just say, Savage Dragon is an endearing character.

The kids, Angel and Malcolm, I find to be kind of annoying. And the list of cameos, some are cool, some are ok. One of the things you learn with the Savage Dragon series is that you can't become attached to a character. Larsen has apparently given up really developing any new characters. His established heroes and villains will pop-up for a few panels, but they have little chance to find appeal in the readers. That's one thing that Dragon has been lacking: A solid villain set. That's one of Larsen's experiments...telling the story with the villains being little more than background disturbances. A villain might last a couple of pages or an issue, but it's just one more thing in Dragon's life that he has to deal with along with all of the family issues.

Cast Rating 1 Worm...I'm tempted to take 1/2 a worm for lack of solid villain, but for this experimental issue, it works.

Plot

Larsen's grand experiment here is a panel per day in Dragon's life. Each panel represents a highlight for one day. According to Larsen, that's 121 almost consecutive days represented. I'm going to take his word for it rather than count panels. It was an interesting read, but one that you couldn't do too often. It'd be something to do if you wanted a certain amount of time to pass, but didn't want to start the next issue with a caption, "3 months later..." That or if you just wanted to show your character's daily life.

In these 121 days:

Dragon gets berated by the public for "murdering" Solar Man and Megaman.
Dragon visits several friends.
Dragon, Angel, and Malcolm go see Speed Racer (Good movie).
Battleaxe tries to free the evil Dragon.
Malcolm has trouble at school.
Angel kisses Malcolm.
Alex gives Dragon membership in a dating service for Christmas.
Random fights and encounters, and playing with Angel and Malcolm.

It was an interesting look at Dragon's life. Admittedly, this kind of glossing over does little to draw in readers, but established collectors of the Savage Dragon series would find it interesting.

Plot Rating 1 1/2 Worms...Loss of half a worm for no real depth or plot development. Loss of half a worm for some confusing panels. Add half a worm for creative storytelling.

Art

Larsen's a good artist, though I think his marvel stuff, and early Savage Dragon stuff looked cleaner. His splash pages and large panels always look great, but his smaller panels tend to look a little sketchy.

Art Rating 1 1/2 Worms...Loss of half a worm for sketchy small panels. Loss of half a worm for series of panels depicting a skinny arm getting larger and turning green, but with different colored sleeves in each panel. Add 1/2 a Worm for spectacular large panels including a fight with Battleaxe, working in space with vanguard, and team-up with other Image heroes.

Overall Rating: 4 Worms...Recommended for Savage Dragon fans or anyone interested in new comic story telling techniques.