Savage Dragon #190
Published by Image Comics
Art and Story by Erik Larsen
Savage Dragon is the Erik Larsen created comic character who made his debut, all be it in a different form and without the ‘Savage’ moniker, in Graphic Fantasy #1 (June 1982). In 1986, the Savage Dragon debuted in Megaton #3. The Savage Dragon was then lost in to obscurity as Larsen made his way through DC Comics and more notably, on Amazing Spider Man and Spiderman for Marvel Comics.
When Larsen and a handful of other Marvel talent famously left the House of Ideas to form Image Comics in 1992 the Savage Dragon returned. Since his first 3 issue mini-series in 1992, Erik Larsen has been writing and illustrating the Savage Dragon.
Twenty one years later, Image Comics presents Savage Dragon #190 written and illustrated by none other than Erik Larsen. Issue #190, like the 189 issues before it, have the feel any avid reader of the series comes to expect. Erik Larsen’s greatest strengths may lie in his consistency both in storylines and artwork for the past twenty plus years with one character.
Savage Dragon #190 picks up from #189 with Dragon in jail. Sentenced after being convicted of crimes against humanity during a personality shift as Kurr (who is Dragon’s real persona but after a mind wipe by members of his…you know what, just know that Dragon is in jail), Dragon is subject to daily beatings and enemies all around who would like to see him dead (in particular, Mako).
Dragon’s son Malcolm is dealing with his girlfriend, his girlfriend’s parents, juggling being a high school student and a superhero, helping his dad, and trying to get his driver’s license.
Dart, actually the new Dart, or the new new Dart (the original Dart met her fate at the hands of Mako in issue #112)
is working her way up the ladder to becoming the new leader of the Vicious Circle by lopping off heads and executing various villains who might threaten her ascension to leadership and Osgood, assistant to the late lamented Ronald Winston Urass (aka the Dread Knight II), donning the Dread Knight armor and vowing revenge on the Dragon.
The book has a knockdown, drag out, limb losing battle between the Dragon and Mako, the birth of Frank Darlington’s son’s daughter, and Brenda Funk seeking vengeance for her boyfriend’s death.
Savage Dragon is a comic that has seen its titular character die, be resurrected, witness a fight between God and the Devil, lose arms, legs, and gallons of blood. Fight an array of villains like a half man half shark, a spandex clad chicken, and a pipe smoking crab, travel to different worlds, wake up in a burning field, and become a father. Larsen’s story telling is more graphic than the Big 2’s plots and his art is the perfect blend of realism and over the top muscles, capes, and guns you would expect from a world hanging from by the suspension of disbelief. Issue #190 is no different from the long since honed storytelling by Larsen he has displayed for the better part of 21 years. Issue #190 teases, gives us a healthy dose of intrigue and set up for the coming story arc, creates relatable moments in an otherwise unrelatable world, and makes sure to throw in the loss of limbs which by now, is just what I would expect from the Savage Dragon.
*Featured image courtesy of www.iwantmorecomics.com
*Mako image courtesy of www.dragonfan.net