MY THOUGHTS ON THE SAVAGE DRAGON
Savage Dragon is easily one of THE best
comics out on the market today for the simple fact that the man behind
the Dragon, Erik Larsen, knows what the hell he's doing. He has been
in this business longer than most of these upstarts, and he ain't bitter
like some other *cough* Byrnes *cough* or any of them other old foggies
out there.
He takes his book, the Savage Dragon,
and rips the hell out of any kind of taboos, any cliches, any ANYTHING,
and puts them into the context of the book to make easily the coolest superhero
universe in comics.
The Dragon's universe is the best of all worlds. It includes all
the characters from all the different comic universes (well, at least the
ones that are compatible with the Dragon's) and leaves all that legal,
watered down crap back at the big businesses. The Dragon is probably
the most free character in comics. Nothing holds him or his creator
back. They get to tear through the comics world causing destruction
and mayhem along the way. They throw out all the old standards and
set newer and higher watermarks for future generations to try and reach
to.
Erik Larsen lets any and all of his
ideals or any of his thoughts run rampant through his books. He has
such a passion that can only be felt in the Dragon. When you read
it, you start flashbacking to when you were a little kid, who would sit
in front of the tv watching Scooby Doo or whatever while drawing on 8X12
paper your made up characters, and they'd all be lame, but you wouldn't
care because they're YOURS. Well, that's how it is with the Savage
Dragon, except that these lame characters actually kick ass. A character
in your old homemade comics might look like a chicken man, but in the Savage
Dragon, Powerhouse, who has the head of a chicken, does in fact kick huge
ass, and is a major contender in the world of Dragon. You read this
book and so much nostalgia hits you in the face, it makes you just giggle
while you read it.
Dragon is also the most easily likeable and not to mention
BELIEVABLE character out on the market right now. One would think
that superheroes get a lot of nookie, right? Well Dragon gets his
share and then some, but he also shows his soft side, his emotional side,
his SAVAGE side. He's a three dimensional character with three dimensional
feelings. He doesn't just say "Curses, Joker got away again, but
this time at least, he only killed FIFTY people!" Hell no, he says,
"Fuck this, I gotta take this rat bastard down right now!" and then he
busts some caps in Overlord's mouth sending HIM off of a skyscraper to
see how he likes it (Overlord did the same thing to Dragon previously),
and then talks smack to boot. Dragon doesn't shy away from the violence,
or the controversy. It makes his world that much more believable.
Violent, blood soaked fights? Sure. Goofy looking bad asses?
Why not. Gay superheroes with alterior motives? What the hell.
Best in the biz? You bet your ass.
There's a reason why Dragon is the way he
is right now, and there's a reason why his and his creator's fans are so
nuts, it's because the Dragon KICKS ASS. Look at any other character
out there. Look at any other creator. What the hell?
They act like they're in a retirement home and complain all the time, or
they put out there stuff every six months like some old broad. The
Dragon is ALWAYS fresh, and ALWAYS consistent. Erik Larsen is in
his prime baby, and we, his fans wouldn't want it any other way.
Fifty years from now, or fifty days from now, The Savage Dragon and Erik
Larsen will STILL be kicking ass, as long as we're there for both of them,
and we of course KNOW that we will be. Erik can go nuts, and make
the Savage Dragon the APOCALYPSE NOW of comic books, but you know what?
It'll still kick the crap out of any of those other rags on the rack.
And that's just the way it is.
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to the Savage Dragon section.