Savage Dragon

[Nerdpool]

Hey everyone. I've only been reading comics for about two months now, but I love it.

I was a huge fan of The Savage Dragon TV show on USA a long time ago when I was ten or so, I decided to get the first Dragon TPB. Now all of these memories are coming back of Super Patriot, Overlord, Basher, Star, and Mako. I don't remember that sick bastard Arachnid though. Anyway, it doesn't seem like Savage Dragon is very popular. I've only read the first five issues, but I really like it. I got the TPB in NM for $5 from Lone Star Comics. Is it just me, or do people really not like the Dragon?

[Black Vespa]

Hey everyone. I've only been reading comics for about two months now, but I love it.

I was a huge fan of The Savage Dragon TV show on USA a long time ago when I was ten or so, I decided to get the first Dragon TPB. Now all of these memories are coming back of Super Patriot, Overlord, Basher, Star, and Mako. I don't remember that sick bastard Arachnid though. Anyway, it doesn't seem like Savage Dragon is very popular. I've only read the first five issues, but I really like it. I got the TPB in NM for $5 from Lone Star Comics. Is it just me, or do people really not like the Dragon?


i'm not a huge fan. but hey, to each their own, right?

[GRANT!]

I fucking love Savage Dragon. It's been one of my favorites since I started reading comics when I was 13 and stayed.

It only gets better.

If you're collecting trades make sure to get...

Vol 4: Possesed (this is when the book jumped to one of my all time favs, Eriks art and writing dramatically improve in this run).
Vol. 5 Revenge (Dragon faces the Fiend and Overlord)
Vol. 7: Talk with God (various crossovers with Image characters, a meeting with God, birth of Dragon's son)
Vol. 9: Worlds at War(Dragon works for the government, takes on a time traveling villan and the Gods)
Vol. 10 End Game (Death of Dragon)
Vol. 15: This Savage World (A Kirbyesque homage that restarts the the universe)

There's a bunch of great storylines that have yet to be collected like "Last Rites" (59-63), "Reclaim the Earth" (92-96), "The Chosen" (97-100), *"Trapped in Dimension X" (108-111), *"Vicious Circle Rising" (112-116) and *"Glum World" (125-131) and this new storyline with Solar Man and the Image World Tour is shaping up nicely.

*Titles I just made up and the issues mentioned could be collected differently.

[GRANT!]

I fucking love Savage Dragon. It's been one of my favorites since I started reading comics when I was 13.

It only gets better.

If you're collecting trades make sure to get...

Vol 4: Possesed (this is when the book jumped to one of my all time favs, Eriks art and writing dramatically improve in this run).
Vol. 5 Revenge (Dragon faces the Fiend and Overlord)
Vol. 7: Talk with God (various crossovers with Image characters, a meeting with God, birth of Dragon's son)
Vol. 9: Worlds at War(Dragon works for the government, takes on a time traveling villan and the Gods)
Vol. 10 End Game (Death of Dragon)
Vol. 15: This Savage World (A Kirbyesque homage that restarts the the universe)

There's a bunch of great storylines that have yet to be collected like "Last Rites" (59-63), "Reclaim the Earth" (92-96), "The Chosen" (97-100), *"Trapped in Dimension X" (108-111), *"Vicious Circle Rising" (112-116) and *"Glum World" (125-131) and this new storyline with Solar Man and the Image World Tour is shaping up nicely.

*Titles I just made up and the issues mentioned could be collected differently.

[Gavin Higginbotham, BotF]

I dig this out every time someone asks about SD. I wrote this a couple years ago on my myspace page;


Why everyone should read Savage Dragon

I've been reading comics pretty religiously now since January 1995. I got turned on to them after falling in love with the X-MEN cartoon and then finding a bunch of them in a WHSmiths once. This prompted me to find a nearby comics shop and I found one in Reading (Escape Comics, awesome store). I snapped up as much as my meager budget could afford and I was hooked.

After several years of collecting and gaining a steady income, I branched out and threw a shitload of money at this hobby. In my experimentation, I acted on my interest in something called SAVAGE DRAGON. I'd seen reviews of the book and interviews with Erik Larsen (the creator of the series) and I was certainly interested. I visited Escape and bought up whatever back issues I could find.

I was hooked.

The action, the artwork, the dialogue, the characters, the violence, the death scenes, the bouncy females… it was all awesome. I then began a search around any other local(-ish) comic shops and did my best to fill in the gaps in my collection for both the main series and the various spin-off series (SuperPatriot, Freak Force, Star, the Deadly Duo, Vanguard, and many more).

When I finally entered the modern age and got the internet, I completed my collection from the online store at www.savagedragon.com. With this I entered the online community and joined up with the message board. I met up with a crapload of my fellow Fin-Addicts and many of them became good friends. The coolest thing about this board though? Getting to interact with Erik Larsen himself.

I'd never 'spoken' to a celebrity or famous person or however you want to describe it before and this was a real thrill. I had simply posted some questions about the series and Erik had been the one to reply. I couldn't believe how cool this was! I became a regular on the board and joined up with two email communities and got to meet even more cool people that way.

After reading Savage Dragon for a year or so, I'd become pretty obsessed and wrote up hundreds of issue summaries, character profiles, timelines, character databases… basically, I totally geeked out on this comic book. And you know what? I friggin' loved every second of it!

When Erik was putting together a companion book to Savage Dragon, I volunteered my writing services and got to write a fairly big chunk of the thing. Seeing my name in print when the book was published was an absolute thrill and for that, I'll always be grateful to Erik. I hope that when/if a second volume gets released, that I'll be involved with that one too.

Now, just why did I become such an addict to this comic called Savage Dragon? I'd collected tons of other comics, television series, DVDs, videos, etc before this. What made Savage Dragon different from all the rest?

I'm not entirely sure.

The artwork has a cartoonish feel to it at times; at others it is graphically violent. There is no real sense of realism in Erik's style, anatomy isn't completely crazy or anything, but some of the exaggerated proportions make it so that a live action movie of the series would be pretty difficult without some serious CGI involved. Dragon himself has fists as big as his head and shoulders almost as broad as he is tall.

But the artwork is just awesome. The late Jack Kirby is the undisputed King of Comics but his energy, ability to create an endless amount of characters and certain aspects of his style all live on somewhat in Erik. He can draw everything from crime stories to cosmic battles between gods to straight-up superhero slugfests. Just don't get him to draw cars or animals!

The characters themselves can be pretty strange. PowerHouse has the head of a bird, coated with yellow feathers and he has a beak. Mako is a shark-man that would scare the piss out of you if you saw him walking down an alleyway towards you. Redneck has a head and face that resemble both male and female genitalia. Wally is a floating eyeball that shoots laser beams. The list goes on and on. And on. And on. Erik has created over 300 characters for the book and new characters are being added to the cast all of the time.

Now, one of the great things about Savage Dragon is the fact that you NEVER know who's going to turn up in the pages of any given issue. Sure, the cover may give you a rough idea but they can simply be great examples of misdirection. SD#72 for instance featured Dragon fighting the human puss-ball named CessPool.

CessPool did not actually show up until the end of the book and the rest of the issue focused on a funeral battle scene between Dragon and the survivors of Freak Force against the latest host to the Mighty Man entity, Chelsea Nirvana (herself trapped in the body of her elderly, dying father), who was in turn possessed by the evil Wicked Worm leech. Pretty wild stuff, huh?! It's crazy!

The fact that Erik has so many characters does make waiting for your favourites to show up sometimes excruciating (bring on Zeek!), but when they do make their return, it's always worth it.

To combat such a gigantic cast, Erik isn't afraid to kill off a character or twelve. The bodycount in this series is massive. No one is safe. No one. At any given point, watch out! Your favourite character could get his spine torn out, or head punched off, or his heart run through. You never know what is going to happen when you turn that page. And I love the book for that aspect of danger.

Another great thing about Savage Dragon is the continuity, both in story elements and the creative team. You can count on every single issue to be written, penciled and inked by Erik. He's even lettering and colouring the series now, it's truly a one-man show. This may not sound strange to non-comic fans, but a stable creative team is almost unheard of nowadays. The constant influx of a new writer or artist wishing to stamp their mark on characters can lead to poor costume changes, bizarre changes in personality and the ignoring of past plot points.

To put this in terms that more people would understand; imagine the third season of Lost opened up with Pee Wee Herman in the role of Jack. He was no longer a doctor but in fact a dog trainer who could also speak to the polar bears on the island. It'd suck. By reading Savage Dragon, you miss out on all of this type of shit.

As for the hero himself, Dragon is different from other comic stars. He's heroic, sure, but that doesn't mean that he's a boy scout like Superman. If you fuck with Dragon's friends or family, he'll rip you in half. He can be a jerk on occasion to his loved ones. He doesn't always take threats seriously. But he will always do what he believes is right, no matter what.

Dragon is also fiercely loyal and brave. He will defend innocents and those he cares about from threats, no matter how much danger he could be putting himself in. In order to protect his good friend Alex Wilde, Dragon went to face dozens of supervillains all on his own. He was outnumbered, outmatched and outgunned. But did Dragon back down? Fuck no! He took the fight to his enemies. Dragon at one point in the battle had his arm shot off. Did he surrender then? Nope! He picked up his severed limb and smashed people with it.

I love Savage Dragon. If I had to give up all of my comic collection and only continue with one series, it would be Dragon. I will only ever stop reading the series when it concludes. And thanks to Erik's stubbornness, that shouldn't be for decades to come. I hope to be reading it when both me and Erik are old men. And I'm positive that I'll still enjoy every single issue.

[Schmakt]

nice, Gavin!

Savage Dragon got me back into reading comics after several years hiatus. It was issue 114 that did it for me. :)

[Greg Anderson]

Gavin, fantastic read! I'm always seeing you around, here and in the Image boards, but I don't think we ever interacted! :smile: Once again, fantastic post.

As for me, count me in as another Savage Dragon fan. I was always interested in the character but never enough to check the book. It came to the point I was looking at artwork for the character and I just got pretty excited and wanted to try out the book, but my shop never collected the issues. Last April was the NYCC and I went and actually decided to jump on board to Image Comics after getting annoyed with Marvel and DC. I bought the Savage Dragon Archives vol. 2 (Image booth didn't have vol. 1) and I ended up meeting Erik and he signed it for me. I told him I was actually excited as it's the first time I'd be reading his book.

I finally started paging through. At first, I wasn't TOO into it, but it came to the point that I couldn't put it down. I was so engrossed into EVERYTHING in the book. It was one of the best times I had reading a comic book, I must say. After finishing the archive, I jumped to the monthlies and have been enjoying ever since. I still need to get the first Archive and I totally recommend the book to everyone. Definitely one of Image's best on-going series.

[Jedi_Master_Clark]

nice, Gavin!

Savage Dragon got me back into reading comics after several years hiatus. It was issue 114 that did it for me. :)

Wow. For me, it was issue 115 that got me into reading comics again.

I love the savage Dragon, though it seems the story has been down hill for awhile. I still love the character though, and think the story is good enough for me to continue buying it.

[Gavin Higginbotham, BotF]

Thanks, Schmakt and Greg!

I dunno, I can talk about SAVAGE DRAGON for hours on end. The trouble is, none of my friends out here in the "real world" read comics so they tend to glaze over when I start. :)

I have managed to get someone interested though, to the point where he was even eager to read a hastily-written 5-page back-up story for SD (that won't ever see print, I'm sure), just because he was amused by my describing of the losers of the Brute Force auditions fighting the loser zombie and vampire characters from the SD-Hellboy crossover. Bless him.

[Greg Anderson]

Thanks, Schmakt and Greg!

I dunno, I can talk about SAVAGE DRAGON for hours on end. The trouble is, none of my friends out here in the "real world" read comics so they tend to glaze over when I start. :)

I have managed to get someone interested though, to the point where he was even eager to read a hastily-written 5-page back-up story for SD (that won't ever see print, I'm sure), just because he was amused by my describing of the losers of the Brute Force auditions fighting the loser zombie and vampire characters from the SD-Hellboy crossover. Bless him.

Heh, your love for Savage Dragon is like my love for Two-Face and David Hine writing. I get so damn excited to discuss anything to do with Two-Face or Hine's stuff and I'm always trying to get people to enjoy my bliss, even shoving an issue or trade under their nose until they read it. :biggrin:

[Gavin Higginbotham, BotF]

Heh, your love for Savage Dragon is like my love for Two-Face and David Hine writing. I get so damn excited to discuss anything to do with Two-Face or Hine's stuff and I'm always trying to get people to enjoy my bliss, even shoving an issue or trade under their nose until they read it. :biggrin:

Yeah, I'd happily allow my friends to read my SD stuff... but there'd be strict conditions where they'd have to read it in my presence so that I could make sure they didn't "hurt" them. :)

[Greg Anderson]

Yeah, I'd happily allow my friends to read my SD stuff... but there'd be strict conditions where they'd have to read it in my presence so that I could make sure they didn't "hurt" them. :)

Heh heh, I'm the same exact way, LOL, but there's a few I can trust and they know how crazy I get if a single issue/comic of mind gets messed up. Especially a Hine or Harvey comic. :mad:

[Descartes_Lives]

Nerdpool, Savage Dragon should not be missed. I icked up the first Archives a while back and have been loving it ever since. The beginning featured a lot of butt-kicking and liberal use of guns, and it was a comic that I wanted to read.

Now I'm awaiting the third archives volume, and I still want to read this book. The characters are unforgettable. They grow old, die, are born, and mature before the reader's very eyes.

A lot of series hit the stands every month. Some aren't that great, some are worth your money, and some will go on to become classics. Savage Dragon consistently falls into the latter category.

Des.

[Erik Larsen]

I love Savage Dragon. If I had to give up all of my comic collection and only continue with one series, it would be Dragon. I will only ever stop reading the series when it concludes. And thanks to Erik's stubbornness, that shouldn't be for decades to come. I hope to be reading it when both me and Erik are old men. And I'm positive that I'll still enjoy every single issue.

Aw, shucks. Thanks, Gav.

And thanks to everybody for their support in this thread.

[Nerdpool]

I remember reading a comic book when I was nine or so, (I think it was the first one I ever read) and I hadn't read another since Iron Man Vol 4 a few months ago. After reading Vol 1 of Savage Dragon, I noticed some of the characters looked strangely familiar, especially SuperPatriot, then I saw some other characters that struck a nerve in the concept art in the back of the TPB. So I looked them up and came across Freak Force. I browsed through some of the covers, and low and behold, there it was, Freak Force #8. This was the comic I had read so long ago.

I ordered the first eight issues of Freak Force, then I'm going to start on volume 2 of Savage Dragon, while keeping up with the others: Deadpool, Hulk, Air, Ultimate X-Men, Avengers: The Initiative, The Stand, Cable & Deadpool, the Maximum Carnage crossover, Venom: Dark Origin, and Thor.

I <3 comic books.

[Schmakt]

since Brikhed seems to be absent, I'll do it...

*poke*
You should give Proof a spin too... issue #12 comes out this week (part 3 of a kick-ass 3 part story) Next month's #13 guest-stars Mr. Dragon. :biggrin:

[Greg Anderson]

since Brikhed seems to be absent, I'll do it...

*poke*
You should give Proof a spin too... issue #12 comes out this week (part 3 of a kick-ass 3 part story) Next month's #13 guest-stars Mr. Dragon. :biggrin:

Damn, that Savage Dragon appearance is next month already?! Time went by quick! And boy am I loving Proof also! :biggrin:

[Nerdpool]

since Brikhed seems to be absent, I'll do it...

*poke*
You should give Proof a spin too... issue #12 comes out this week (part 3 of a kick-ass 3 part story) Next month's #13 guest-stars Mr. Dragon. :biggrin:

Proof... you say? I've been hearing about this.

[Greg Anderson]

Proof... you say? I've been hearing about this.

Get it. Now!

[Ben Akers]

Buy the first Proof trade: The Goatsucker, you won't regret it.

[Nerdpool]

My favorite online comic store has it for $8. I'll have to get it next payday (my comic budget is blown for this one).

Thanks ya'll.

[Schmakt]

8 bucks is about right... and well worth it.
'tis $7.99 including shipping at heavyink.com. :)

as with lots of comics, the first arc isn't the best. (a la The Sandman) It's good, but I feel like it's really been taking off post-#6. I also like short story-arcs tho, so that could be some of it. If you see #9, (the one that looks like TIME magazine) it's a great intro to the characters and what not. Done-in-one story.

I haven't seen Proof in any of the Dragon solits... Wonder if this crossover will be going both ways... would love to see him show up in Dragon's search for Jennifer, but it looks like Erik pretty well has that story wrapped up already.

Speaking of... 138 is on the Diamond ship list for next week. I can't tell you how freakin' cool it is to have SD coming out this regularly again. Thanks, Erik!

[Nerdpool]

8 bucks is about right... and well worth it.
'tis $7.99 including shipping at heavyink.com. :)

as with lots of comics, the first arc isn't the best. (a la The Sandman) It's good, but I feel like it's really been taking off post-#6. I also like short story-arcs tho, so that could be some of it. If you see #9, (the one that looks like TIME magazine) it's a great intro to the characters and what not. Done-in-one story.

I haven't seen Proof in any of the Dragon solits... Wonder if this crossover will be going both ways... would love to see him show up in Dragon's search for Jennifer, but it looks like Erik pretty well has that story wrapped up already.

Speaking of... 138 is on the Diamond ship list for next week. I can't tell you how freakin' cool it is to have SD coming out this regularly again. Thanks, Erik!

Thanks for the Heay Ink website. The only online stores I order from is MyComicShop.com and eBay.

[Ben Akers]

as with lots of comics, the first arc isn't the best. (a la The Sandman) It's good, but I feel like it's really been taking off post-#6. I also like short story-arcs tho, so that could be some of it. If you see #9, (the one that looks like TIME magazine) it's a great intro to the characters and what not. Done-in-one story.


The first arc is still enough to make anyone fall in love with the series forever.

At least that was what happened when I read it. :wink:

[Greg Anderson]

The first arc is still enough to make anyone fall in love with the series forever.

At least that was what happened when I read it. :wink:


Much ditto.

[Schmakt]

Much ditto.

oh, shit yeah!
It was definitely fantastic. :)

But the issues after that are even better!

[Erik Larsen]

Speaking of... 138 is on the Diamond ship list for next week. I can't tell you how freakin' cool it is to have SD coming out this regularly again. Thanks, Erik!

You're quite welcome.

[Nerdpool]

I got my first eight of Freak Force in, and I'm really enjoyinf it. LOTS of action. :)