Here we go again ... another embarrassing review moment as we checked and realized we have never done a single review on Erik Larsen's super awesome Savage Dragon series. This is one of two series that started the Image revolution that until today is still running, the other being Spawn. Now while I am not a big fan of Erik, neither do I dislike his work. There is a lot of energy in his lines and at this early stage of his career, his work has a lot of lines and details before he morph more and more into a Kirby-esque homage (see Dragon above #75) ...Anyway if you start with this, it does feel like you are in the middle of a story. The good part is that there is sort of a one page flashback sequence somewhere in the middle of the story. Another good part is that there is not a lot of panels wasted on exposition on the origins of Dragon and the bad? It feels like you are in the middle of a story (hehehe)
Now on to the tale proper SPOILER ALERT at the start of this tale, and for many years, Larsen wants Dragon to have the same persona as Cable and Wolverine i.e. a man who cannot remember his past but that in no way takes or retracts from the reader's enjoyment of the series as it supposedly add a layer of "mystery" to the protagonist and in this case, Larsen made all the right calls because the series at the start is really enjoyable
We start with a Dragon who doesn't remember who he is or how he came to be the Dragon looking like that, all green, super strong, regenerative abilities and with a fin on his head. What is even more add is that before being found by a police officer in a burning field, a fully grown adult, there is no record in any of the news media about there ever having been someone like him and hey we are talking fin head okay? So mystery set and in place
Well, our police officer sort of placed him with a family member who then got iced by the super villains in Chicago and that is how the Dragon ends up as a police officer which is how we opened the first page of this comic
And in quick succession, we are shown how the Dragon is a bad ass by how fast he takes down nasty villains without even second's worth of hesitation employing violent means to win and to save lives, be damn with the consequences and the paperwork ... which when you even stop to think is weird ... because hey it is America, the land of being sued and suing
Hah
Aside from that, we also see that his first buddy, the police officer is quickly having huge personal stress problems that are hinted at here. And then as the Dragon wants to confront the powers of Chicago, he is being directed at other superpowered issues .. here we refer to Ricochet and her brutish mate ... SPOILER ALERT ... these are characters that are being introduced here who will then become members of Freak Force ... a team that will assist Dragon in future law enforcement ... so you know this is just a chance for gratuitous fighting but hey it's comics and that's what we want! Hahaha!
So is it worth the time? Yes if you like loads of action and a comic that takes more than 20 mins to read because each page? Has tons of words from balloons to this and that. Hehehe! Awesome!
Ratings: 6/10
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