Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: The New Kids on the Block
Written by: Erik Larsen
Penciled by: Erik Larsen
Inked by: Erik Larsen
Colored by: Bill Crabtree
Lettered by: John Workman
Editor: N/A
Publisher: Image Comics Group
Erik Larsen has kept SAVAGE DRAGON fresh for more than ten years by taking Dragon in very new directions at frequent intervals. These changes create entirely new experiences with Dragon and are no different than the change in tone books like FANTASTIC FOUR have seen in their 40 odd year run. Currently Dragon is on an alternate Earth where much of the mayhem from past 100 issues never occurred. This quirky bit of storytelling allows many formerly dead characters to return to the forefront. The most important character being the Dragon’s old sweetheart Jennifer. The recent marriage between Jennifer and Dragon has made possible a whole new set of stories following the husband and wife team’s battle against evil. Add to that equation Jennifer’s daughter Angel, and Larsen has had the chance to tell some insane stories about the strange family life of a super hero.
The issue concerns Dragon’s trip to Washington, to meet with the President about the group of Gods that have taken to living above American soil. The President is desperate to attack the Gods and find weapons of mass destruction. The Dragon’s hilarious retort, “These God’s don’t ‘have’ weapons of mass destruction. They are weapons of mass destruction!†of course falls on deaf ears. Larsen uses Dragon’s Liberty League partners Super Patriot and Battle Tank to amusing effect. Their argument spans Bush vs. Gore, dangling chads, hippies, and the legacy of JFK. Only Erik Larsen can throw this much irreverent humor into a couple of pages.
The real focus of the issue is after the meeting with the President, when Dragon and family try to have a quiet picnic in a D.C. park. Of course the calm is disrupted by Humongous, a hulking stone Tiki Idol whose monosyllabic speech is very similar to the Hulk. New Image heroes Firebreather, Invincible, and Major Damage arrive on the scene, and team up with Dragon and Jennifer to save the day. While I haven’t read any of the newbies’ books, I did find them interesting as written by Larsen.
Larsen gives you a lot for your money. The double sized issue contains a full length Major Damage origin story, along with the usual strips and short stories that Larsen throws in. While I found it disappointing so much of the issue focused on the three “Youngblood’s†(pun very much intended), I understand getting these characters exposure in one of the better selling Image titles; I would have preferred to see a little more Dragon for my $3.95. Yet for less than four bucks you do get 48 pages of content, so that’s not a bad deal at all.
