by Russell Burlingame
Savage Dragon #135
When comic book fans, professionals and critics discuss great "runs" on mainstream superhero books, the same handful of names and titles come up—Grant Morrison's Animal Man rates up there alongside Claremont and Byrne's X-Men, or Dan Jurgens's Superman, or Marv Wolfman's Teen Titans. Woefully underrated is Erik Larsen's run on Savage Dragon.
Larsen is the only one of the original Image creators who is not only still working regularly as an artist for Image, but is still working on the same title that he was when Image was founded in 1991. One hundred and thirty-five issues in, Savage Dragon continues to impress, and will almost certainly overtake Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley's run on Ultimate Spider-Man for the most consecutive issues by a single creative team (Larsen is a creative team unto himself, as the writer, penciler and inker of Savage Dragon since #1) on a title.
It's particularly apt to point out Larsen's dedication to this title and this character with this month's issue, which introduced a supporting character called Prism—or rather, I should say reintroduced him. Prism was originally created for Graphic Fantasy, the 1982 Ajax Comics anthology that also gave life to The Savage Dragon and Iron Hawk. Years later, some of the edge may be worn off of Larsen's Dragon, but it remains one of the most consistently entertaining reads in superheroics. Issues like this one have the feel of wonder that's missing from so many mainstream titles, and Larsen seems to channel the combination of good-natured familiarity and novelty that made Jack Kirby the King. And with a reprint of the original first meeting of The Savage Dragon and Prism included, without increasing the comic's $2.99 cover price, it's a bargain to boot!
10 Questions About Savage Dragon #135 with Erik Larsen
Click here to check out the Q&A tied to this issue!
Page last updated on April 7, 2008