Savage Dragon #170

The Savage Dragon is dead. When Mighty Man is on a rampage, it's up to the fourteen year-old Malcolm to deal with him. 

The Good 
For 170 issues now, Erik Larsen has been consistently delivering story after story. You really get a sense that he cares about his characters with each issue. What sets Savage Dragon apart from other comics is there are consequences when things happen. Savage Dragon is dead. The fate of the city now resides in the hands of his fourteen year-old son. Despite his strength and abilities, protecting the city won't necessarily be an easy task. Most comic book universes tend to get stuck in a little bubble where everything is fine at the end of the day (or issue) but that's not the case with Savage Dragon. Time moves on. People die. Things happen. 

Then there's Larsen's art. I always love it when an artist has their own distinctive style. Larsen captures the mood and feel of the characters whether they're in the middle of a battle or just walking down the street talking. In this issue we have action, blood and guts and even a startling revelation or two. What more could you ask for? 

The Bad 

I think the real bad thing is that I don't hear more from people reading this comic. Obviously that's not to be held against this issue. This is a decent jumping on point but new readers might be a little confused. With Savage Dragon's death, I still haven't decided how I feel about it. I applaud making such a move. Will he return as characters that go away often do or are we better with Malcolm being the lead? It will take some time to get used to but I should trust that Larsen knows what he's doing. 

My only real complaint is what the cover suggests and the battle we get inside. There is a major battle and it's a bloody one. It's just not the one I hoped we would get.

The Verdict 

The Savage Dragon continues to show that superhero books can be successful outside of the Big Two. For 170 issues now, we had the consistent quality that only Erik Larsen can deliver. You get a sense that, perhaps partly because he owns the characters, he really cares about what's going on in the series. You might have heard that Savage Dragon is dead so now we're seeing the series continue with his fourteen year-old son, which also goes to show that time does exist in this series. The characters aren't stuck in a nice safe comic book bubble. Unfortunately I don't hear a lot of people talking about this series but this issue provides a jumping on point of sorts and is something more should check out.