Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon is one of the longest runs ever assembled by any American comics creator. With more than 275 total issues in the can, the series is the only Image Comics launch title that has had the same writer/artist since it launched in the 1990s. And since 2008, Larsen has been participating in a series of commentary track-style interviews that break down each issue. Beginning this month, those interviews will be running at Comic Book Club for the foreseeable future.
Last week (December 4) saw the release of Savage Dragon #273, which centered primarily on a brutal battle between Malcolm Dragon and a new villain called Bloodbath. At the same time, Maxine met with a lawyer, beginning a civil suit against Mickey Mouse who, since he fell into the public domain, has been a relentless sex pest in the pages of Savage Dragon.
This is a spoiler-filled interview, so if you haven’t read Savage Dragon #273, you can pick it up at your local comic shop or buy a digital copy on ComiXology.
Comic Book Club: When you first introduced Bloodbath’s race back in the wedding issue, did you have clear plans for them? If so, did they get back-burnered or did you always intend to roll them out a few issues later?
Erik Larsen: I was planting seeds at that point. I knew I’d get back to them down the road but I wasn’t sure how many issues before I’d circle back. That’s frequently the case with these things. I’ll drop in lines of dialogue and introduce characters that I don’t necessarily have huge plans for—but it’s something that can percolate in the back of my brain for a bit. Once I saw how cool they looked in color I bumped them up on the list. I don’t imagine this is the end of their story either.
Bloodbath definitely has a Doomsday vibe, and back in Savage Dragon #267, there was a flame-headed dude who had a bit of a Firestorm vibe. Is that just a lot of me overthinking, or is this your version of some DC concepts?
Sometimes when I’m really strapped for a cover idea, I’ll flip through an album that I have on Facebook of convention sketches and see if there’s a drawing that inspires me. In this case it was a drawing of Doomsday vs. Venom that I took it from. I thought it was different enough. The fire-haired character was just another fire-haired character. I wasn’t thinking of him being a Firestorm type at the time. I was just wanting to show that this race of beings had a variety of different powers.
It never really occurred to me, but in all the alien races Dragon and Malcolm have faced, none of them ever got a look and went “oh, s**t, it’s a Krylan.” Given how dangerous they are, do they not have much of a reputation?
The universe is a big place. I don’t know that they really scattered themselves all over the place and really — only Emperor Kurr and his direct ancestors had powers. The rest of Dragon’s race is essentially human. So, they’re not known as formidable warriors as a race. Plus, they’re mostly pacifists. They didn’t want to kill the human race, after all.
Given Maxine’s history, it seems like every time her life becomes part of the public spotlight, everything goes to hell. Should we expect the Mickey story to be more complex than it first appears?
I’m weighing a number of options. Honestly, the recent election has thrown a monkey wrench into a lot of my plans but that’s how it should be. I should be reacting to the world and making adjustments. I come in with ideas for directions and the characters have their own goals but recent events can throw everything off.
Obviously you’re commenting on the notion that how someone dresses isn’t “temptation” or consent. Does it feel like after the last five years, Maxine was kind of the obvious person to tell a story like that?
Well, sure. It’s a big point at comic book conventions these days—just because somebody is dressed scantily it doesn’t mean you’re entitled to do anything but get an eyeful. But I don’t want to get too preachy about it. It’s a fine line to walk. If the message is too heavy-handed it’s no fun for anybody.
It’s been a while since I remember one of those tall intro panels like on page 8. It was a go-to for a while! How do you choose when to use that kind of layout?
Often it’s just a matter of pacing and making it clear that we’re transitioning from one scene to another. In this case it’s very clearly somebody different on the page and then we see where things take place as the events unfold. I’m trying to keep the book visually interesting and that means mixing things up a bit and using a few different approaches when it comes to laying out a page.
Now that Captain Tootsie is a little more assimilated to the modern day, how has your approach to the character changed, if at all?
I’ve tried to extrapolate based on what’s been established in his strips from the Golden Age and the two issues of his book. We haven’t really seen him interact with the public at large for the most part and it’s been a while since we’ve seen the Secret Legion.
Did Frank just never think to ask what kind of thing he was eating before? I could have sworn you and I talked about the cannibalism question during a previous Glum world story!
Up until that point he’d largely been consuming monsters of some sort but following the recent invasion — these are critters who are capable of speech, which is what gave him pause. These aliens aren’t as different from himself as the others were. Did we talk about this? I don’t recall. But I wouldn’t put it past either of us.
It seems like the princess took a pretty big gamble that Bloodbath would leave quietly or kill himself, rather than throwing her at a bunch of innocent people. Did she just know him that well?
She was ready to roll the dice on that. If he killed her—it would have been worth it. If he killed the lab tech—so be it. The worst case scenario for her would be him forgiving her and insisting they go through with it. Any other solution would have been preferable. Now, where that leads things back home is another story entirely.
The whole “unspoiled virgin” idea is something that feels very rooted in human values and religion. What’s the thought process when you’re “exporting” an idea like that to an alien race?
It’s just more of the same. These aliens aren’t that alien after all. They look pretty human, if nothing else. I didn’t give it some enormous twist. It’s more of a medieval riff, what with the castles and all that.
Tootsie’s plan went off very easily, so I guess it’s no surprise that Glum had something to say about it. Is there any hope for Tootsie’s survival, or is his story here done?
That remains to be seen It’s certainly not the last we see of him.
I kind of love the idea that the princess just took this random dude whose name and face we never learn to paradise. Is there more to that story, or is it just a funny payoff?
There will be more down the road but that’s where I left it for the moment. There are a lot of possible directions to take things and I haven’t quite nailed that one down just yet.
Savage Dragon #273 is in stores now from Image Comics.
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