Press Release
A changing of the guard is taking place next week in Chicago. Having lost its great protector, citizens of the Windy City and the family of Officer Dragon must face a new reality. Issue 169 provides a great starting point for new readers or those that wish to be reintroduced to this no-holds-barred superhero comic that includes plenty of heavy-hitting fist-a-cuffs, good-natured humor and universal themes at a time of great change for the characters.
As Malcolm Dragon, son of the famous (sometimes infamous) Savage Dragon, copes with the final loss of a superhero father who had not always been a reliable presence in his life, he must fend off nefarious villains and ne’er-do-wells. Malcolm may feel unprepared to assume such weighty responsibilities, as he must also deal with a life filled with the normal awkardness of being a teenager and feeling out of place, as well as the damaged legacy left behind by his father.
“In the last couple years, Dragon went from being a cop to being the greatest menace to ever appear in this book,” said Image Comics founder and creator of SAVAGE DRAGON Erik Larsen. “Characters in SAVAGE DRAGON change just like people do in the real world. Malcolm didn’t even exist when the series started, but readers have been there to see him grow from a baby to a guy old enough to star in his own book. This is a big step for him and a big turning point for the series. It’s an exciting time for everybody.”
SAVAGE DRAGON began in 1992, but the character was originally conceived of during Larsen’s childhood. Since the beginning, the story has moved forward in real time, including the gradual growth and aging of characters. Now the young Savage Dragon that sought to fight crime in the early ’90s is gone, but Chicago still needs a hero. Enter: Malcolm Dragon!
SAVAGE DRAGON #169 (DEC100491), a 32 page full-color comic book, is in stores on February 23, 2011 for $3.50.
1 Comment
The Savage Dragon was one of the few Creater Owned titles to make it out of Comic’s Independent Golden Age of the 1980 and, I admit, I loved this series at first. But like many of the more popular creator owned titles, Eric Larsen got bored with the series after a while. The number of story pages grew less and less, while the slack was taken up with more add and more letter pages. The end came, for me, when I bought an issue of Savage Dragon that only had about eight or ten pages of story and the rest of the issue was taken up with Eric’s rambling responses to letters from readers, which was pretty much nothing more than Mr. Larsen engaging in ego masturbation for ten or twelve pages. At that point, I lost interest and I’ve never gone back. It’s interesting to see where Mr. Larsen kilt the Dragon, but if this is the usual comic book “dead” we’ll probably see him come back again as soon as sales slip a little.