Showcasing the Essentials 05

Savage Dragon Archives Volume 1

Story and art by Erik Larsen

This is Larsen's version of Marvel's Essential line or DC's Showcase line. It reprints in black and white the original 3 issue Savage Dragon mini and the first 21 issues of the ongoing series. Savage Dragon was and still is the only one of the orignal titles that came outta the beginings of Image that I read consitantly. Dragon is a tall man with green skin and a fin on top of his head. He is found naked in a abandoned lot in Chicago. He has amnesia and can't remember anything about his past,but he seems to have vast knowledge about most things that have happened in the past 20ish years. He is recruited by Frank Darling of the Chicago Police department. The police want him to help combat all the villianous super powered "freaks" that are running rampart in the city.Dragon ends up becoming the city of Chicago's first line of defense against these "freaks".In the 3 issues of the mini and the first 10 or so issues of the ongoing we are introduced to the many heroes and villians that populate Larsen's ficticious version of Chicago.One thing that stands out to me is most of these charecters were all created by Larsen when he was a youngster. Through out this trade Dragon manages to get a group of heroic "freaks" to also join the police force to help his fight against crime. But the restrictive rules and various other things ends up making these various heroes time as cops very short. One very interesting "freak" is Jimbo Da Mighty Lobster, he was created for a "Create your own freak"contest. Jimbo is a Lobster/human hybrid and has a very "colorful" was of speaking. I find it neat that unlike similar contest ran at either Marvel or DC,the creator of Jimbo is the copyright owner. Through out the 24 issues reprinted in this trade we get to meet a buttload of heroes/villians. Some standouts are Powerhouse,who has the head of a chicken and seems to be Larsen's villianous take on Superman. Overlord,who is the leader of the main gang of "freaks" and is Dragon's arch enemy. Rapture,and electrical powered former hooker who becomes Dragon's girlfriend.She Dragon,who started out as a parody of John Bryne's version of She Hulk,but ends up becoming a well written female hero that hears voices in her head. Super Patriot,a hero from the world war II era ,who after almost dying is now more machine than man. And finally Mighty Man,who shares alot with the Billy Batson version of Captain Marvel. But in this case is a young adult female nurse that turns into a adult male with amazing powers. Some issues that I really enjoyed are issue 3 of the mini series. In this issue Badrock,a member of the government super team Youngblood,attacks Dragon to see if he is tough enough to be a member of Youngblood. After Dragon defeats him,Dragon arrest Badrock and refuses to join Youngblood. Issue 2 of the ongoing series is a crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And this is the Mirage version of the turtles,not the pizza eating version that most people are use too. Issue 10 is the first appearance of Jimbo Da Mighty Lobster,and has a Pier 6 brawl between Jimbo and Dragon.Issues 15 and 16 has Dragon possessed by a leech that turns him into a mindless force of nature,and he ends up destroying some building and injuring his partner in the police force. The only real negative to this trade is that since it is in black and white sometimes the artwork is hard to follow. This isn't a huge detriment,but since I had read most of these issues when they first came out it stood out to me. Savage Dragon Archives Volume 1 is a great way to get into the world of the Dragon at a cheap price,and earns a respectable B.