Savage Dragon # 110 - Mobile Edition

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Savage Dragon # 110
By Leroy Douresseau
September 8, 2003 - 14:02

Image Comics
Writer(s): Erik Larsen/Gary Carlson/Chris Giarusso
Penciller(s): Erik Larsen/Mark Englert/Chris Giarusso
Inker(s): Erik Larsen
Cover Artist(s): Erik Larsen

For as often as Erik Larsen engages John Byrne in Internet yapping, it's amazing how much his Savage Dragon reeks of Byrne's 1980's work for Marvel, especially Fantastic Four. If you're an old enough reader, you'll recognize that Larsen also flavors his work with the spirit of Walter Simonson's excellent work on Thor, as well as the work of the ubiquitous Jack Kirby.

That said, Savage Dragon is a mildly entertaining reading experience. On some occasions, the book is a hilarious read, but most of the time, it's about an average reading experience, as are most mainstream comics. Larsen has a knack for writing the kind of serialized story beholding to tight continuity that most long time comic book readers crave, the perception of the work's quality being a matter of personal taste.

Larsen is a confident cartoonist, which is evident in his bold and dynamic composition. He may never be a great artist, but he's honest about creating the kind of slam-bam, fun-to-read comics he obviously remembers reading and enjoying when he was a teen moron. Savage Dragon #110 is like other Dragon comics: big fights between gaudily clad super combatants with ludicrous names (Mighty Man, indeed), lots of exposition, and a somewhat intriguing cliffhanger ending. Even if Larsen thinks his book is bargain priced compared to other comics, $2.95 is still a tad too much to charge for what amounts to a momentary, tepid thrill. Unfortunately for the medium of comic books, he's not the only Barnum charging suckas so much for so little.