When Image Comics launched back in 1992 (over 30 years ago, damn I'm old), I wonder how many people thought some of those earliest series would, somehow, continue to this day. Certain titles from that first decade occasionally had series off-and-on and grew into a complicated publishing history ("Youngblood," for example). Other lines went over to DC (Wildstorm in 1998). Some books arrived with a splash before being forgotten--"Tribe," anyone? Still, "Spawn," grew to be almost the face of Image at points, persisting with a consistent schedule for years and years. Todd McFarlane and various folks he worked with kept pumping out, "Spawn," comics even when it seemed they were being released more as a favor to McFarlane by Image than actually moving units. Inexplicably, Spawn had its popularity return, and now it is a hit again with spin-offs and ongoing chatter of another movie being possible (the original one was a bit of a mess). That said, this post isn't about, "Spawn," and now that I've got you too in deep to quit this piece, it is time to pull the rug and reveal this post is about the other long-running Image book. Yes, "The Savage Dragon," has also become the talk of the town lately, albeit for reasons, "Spawn," probably wouldn't ever dream of.
Created by Erik Larsen in the 1980's and originally just known as, "Dragon/The Dragon," the debut issue of, "The Savage Dragon," hit shelves in 1992, and ever since then Larsen has been the sole writer and artist. He puts out issues sporadically, and the series seems to feature whatever is on his mind, or he fancies discussing. Dragon was an amnesiac hero who became a police officer. Later on, he's in a dystopian reality. Big powered wars happen. Characters seemed to age in real time; the original Savage Dragon died, and his son took over the series. The book started occasionally getting a bit raunchy. It often riffed on politics. A public domain Mickey Mouse showed up and was a jerk, quite recently. Describing, "Savage Dragon," is best done by saying, "Random and weird stuff happens," and that is meant as a compliment. This is a comic that has kept coming out and has a die-hard fanbase, but is generally ignored by shops who only order it for said fans. Then issue #280 did something creatively raunchy--and baby, sex sells.
Without spending a whole paragraph explaining the lore, I will just say that issue #280 involved Malcom Dragon (the son of the original who now is the focus of the book) arriving home to find his beloved involved in a group-sex session of sorts with other heroes. For some years now, "Savage Dragon," has been racy, yes, but Larsen did something funny with this issue. The, "A," cover also features a different last page than the, "B," cover with a retro trade dress. In, "A," cover copies, the last page is a bit less (how to put this) visceral in the fluids pictured. In issues with the, "B," cover, things are quite visible and messy. It is absurd and crass, yes, and boy did it light a fire under the comic for some reason, with people learning there was a surprise, "Dirtier," iteration of the comic causing mayhem. The A and C covers (the C has the same interior as A) were sought-after, and B has gone nuclear. Issue #281 came out last week with various covers and no interior changes, but it has been desired by fans who hadn't cared about, "Savage Dragon," in years. Meanwhile, with #280, the A cover is an easy 20 bucks, and the B cover is over $100. There is going to be a second printing this week that is specifically the B cover and its interior--which is a bit unique to hear. As I said, sex sells. I suppose gimmicks sell too, so combine them and there ya go!
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