Having worked out all the bugs, and gotten some answers from the man himself, we continue our discussion with writer/artist Erik Larsen about the gargantuan (and potentially most important issue of the series) Savage Dragon #150. Our last story looked at the main feature, telling the story of Savage Dragon’s first brutal encounter with the new Overlord. There were LOTS of backup stories in the issue’s 100 pages, though, and here’s where Larsen gets to dish on those a bit.
Without further ado…!
Blog@Newsarama: So I guess the first thing, and the most general, is WHY these characters, these stories? What went into the selections of these particular backups
for #150?
Erik Larsen: In the case of Thor and Vanguard, it was getting pieces in place for future stories. I the case of the G-Man jam, it was a combination of promotion for the upcoming G-Man miniseries and giving it a big send off from the Savage Dragon book–the character started as a backup feature in Savage Dragon. With both the Golden Age Daredevil origin and Savage Dragon’s origin–it was getting those origins out there.
Blog@: The inclusion of the origin of Dragon really gives it that feeling that they put to Captain America #50 - a summation of Bucky’s career. And while The Buckster is still kicking, so now is Steve Rogers. Is it fair to say that part of the origin retelling is a reminder to readers that Dragon has entered a completely new chapter?
EL: To some extend, yes–but there’s also a matter of wanting to set the stage
as best I can and spell out clearly who the players are and what they’re
all about. I’ve not seen Captain America #50, so I can’t really comment on
that.
Blog@: We discussed in the previous conversation the tendancy of Daredevil and the Li’l Wise Guys to take in strays…are there any other character traits or quirks that we should be on the lookout for, say, in the Daredevil origin story included in SD #150?
EL: Not so much, really. I just wanted to get that story out there–for the record– it’s one thing to summarize a character’s origin and it’s quite another to see it in all of its glory. Post-Michael Jackson, it’s a little weird to see a group of kids hanging out in bed together with no visible clothing. That was a little weird. That was part of my thought process when I had Alison Summers (Dart) in that same state in the lead story.
Blog@: On that note–while the CHARACTER is in public domain at this point, do you have to wrestle with anything to get these old issues or are they up for grabs, too?
EL: They’re up for grabs too. It’s just a matter of finding them.
Blog@: Are we going to see some of these story beats–particularly the cliffhanger left behind at the end of the Vanguard story–come to fruition in Savage Dragon, or will we be seeing one-shots/minis…or are these just stories you’ve been wanting to play with?
EL: The Vanguard stuff will be played out in Savage Dragon. I’m trying to keep things as self-contained as possible at this point. I don’t want readers to have to chaise down other books in order to enjoy a particular story. The idea is to keep this book all-in-one. Years ago, I had there be bits of a story spill over in another book–Vanguard, actually, and it made things very confusing for some readers and, when books were collected, there were pieces missing from the story that were a little more essential than I’d have liked them to be. Because of that, I’ve made an effort to keep things very much self-contained.
Blog@: I love the asterisks in the Thor story–between it and the general look of the characters, it’s got a very specific feel to it. Were you looking to capture another era in comics here?
EL: The art was by Cory Hamscher, so I can’t really speak for him and what he was going for artistically. Cory is–to me–a perfect Image artist. He would have fit in perfectly in 1992 with the rest of us. His work is kinetic and explosive and he did a bang-up job on this Thor yarn. We’re talking about doing more work together. We’ve been kicking around a few ideas.
Blog@: I also think that the abruptness with which the Thor/Glum fight comes to an end is pitch-perfect. What will they do, though, if they get there and Dragon is in little pieces? Seems like a long trip for nothing! Are they just going to stamp on the little pieces like Arthur Dent or something?
EL: We’ll see what goes on once he arrives. Rober Kirkman did this Savage Dragon miniseries some time back and at the end of it Thor was trapped in Dimension-X. This is going to sound anal but it keeps with what I said earlier about wanting to keep everything self-contained–I wanted to bring Thor back to earth but I didn’t want to do it in the main Dragon story because, when everything’s collected, Kirkman’s story won’t be included and it seemed weird to me to have him getting out of Dimension-X but not going into it. Having this take place in a back up story accomplishes a couple things–it pays things off for the continuity guys who read Savage Dragon: God War and wondered when Thor would get back to earth and it set things up for the future–reintroducing Thor to those who had never seen the character–plus it gave Cory a kick-ass story to draw.
Blog@: Dragon looks VERY different in the Giarrusso backup than in the main
feature–almost like a better-rendered version of the animated series. Is
it tough to adjust your style when it comes to a character who’s evolved
so much? Does doing so make you feel like you’ve gone backwards sometimes?
EL: That may have more to do with the coloring, actually. He shouldn’t look THAT different. Chris Giarrusso laid out the story and sent it to me in pencil form. I came in and finished the Dragon art, adjusting things where necessary. Chris tends to draw heads a bit bigger than I do and that threw me off a little but I thought it worked out pretty well. If I pulled any of those Dragon shots and plugged them into one of my stories I think they’d blend in without a blip.
Blog@: I know you’ve done it before, but we’ve never talked about it, either–how
hard is it to match up positioning and things when you’re drawing for someone else’s page? Here, or in Image United, or anywhere?
EL: It’s not that big a deal, really. The only time it can get sticky is when the guy laying it out puts the character in a pose that simply doesn’t work–but you do the best you can with it. Adjust things here and there to make it work. We’re all professionals here.
Blog@: With the Overlord arc obviously taking front and center right now, how long will it be before we start to see some payoff from these backups?
EL: It’ll be a little while but I’m not going anywhere. The book isn’t going
anywhere. If it takes a year–that’s okay.
Blog@: Care to tease a little of what’s in store for some of Dragon’s supporting
cast we DIDN’T see here? Are there any left ALIVE that we didn’t see here?
EL: There are certainly others. I haven’t touched on She-Dragon in a while and she’s currently being held captive–or Rock and his family–who have a diner that Dragon frequented. When Frank Darling was alive, he and his wife Mildred and Frank Jr. had something of a presence. Now that Dragon is gone, Dragon’s kids are going to live with them for a while so that’s coming up. There’s also another Dragon from a different dimension–Darkworld–that I haven’t touched on in a while–he’ll be showing up in the next year or so. There is no shortage of characters. The trick is to reintroduce them in such a way so that new readers don’t feel lost or confused. But, y’know, I didn’t start reading any of the books that I read as a kid from their first issue and I managed to figure out what was going on. Sometimes all it takes is for a caption or word balloon to catch readers up to speed. Something like: “This is Dark Dragon–he was from an alternate Earth called Darkworld which was destroyed–he’s trying to convince the world that he’s the real Dragon.” goes a long way.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Loved the backups! I can’t wait to see what is up with Angel’s face (the one that is with Mr. Glum). Erik’s been hiding her face in the shadows for a while now. And, while I like Erik’s Thor character, as well as the characters from the Vanguard story– I really hope that Erik doesn’t follow up on them too soon. I like how the series is back to being grounded in Chicago with Dragon trying to clean up the city again from the Vicious Circle just like in the beginning of the series. I’m not yet eager to see gods and aliens return to the book.
July 19th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Grr! I forgot to talk about the Angel thing. There was just a lot of stuff and my notes were scattered. Okay, I’ll mention that to Erik next month, I promise!