The Savage Dragon #274 // Review
Angel Darling has come to Dimension X. Naturally she’s being attacked by a whole bunch of monsters. JUST ONCE she would like to go to Dimension X and not have to run into an army of things that are trying to kill her. She isn’ going to realize that dream in The Savage Dragon #274. Writer/artist Erik Larsen opens the year for his long-running series in the beautifully starry vista of Dimension X, which has been decorated by a whole bunch of flying red demon creatures. Their distinct shade of red and so much of the rest of the color of the issue comes courtesy of colorist Nikos Koutsis.
They’re all a bunch of Kirby-esque demons. They’ve all got wings and they’re all attacking Angel. Normally, she might be able to handle one or two of these things on her own. But here she is in disorienting Dimension X and everything. It's just not a very good situation. If she's going to be able to survive, she's going to need to get a little bit of help. And naturally, she does get a little bit of help. But, will that help be enough to defeat the enemy?
Larsen centers the entire issue on a single conflict. There are only a couple of heroes directly involved in the conflict. Given that it's a lot of indistinguishable monsters. this really isn't the best situation for an entire issue. It could feel really op progressively monotonous under the wrong circumstances. However, Larsen manages to make it interesting throughout. Angel has a lot going on psychologically right now. And there's some foreshadowing about other things that may be coming down the line as well. So there's kind of a lot that could happen moving forward. It's kind of interesting to see an issue arrayed with as much simplicity as this this.
Larsen’s art is heavily influenced by Jack Kirby. There may have been a bit more of a distinct look to his art back in the 1990s when this series started, but Larsen seems to have tilted more and more aggressively in a Kirby-esque direction that ever-so-slightly tilts into something more contemporary. Everything from the look of the monsters to the framing of the action and the overall appearance of the heroes kind of looks like something Kirby would have put together. As a result, it really feels like a refreshingly retro issue that simply chose to take a look at a certain kind of fight scene and just...crank the intensity up to maximum volume. Throw-in an attractive female lead and it’s a really fun issue.
Once again, it's nice to see an artist who simply has his option of working on something like this and not having to answer to anyone. And he's genuinely doing something that he seems to be enjoying. And the fun does transfer to the reader. So all of that lines up really well. The fact that he is choosing to keep his work to a minimum means that he's able to take his time with it and continue to develop it. It's just really nice to know if this is out there. It may not be for everybody. But it is a lot of fun.
