Erik Larsen on Savage Dragon #224, Easter Eggs, and the Crisis That Will Reshape Reality

Everything counts in Savage Dragon -- now more than ever, as Mister Glum's attempts to merge the [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Everything counts in Savage Dragon -- now more than ever, as Mister Glum's attempts to merge the world of the multiverse has created a world where characters remember the events of previous universes, including their own deaths at the hands of Dragon while he was in the thrall of his Emperor Kurr persona.

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(Photo: Image Comics)

In the final part of the story ahead of the massively-oversized 25th anniversary special, Savage Dragon #225, this week's #224 sets up the chaos that's going to come next, and promises big things for the Dragon family leading up to their impending move to Canada.

Creator Erik Larsen joined ComicBook.com for a postgame discussion of the issue.

This is a spoiler-heavy conversation, so pick up a copy of Savage Dragon #224 at your local comic shop or buy a digital version here and read along as we discuss.

With so many characters and so much violence going on in the first 5 pages or so, this book feels like it's got the gas pedal to the floor even before Glum starts actively messing with reality. Were you trying to convey a sense of chaos throughout? It almost feels like a war movie.

That's basically Glum sending through his troubles so we'd have to deal with them. It also sets up that "aliens are evil" for down the road. Always thinking two steps ahead. This story is really told in three distinct chapters—there's the seed planted to merge worlds—there's the merging—and up next is the fallout from that. The rest is things to help connect the dots and show that it's all one string of events. One thing leads to another. But part of having the old Freak Force members show up is to be able to show the effects on them as well. This impacts everybody.

That first universe distinction — Angel's Earth — feels pretty obviously like a reference to Savage Dragon #75. Are all of those designations significant?

The others really aren't. Since the two initial merging Earths are new to us—I wanted those to be non-specific. The letter designations are GF (Graphic Fantasy) and FF (Freak Force) but the actual numbers are meaningless. SD75-30.1 literally means Savage Dragon #75, page 30, panel one, where we're introduced to this new virgin world.

Do you have an idea for how many Earths are at play here and what the stories are on all of them, or are you pretty much in the same place we are in terms of just knowing what's presented on the page?

I'm assuming hundreds but I don't pretend to have all of them thoroughly mapped out in terms of what happened on which one.

Having seen the cover to 226, there are certain things that seem fairly secure…but is it possible that we'll come out of this story with some of Glum's changes permanently in place?

Not some — all. This isn't a dream sequence. This is the new reality. Actions have consequences. There will be repercussions. If the world knows Dragon to be a murderer — and they remember dying — that has a bigger impact. This gets back to what I was talking about in our last Q&A.

The idea came from me pondering the rollout of DC's New 52 and how it was received. I was thinking—what is it that readers feel is missing? Why does this upset them so much? And the answer is that readers are invested in these characters. They remember each little story and event. Those stories mean something to the reader and they shape the characters. Take that away, or worse, make that vague and readers are going to feel betrayed.

My attempt here is to have the characters suddenly know everything. For everything to matter. If you're a fan of the book early on—all of that happened—everybody remembers that. If you liked it later—that matters too. And there'll be other bits in there as well. Now, much of that becomes background noise in your head like everything else. We don't all recall every moment of every day vividly, after all. But it's there to pull from. If the New 52 had that—and characters still recalled what went on before and the old continuity still mattered to them—I don't think it would have been so universally rejected.

You've talked a little bit on Facebook about the somewhat more graphic nudity in the last few issues. This has never NOT been a mature readers' book, but what's the practical upside of just saying "heck with it" and showing more than you have in the past?

It just gives me more flexibility. There's an honesty to it. Certainly having characters be able to use every available word makes conversation more natural sounding, but beyond that—it just makes everything more real in a way. I can show a wider range of human experience.

When we get the "not now, not ever" moment from Angel; is that something that she'll still be having ramifications from later on, or was that just to show that Glum had successfully blended the world where she and Malcolm ended up together into the main story?

It all has ramifications. But keep in mind, nothing is being overwritten here. any memories she may have aren't being replaced but added to. While she now understands how the other Angel felt and understands how things unfolded, she also sees things from her old perspective and those conflicting feeling are something she'll need to reconcile.

Tierra never really felt like a permanent fit for Malcolm, but seeing them "end up" together makes me wonder: did you consider it?

Oh, sure. I considered a lot of possibilities. I weighed a lot of options. It's just that Maxine really came alive for me when I was writing her dialogue that I ultimately decided that she was the one for Malcolm. I could easily have gone in another direction.

Is reality itself being reshaped here, or just peoples' memories? Obviously even while Malcolm remembers ending up with other people, the kids still exist.

It's entirely memories. The world itself isn't being transformed in a physical way. People just have access to memories from other realities. This will open things up in some pretty wild directions.

On that note — at least for the purposes of this story going forward, is it going to be the team on the ground against Glum, or has reality been rewritten so that Jennifer is dead?

The immediate problem is that nobody knows that Glum is behind all this. They aren't seeing Glum monkeying around behind the scenes—they're all just being bombarded with memories from other realities. Jennifer isn't dead but she remembers dying and Angel remembers killing her just as everybody on Earth remembers dying though not necessarily what comes afterward. If anything, Darklord would be a likely suspect. All that might connect it to Glum is that the memory bombardment coincided with the alien attack.

Is there a particular endgame with the Crisis-style story? Are you, like DC and Marvel typically are, looking to get to a specific status quo? Or is it more about just telling one of those stories?

My own personal goal is simply to have everything from the book matter. That was my one nagging thought after the switchover in #75 and 76 was that it wasn't very clear what people remembered because it couldn't have been fully fleshed out. From here you can have characters like SuperPatriot know, for example, that he was in Freak Force and this is what that felt like.

Other characters can know that they fought along Dragon's side at this point or that. The events depicted were carefully chosen and in each of them—somebody is being informed of something. Suddenly Horridus remembers having snuck into Dragon's bed late one night. And in the case of Widow's daughter—both Janeys would suddenly have access to the memories of the other one. This makes the older issues matter more because those stories inform those characters.

And the pieces we see that are new to us will inform characters as well. People will recall Thunder-Head being a bad guy. Maxine can recall Malcolm marrying both Angel and Tierra. And though she never attended college—Maxine remembers all of the classes she took and books she read from other realities.

I would think that, initially, things could get pretty confusing. A typical dullard would remember buying the red Mazda instead of the white one. He might remember dating somebody that he didn't date. Eventually most of this becomes background noise in the backs of people's heads—like dreams you half-remember. Their present world is still the dominant memory. You might remember buying the red Mazda but you'd know you got pulled over for speeding more often and you're happy you have the white one. It's as though people are more vivid daydreamers to some extent—suddenly they have better imaginations. And the fallout of all this will be fun to explore.

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