Savage Dragon Version 2.0: Erik Larsen on The First Day of Malcolm’s New Life

With this week’s issue of Savage Dragon, creator Erik Larsen has fashioned the easiest jumping-on point in the series’ history.Malcolm Dragon, having just taken over from his father as the title’s lead and Chicago’s biggest superhero, starts the issue with a flashback to establish just who this different-looking Dragon is before the issue really gets moving; Malcolm, with a father in jail and a sister working for SOS, is left alone, and he’s had to move to a new place–a crappy one, where the landlord hopes Malcolm’s superheroics will just topple the tenement and leave him with an insurance windfall.He’s also starting at a new school where, for the first time, his notoriety is a real issue. At Malcolm’s previous school, it was always there in the background, but he had been attending for long enough that by the time the “Emperor Dragon” storyline rocked the world, his friends and foes had already developed their opinions of him independent of his fame. Now, he sits down in class and is asked, “Isn’t your dad in jail? Does your d–k have scales on it?”Erik Larsen joined us to talk about the new issue and the new status quo. Check it out below.Remember, this is a SPOILER-HEAVY conversation. Don’t read on unless you’ve already read Savage Dragon #193–which you can buy here, DRM-free, and read along with us.Those who don’t? Well, we feel pity on you for missing out on the awesome–and we’ll be giving away a number of digital copies of the book on Twitter this week. Follow @comicbookdotcom, @russburlingame, @erikjlarsen and @gavhigginbotham to watch for more details.