Erik Larsen on 'Savage Dragon' #241, Shredded Christmas Sweaters, and Eternal Youth

Today saw the release of Savage Dragon #241, which introduced the former Tootsie Roll pitchman Captain Tootsie into the series' continuity.

Yes, really.

Captain Tootsie was, as his name suggests, at one point a mascot for Tootsie Roll candies. The character was created in 1943 in an advertisement, but eventually got his own, short-lived comic book series and has been allowed to fall into the public domain, even while Tootsie Rolls themselves remain popular.

According to the Public Domain Superheroes Wiki, Captain Tootsie "would always need to consume a Tootsie Roll for a sudden boost of energy in whatever task he needed to perform. He had a sidekick, a boy named Rollo, and two other young cohorts named Fatso and Fisty (the three of whom, along with the Captain himself, made up the Secret Legion)."

So...how does that tie in with last month's status quo-altering issue? And what could the Secret Legion have to do with the current anti-alien sentiment running through Savage Dragon? Well, Larsen joined us to talk about the issue.

Just a reminder that these interviews contain spoilers, so if you haven't yet, head on over to your local comic shop or buy a digital copy of Savage Dragon #241 on ComiXology and read along with us.

There is a LOT happening in this issue. Is there anything you do differently with these transition issues to make sure stories where there are 30 things going on are still appealing to people who haven't read in a while?

Not really — just make an effort to keep it comprehensive. There needs to be just enough there to catch people up but not so much that it becomes unwieldy and cumbersome. What do you actually need to know? Often the guy who's read the last issue and the guy reading it for the first time need almost nothing. The guy who's been reading it already knows information and the new reader doesn't need to know things which aren't relevant to the issue in his hands. Every relationship can't be explained in detail and if it is—it's unnatural and complicated. Keep it simple — keep things moving and don't fall into the trap of over-exploiting or making things incomprehensible.

In spite of his PR problems, the police still pretty much seem like they're cool with Malcolm. What is his official role like these days?

He's still their go-to guy to call when they have superhuman to cope with. If there's a chance a cop could be torn in half or killed — why not call in the muscle? Malcolm is Batman at this point. If the police need him — they'll call him and he shows up. I would suppose if there's a bounty on a bad guy that he'd get that but at this point it hasn't really been defined what he gets out of going on regular calls.

Why DID Malcolm decide to watch the video?

Curiosity played a part, certainly. He also thought he could better empathize if he actually saw what happened. That, and the tapes would be destroyed and lost forever so this was his only chance to get some answers. Maybe not the best move but it's certainly made him more able to know what she'd gone through.

It seems like Maxine is in a bad position here; her relationship with Angel can't be quite right after all of this, but as the issue notes, they don't really have a ton of other options in terms of childcare.

Yeah. It's a trying time for all. Plus, at the end of the issue Frank Darling Jr. is back in Angel's life, if only for a visit. There are a lot of forces at play. She can rely more on her other children who can handle Madeline but that's not a great solution either because they're all three years old and a hardly mature enough to grasp what's going on.

Captain Tootsie is, as you note in the issue, a character we have theoretically SEEN before even if this is his first real story. What made him the right character for this particular issue?

This stemmed from an interview in the TwoMorrows book, The Incredible Herb Trimpe, in which Herb talks about the origins of the character Doc Samson and how Roy Thomas had essentially copied Captain Tootsie's costume to make Samson's. That hadn't dawned on me before and being a fan of C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza, who created Captain Tootsie, and of Herb Trimpe, who was drawing the Incredible Hulk when Doc Samson was introduced, it struck me that it would be fun to do an homage of the cover of Incredible Hulk #141 for Savage Dragon #241 and swap in Tootsie for Samson and Malcolm for the Hulk.

How much research went into the Captain Tootsie character?

I did a lot of research online. Captain Tootsie is in the public domain so his comics are all free and easily found and read. After reading all of the various Captain Tootsie strips to figure out just who he was and what he was all about I went to work.

The Tootsie Roll based one-page strips were all pretty straight forward and it introduced a lot of the supporting characters (mostly kids) from his life. The two issues of his short-lived series were another thing entirely as the creative team ditched the Tootsie Roll tie-ins and decided Captain Tootsie could invent his own space ship just as easily as he could brush his teeth, the country could have a Space Force where we routinely traveled the stars and Captain Tootsie could go flying off to other planets and fight aliens.

How do you reconcile that with what you've previously established? What could you consider canon in Savage Dragon continuity?

I think of this book as flexible enough to contain anything. I ended up treating it all as canon. The strips had a supporting character that I wanted to use, Rollo's little brother, Buddy and the comic book had all of the insane science fiction stuff where jetting off to other planets was no big deal and I just went with it.

How the reality of that in the 1950s would have drastically changed the world wasn't resolved but there are always ways of doing that if I feel so inclined. It's fun and it's pretty goofy but I'm fine with that.

Is that the same Christmas sweater Malcolm wore last year on the cover of the Nazi-punching issue or a different one?

That one was destroyed in Savage Dragon #230 but it's a similar sweater. This one has white trees on it instead of green ones. And, like its predecessor, this one didn't make it through the issue unscathed.

The physical part of Malcolm and Maxine's relationship is already causing a lot of problems on the emotional side. Is that a longer-term thing you want to explore?

There's a lot of potential there, and I would think a lot of conflicting emotions involved because Maxine was very much addicted and Malcolm was very much going along with that ride. Now that she's had a moment and can look at things from the outside — there has to be a lot of things at play. In a way it's like an alcoholic being pressured to have another drink — on the other hand, sex is nothing but good for you and a part of a healthy, happy life. But she's uncertain how, or if, she wants to do that again and she's not in a mental state where she's ready just yet. There's a lot to explore.

How does the Li'l Wise Guy blood play into Maxine's frustrations with her life right now?

It is something she asked PJ for and, now dreading her own death due to a terrible brush with the afterlife it's got to be tempting to sign on for eternal youth.