Erik Larsen Passes the 'Savage Dragon' Cover to A New Generation

Erik Larsen, Image Comics co-founder and creator of Savage Dragon, has shared an image on social [...]

Erik Larsen, Image Comics co-founder and creator of Savage Dragon, has shared an image on social media that represents the first time Malcolm Dragon's three children have appeared without an accompanying adult on the cover of the long-running series.

The image, to be featured on the cover of this summer's Savage Dragon #236, is the latest in a series of family surprises in recent months, including the return from the dead of Angel Dragon's mother, and a war between clones of Malcolm and his mother on a distant alien world.

Such a move might seem trivial, except that since Larsen writes and draws Savage Dragon in real time, Malcolm took over the series from his father a few years ago (after being born in the pages of the comic and growing up with the readers). Larsen has expressed that he hopes the series will last long enough that one or more of Malcolm's children will grow up to take over the title.

You can see the black-and-white cover below, which echoes a common aesthetic for landmark Savage Dragon issues: the character running at the reader with motion lines, and often as the only figure(s) on the page. Notable prior examples are the first issue of the original Savage Dragon miniseries (featuring Dragon himself), Savage Dragon #100 (also Dragon), #172 (Malcolm and Angel, Dragon's children), and #225 (Dragon, in his final issue).

At this point, to simply say that Larsen has passed another milestone in Savage Dragon is kind of old hat. The writer/artist has been with the same characters for a quarter century and has reached the point where about half of anything he does is "something nobody has reached before."

Still, seeing these characters -- who were conceived during the controversial group sex scene in Savage Dragon #200 -- not only old enough to be toddling around and walking, but to be featured as quasi-independent entities on the cover of the comic book is, as Larsen points out, a trip.

Savage Dragon #236 should be on the stands in July.

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