In the latest issue of Savage Dragon, writer/artist Erik Larsen has brought a long-running plot point — Maxine Dragon’s seemingly-uncontrollable nymphomania — to a head and shifted the direction of the series, even as another long-running concept boiled over and threatened to consume the Dragon household.
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Malcolm Dragon’s blood has healing properties — but it’s incredibly dangerous to use and has to be done just right, or the person he’s trying to help will literally explode. Up until now, that has never really been public information, but now it’s out there…and for an issue, we got to see how that impacts the people of Toronto living with debilitating conditions and wondering why only the few Malcolm chooses deserve to live.
Larsen joined ComicBook.com for his regular look back at the issue, to talk about what it means for the present and future of the series.
As ever, this is a spoiler-filled interview, so if you have not yet read Savage Dragon #238, either head over to your local comic shop to pick one up, or grab a copy online at the ComiXology or Image Comics websites.
So where did the really-random-pet names come from? I know this is not the first issue, but I feel like I can’t remember if there was an origin point for it.
No origin, really. Some people go the per name route and plenty don’t. I’ve been binge-listening to the old radio show Vic and Sade from the ’30s and ’40s and Vic calls his son Rush random names and I thought it’d be a cute bit for Maxine and Malcolm to do, especially how they can get somewhat personal and cutting if tempers flair.
In Vic and Sade it was always good natured but I don’t feel bound by that. They would call each other occasional pet names earlier on–“honey” and “little lady” and “mister” and whatnot and it seemed a natural outgrowth of that, though it did get a bit out of hand in #237.
Was the plan all along to put Maxine into therapy, or did that come later on in the sex-crazed story?
A lot of stuff seems to write itself. I may have a rough idea but ideas occur as things unfold. Things seem to have a natural progression. Once Angel suggested therapy a couple issues back it seemed natural to take it there.
Her voice-over provides a nice, expedient way to kind of move through the story with what feels like a kind of elegant exposition dump.
Yeah. It’s always a tightrope to walk. Nobody wants to read a wall of text. Those summary pages that start a lot of comics these days are a waste of time and space—nobody reads those things and they’re frequently spilling information that is either irrelevant to the issue in hand or redundant.
I’ve opted to include hints and pieces rather than a lot of exposition. There’s really little readers actually need to know when it comes right down to it. If a character is doing good things a reader understands that that’s the good guy. If a person is doing evil things readers can figure out that they’re the bad guy. The rest is largely distracting.
Often, comics seem impenetrable because of all of the information dumped in there. It doesn’t need to be so complicated. It’s taken a while to figure out the right balance but I think I’ve found it. This issue had a bit more than usual but I thought it worked out just fine.
The “we thought of everything” page, where we have the cure, the Freak-Out, and the Angel blood, is a kind of neat bow to tie everything up in. Was the whole purpose of injuring Angel really just to address the larger issue of Malcolm’s blood and to get the eventual inevitable reveal out of the way?
It served a few purposes. It showed that Scourge as a formidable adversary and set his story in motion and it gave a highly visible injury that Malcolm needed to contend with, which would show the world that his blood had these amazing healing properties. It accomplished a few things all at once. It propelled the narrative where it needed to go and it gave me one more thing for Malcolm to have to contend with down the road.
The complications of the specific details aside, there is SOME credibility to the question “why should only Malcolm’s friends and family get this cure,” right? This doesn’t seem black and white, even though expanding it out more broadly seems basically doomed to fail.
It puts Malcolm in a bad spot. I mean — yeah — if it can do this miraculous thing — why not? On the other hand, like they said — he doesn’t have an infinite supply. But it definitely sets up a moral quandary. Whose life might he save? If a beloved celebrity gets into an accident —would he step up? It’s something he’s going to need to wrestle with.
…Is it safe to assume that Mary Jane is getting married to someone called Peter?
It could be anybody, really. That question remains unanswered.
I do like the fact that Maxine sees past the near-death experience to realize that it hasn’t been right for a while, which seems like a step beyond what Malcolm was saying last issue. Is dealing with her suddenly NOT wanting sex every minute going to take a toll on him?
We’ll have to wait and see if that happens. If it’s a mental or physical thing and if it can be cured — that’s one thing. If it’s not — and it can’t be — that’s something else altogether.
It just all depends on the prognosis and where things go. If she’s incurable — then what? If it’s something which can be shut down — then what happens? Up until now Malcolm’s just enjoyed the ride but ultimately, he wants what’s best for her.
Have you incorporated any of the criticisms of the book from the last few years into the therapy to address that?
For my own sanity — I try not to consider any of that. I write and draw my book for me. It’s as though I’m writing in my diary.
I try not to think about what the audience does or doesn’t want. I’m not taking dictation here. This isn’t a restaurant where fans can order off the menu. I’m making the meal that I feel like making and if you want to eat what I’m serving — you’re in luck.
Does Maxine’s break from the expectations of what has been built up on the reality show jeopardize the show, or make for better TV?
That remains to be seen. They’re on a short break between seasons. The initial commitment was for a handful of episodes. We’ll have to see how it all shakes out.
But like everything else — life has repercussions. There were a lot of cellphones out when Maxine went on her rampage, after all.
It has been a while since we saw Scott James’s Deadly Duo. What brought him back to the fold?
He asked and I answered. There are a few creators who have contacted me about wanting to participate. Sometimes it works out — sometimes not. This time it did.
