Image Comics co-founder Erik Larsen‘s long-running series Savage Dragon will reference the novel coronavirus pandemic in its landmark 250th issue, Larsen told fans on Twitter this weekend. The series, which is set in real time and takes place in a fictionalized verison of the real world, has routinely referenced true events ranging from the war in Iraq to the elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. The main character of the series, Malcolm Dragon, had to flee the United States with his family after U.S. President Trump issued a decree banning extra-terrestrials from the country. So it may be little surprise, in the context of today’s world, that COVID-19 is playing a part in the upcoming giant-sized issue…but Larsen himself didn’t expect it when he started the book.
After 250 issues, all of which have been written and drawn by Larsen, Image is promoting the series as the next in line to eclipse 300 issues. That was, before Spawn surpassed it recently, the record for longest ongoing run of an independent comic. Of course, Sim’s Cerebus was a somewhat different situation than Spawn, since Sim did the book all by himself, while Todd McFarlane has been using work for hire creators for almost all of Spawn‘s run. It seems likely that if anybody is going to surpass Sim as a writer/artist who basically conjured an independent book out of thin air for 300 issues, it would be Larsen.
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You can check out the tweet below.
My book is set in real time and in a fictionalized but real world. I was not expecting COVID-19 to play a part in SAVAGE DRAGON #250 when I wrote the solicitation copy for the issue but–here we are.
— Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen) April 11, 2020
You can check out the primary cover for Savage Dragon #250 (there are also covers by Skottie Young, Walter Simonson, Rob Liefeld, and Frank Cho), and the official solicitation text below.
ERIK LARSEN’S SAVAGE DRAGON HITS ISSUE 250! For 28 years, ERIK LARSEN has chronicled the lives and times of the Dragon and his extended family in one of comics’ only series set in real time. This monumental oversized milestone issue is a sweeping culmination that sets the stage for the next phase of comics’ most uncompromising series with its most shocking story yet! Forces have conspired against Malcolm Dragon and his family—but is this a turning point or…THE END?! Find out as SAVAGE DRAGON becomes the second original Image title to reach its 250th issue and begins the countdown to #300!
Savage Dragon #250 will be in stores later this year.
