Erik Larsen Talks Savage Dragon #203, Its Shocking Ending, Extra Pages and Christmas in May

This week saw not just one, but two new issues of Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, as the Free Comic [...]

By Russ Burlingame - May 8, 2015 08:41 am EDT

This week saw not just one, but two new issues of Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, as the Free Comic Book Day issue Savage Dragon: Legacy, set sometime in 2016, was released on Saturday, followed by Wednesday's Savage Dragon #203.

There are some remarkable similarities between the two book, as readers will no doubt have noticed by now, and those similarities are bound to drive a lot of story over the next year or so. Meanwhile, at least one major mystery from Savage Dragon Legacy is solved here.

Series creator Erik Larsen joined ComicBook.com to talk about the issue, and what it means for the future of Savage Dragon.

You can check out our conversation about Savage Dragon Legacy here.

Of course, remember that these commentary track-style interviews are spoiler-heavy. If you haven't yet read Savage Dragon #203, go buy one and read along with us.

Is Dart's hesitation to inject the blood about ego or her hatred of Mako or both?

Both. But more a fear of this guy--he killed the first Dart--he was this monster and then he was inside her and now he's not--voluntarily putting him back in is just a huge leap to take. She didn't know that monster was in there and BAM she transformed and then broke out of jail and she was a sweaty, twitchy, devastated mess--then she was forced into a corner and had to use the power again and again and then--BAM it's gone but where would that have gone? What would that have led to? It freaks her out. She's all about control and having that in her is the other side of control--it's unleashing the monster, literally. Does she just embrace that and just say, "Aw, fuck it--it's good in a pinch--it got me out of a few jams" or does she wipe her forehead and be glad that nightmare's over?

With Freak-Out playing such a prominent role at the moment, are we going to see how the rank and file freak community who may not necessarily have access to a secret stash of preserved blood are responding to the situation?

I don't want to get into it all in too much detail but it's a minefield. You would think that the government might just want to spray that crap everywhere and make things easier on everybody but there are guys whose lives have been saved by acquiring superpowers. At one point that was She-Dragon's story. If she's dying of some incurable disease and green skin saves her life--bring it on. If curing her freakishness means her death--maybe that's a reason there might be some blowback. Thing is--it's an expensive drug and the freak on the street may not be willing and able to fork out a few thousand bucks to get rid of that ear in their forehead or their talking bellybutton. Most freaks with serious abilities know the drill by this point and have a backup plan. Johnny Earwig with his venomous nose hair may not have his act together but anybody with serious firepower is going to want to be sure they can put themselves back together.

What is it about Alison that makes all these people think they can "save" her?

Her drive, determination, confidence and charisma. Like any good politician.

Christmas in May? Is this book running that late?

Not actually. It's actually been around Christmas in the last three issues and I wanted to pick up the scene from there. Not everything reflects the date on the calendar on the wall precisely. The FCBD book threw things off a bit. Once it's slotted into place in the pages of the regular book I get caught up somewhat.

Malcolm having a vial of his own blood is actually pretty predictable, isn't it? Did we in fact already know that was a thing?

As a kid it wasn't something he'd thought through and planned for. When he was hit with Freak-Out earlier he was restored by his father's blood. He didn't even think that Rex might still have some but from this point out I would think he'd have some put aside for safekeeping.

Angel doesn't seem too too bummed about not being able to party with Malcolm and Maxine. Will we get a little more of a sense of what's going through her head in the months to come, or has that pretty much run its course?

We'll touch on it. She's all over #204.

For a book that's often so brutal, Bellco, Malcolm and Dart all made out okay last issue. Now that he's a freak, though, how will that affect Bellco's production of Freak-Out? Will we maybe see him develop a way to safely restore the powers?

Time will tell. Bellco is a bundle of contradictions and there are factions within the company willing to do all kinds of nasty stuff. Somebody in the company was poisoning the water a while back and turning poor people into monsters. It's not all fun and games.

You know, we don't see Arachnid very often. Does the shine come off a character like that once you've seen him defeated a couple of times? It's not exactly easy to put him in different situations.

The trick is to find new stuff to do with characters like that. If it's the same thing over and over it can become routine. This appearance was more of a friendly reminder that he still exists. It brings him back into the spotlight, if only for a brief visit, but then it can go other places.

The Deadly Duo are fun and all...but I can't help but feel like they have that same kind of innocence that didn't serve the Li'l Wise Guys all that well when Dart became involved. Is that fair?

To some extent, yeah. They're not really at crossed purposes with her though. After getting clued in the Li'l Wise Guys were out to hurt or stop her--the Deadly Duo are stupid enough to think they can help her so it's a different dynamic.

Do you seriously get that "Asian women" nonsense in real life? I just assume that Malcolm is standing in for you in that scene and, if so, seriously, f--k people.

It's more of a gay community thing. I don't think a typical kid would think that way but I guess it's happened often enough in the gay community that it's a thing. It's not so much that dating Asian women turns you gay but that closeted gay men might date asian women en route to coming to grips with their true sexuality. But a kid doesn't know shit. He gets half that and draws his own conclusions. People are stupid.

What was motivating Neutron Bob in sticking around after he lost his powers? I mean...good for all involved, but still.

His mother's health, I would think and wanting to see it all through.

Obviously the whole Twitter firestorm a few weeks back kicked up. Are you at this point just resigned to a segment of social media melting down basically every month when the book comes out?

There's no controlling it. Years ago there was none of this. I'd get one cranky, irate, insane letter and I'd get a good chuckle. Now every lunatic with a keyboard goes out there and spills the contents out of their damaged skulls onto the Internet and we're all supposed to take them seriously. There are a lot of characters in and out of this book. Some are one way and some are another. To pick out one character and obsess on that one isn't especially fair but then--it's not about fairness, is it? Ultimately my response is this--don't like what I say? Don't listen. Don't like what I write? Don't read it. There are a lot of books out there--there's more content than ever--there's plenty to read. Go read that stuff or better yet--create something yourself so the rest of us can take turns shitting all over you and your life's work.

Now, we've already seen the future in the FCBD issue and we know that Maxine is VERY pregnant around then. Is Malcolm just super fertile, or is it possible Tierra is faking it to get back into the circle?

That's what we don't know. She's gotten pregnant before and forced Frank Darling jr. to marry her. Is this a stunt to try and do the same thing? Is this real? If I'm Malcolm, I'd be pretty cautious about the whole turn of events. I wouldn't take any of that on face value.

That final page was reminiscent of the final page of Savage Dragon #27 when Rapture dropped the same bomb on Malcolm's father. How many readers are likely to get that reference? Why do something like that?

A few will make the connection. Many won't. It's there if you see it. It doesn't matter if you don't. It's kind of a fun thing to play with things like that. To give a scene a bit of a sense of déjà vu for those familiar with the old scene but really nothing's lost if you don't get it. The scene in #27 wasn't calling back to anything before. Both work with or without the reference but it's there if you notice it.

The extra pages following the letters pages was a nice addition. Why include them here instead of having them be an added bonus in the trade?

I don't really like the notion of forcing readers to buy trades for extra stuff. It just feels dirty to me.

I did like having them here in this issue because it gave me a little bit which helped with the main story. We had Malcolm and Maxine mention to Rex that she was moving in and we saw his concern and that made his Christmas gift seem more of a logical result of that conversation: "Girlfriend in peril? Try THIS--!"

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