Erik Larsen on Savage Dragon #214

This week's issue of Savage Dragon brought back a bizarre and fan-favorite villain, while pitting Angel against Dart and the Vicious Circle.

We also got a surprising turn for Barry (Battle Dragon), the son of Battle Axe and Dark Dragon, who reappeared last issue as Dart's new boyfriend.

As usual, Erik Larsen joined ComicBook.com to talk about this month's issue and what we've got to look forward to in the next few months, as Savage Dragon brings in Spawn and Ant.

This is a spoiler-filled review, so remember: if you haven't read Savage Dragon #214 yet, go buy it and read along with us.

What was the idea behind paralleling Malcolm fighting essentially a baby while his kids are being taken? Just Dart's sick sense of humor?

She worked with the tools she had on hand.

If it was a goon she had some control over, which she had use for, she'd be risking that person's life--but a big, rampaging baby? One she can't control? One who might screw things up if he was in her way? Why not toss that guy at Malcolm? She had nothing to lose with that one.

Was the attack ACTUALLY a distraction or was that Malcolm kind of getting paranoid on account of how things were looking?

No, no, it totally was. Dart orchestrated that. It kept Malcolm busy and made their lives easier. In her perfect world, they would have slipped out unnoticed. This wasn't that.

You know, I really thought you had longer-term plans for Barry. Was that a misdirect, or did plans change, or something else?

The problem with Barry, long term is that he's either redundant or a cliche. If he turns out to be a good guy he duplicates a lot of what Malcolm is only he's a few years younger. If he grows up all twisted he's an evil twin.

At a certain point I just had to ask myself--where am I going with this guy and is that worthwhile? I often weigh a few options and try to play out in my mind the long-term ramifications of one choice versus another.

Barry is a really interesting character, and his death here kind of illustrates the weirdness at the heart of somebody who isn't really "bad" except for his hatred of the leads.

Every character has potential. Sometimes it's realized. Sometimes it's not. We didn't really spend enough time with him to find out a lot.

Certainly his parents were not nice people. Does that mean he's inherently evil or good? It's hard to say. From my own personal experience, kids come out fully formed with their own distinct personalities. Parents can try and guide them as best they can but at the end of the day they're not the ones behind the wheel.

Barry's sympathetic because he's young and been dealt a pretty sorry hand but we really didn't get to know his well enough to know for sure which direction he was steering in.

That said, is Dart going to be even more pissed off because she had to kill her boytoy now, or was he pretty much just disposable to her anyway?

We'll see where all this is going next issue. She keeps a lot of her cards pretty close to her vest. What she really felt and what she had planned with the guy was not clearly spelled out.

You're still delivering on a pretty timely basis even though you've been working on Spawn. Has your process changed at all with the two ongoing books?

Not a lot, no. I've lost a bit of ground and I've got a road trip coming up which is likely to cause more problems but it's been okay.

Basically, working on one book gives me a breather and time to think about the other book. Spawn is less involved than Savage Dragon because I have Todd messing with stuff. Both the script and art are raw material that he can use or abuse. On Savage Dragon I can't be as fast and lose because every line, every word sees print.

This is the second time in a fairly short period that you've had a great double-page splash of a building falling down. Is that just a fun visual to work with?

It is a fun thing to draw. I don't try and repeat myself and for the most part, I've avoided that. Earlier the building toss was pretty intact--this essentially collapsed on its own.

None of it makes a lot of sense as buildings can't possibly work like that--but it does look cool.

Speaking of which, you've got a crossover coming up between the books. Anything fans should know about before that kicks off?

Not a whole lot. Fans have been asking about a crossover ever since I started working on Spawn and it seemed a good time to drop that one in. Both characters were in a good place. It'll be a little challenging with Todd's working method on Spawn but that's what keeps it interesting.

We've seen Ant in there, too. Now that you're working with her, how is your take different from existing stories with the character?

It's pretty much what I had hoped her series would have been. When Mario Gully brought Ant over to Image we'd talked a lot about the character and I'd given it a lot of thought but between the five different writers who took a crack at her book it never really found its voice. I'll finally be able to show readers what I had in mind. But a lot of the basics are essentially the same, it's not as though it's a different person under that costume or anything.

For some reason, I really liked Angel's frustration during the fight. At no point was this guy any real threat to her, but his refusal to lose gracefully was annoying as hell. I thought it played well.

I wouldn't say he was no threat. Certainly she got her head slammed into the pavement a few times. Rogue Warrior is no cream puff. But--yeah--it was frustrating for her to be trying to accomplish something fairly simple and have this gorilla getting in her way at every turn.