The Savage Dragon 4

The Savage Dragon 4

Summary :

Dragon shows up in the house in Dekalb, where his  colleagues are waiting for him to deal with a freaking monster down in the basement.

As it turns out  the monster is a girl that's has been abandoned and left to die.

Admittedly she does look like a monster but that's all. 

At the police station Frank frets over Mildred, who has her leg in a cast after she was 'accidentally' knocked off an escalator. 

The girl, Dragon rescued is  rapidly  improving while captain Stewart  thinks she will make a perfect  addition to their little  freak force.

Dragon doesn't exactly agree with this. 

Amanda Mills pleads her case  to Dragon in person and professes her love for him.

He isn't interested. 

He is a target, everybody around him is a target. He doesnt want anymore blood on his hands of people just associating with him. 

A couple of super freaks are going at  in the underground, Dart and Dragon are send in to deal with it.

As it turns out, a huge  puss shooting zitman  is trying to choke Ricochet.

Dart  loads him up with  darts which causes him to explode in a  rain of puss, 

presumably  because the darts popped the zit. 

Dragon extends his job offer to Ricochet and Barbaric again and this time they accept.

As it turns out though, Ricochet isn't old enough yet  to be allowed on the force. 

Angrily she bounces  away. 

And we see Mrs Schwartzblatt  taking the bus to Chicago !! dun dun duuhhh !!!  

Credits :

Writer and artist : Squeeky Larsen.

Letters : Squeeky Eliopolous.

Colors : Squeeky Kohl, Squeeky Oliff, Squeeky Rude.

Editor : Squeeky Wong. 

Notes :  The credits were a joke of the people involved in the comic,

everybody was squeeky that day. 

This kick started  a proud tradition, with issue 5 that  still stands till this day. 

The last panel on the last page with Ricochet and Barbaric was rather infamous on the letter pages. 

The color of her costume and Barbaric's  arm  in the background, made it look like she had a humongous crotch. 

This issue like the one before it and after it, has a back up story which will be rounded up and reviewed  in due time.  

Review: 

The  long running, well  3 issues by now, mystery in Dekalb Illinois is  finally  resolved !

And we get to see Dart's ass again, this time on the cover.

Very  90's Image. 

But back to the story at hand, the mystery in the cellar is Horridus\Sara. 

A  girl that's at  least 18  years old and has been chained  in  the cellar by her parents all her life, because they couldn't  deal with the fact that their daughter  was a freak  ..literally. 

Eventually  guilt or remorse  or  not being able to  live anymore  like this,  led them to kill themselves, but this isn't made clear.

What is clear, is that  she  was left to die in the cellar, which is a pretty dark turn for a self proclaimed funny book. 

With some heavy  implications. After all how many children were there like Horridus,   chained in a basement  or with parents who blew their own brains out, but without  officer Dragon to rescue them ?

Speaking of Dragon he just waltzes in and takes control of the situation. 

His fellow officers come off as less good, either as  incompetent cowards or borderline  idiots, considering Sara some kind of monster.

But then again, what Chicago had to deal with before Dragon came along,  it's not unreasonable to assume they are cautious.

The long simmering, slow moving  Frank Darling subplot finally gains some traction. 

His wife Mildred  was  "accidentally" bumped off the escalator and broke her leg.

She doesn't see what the fuss is all about.

She is fine and so is the baby, but Frank and off course we know better then that.

But for  somebody who is pregnant, Mildred still has an oddly perfect figure.

Maybe she is still at the start of her first trimester. 

Captain Stewart shows his true colors in this  issue.

And he is the slimy sorts, willing to  strong arm, what  is basically a mental child, who was  raised by the TV in his little freak force.

Dragon isn't onboard with the idea, but also isn't in a position to do much  about it. 

Mary j...err Amanda Mills -who totally doesn't look like Mary Jane Par...err Watson these days,  the way Erik Larsen drew her-  also makes another appearance.

She is the woman that was held hostage in the second issue of the original mini series and this is another long simmering subplot, that  wont  go anywhere until issue 33 or so. 

This issue however is the first time she openly confronts Dragon, in an attempt to pursue him and Dragon makes it clear he isn't interested. 

He has extremely good reasons to say no, but Mrs Mills isn't convinced. This however is something we'll will get to later, much later in fact. 

She is obsessed purely because Dragon saved her. 

We also meet Ricochet and Barbaric from issue 1 again as Dragon and Dart are springing in to action. 

A huge puss spewing  zit man is trying to choke Ricochet for some reason....no seriously. 

And Dart  loads him up with so many darts, he explodes in a shower of puss  ...seriously. 

Dragon extends his offer to work for the police  again tot hem and this time they accept. 

Ricochet, as it turns out isn't old enough. What age she exactly is though, is never made clear. 

And we close off with Aunt May  ..err  Mrs Schwartzblatt,  beware  !!  

Issue 4 is all about world building, moving characters into place, introducing  or reintroducing them. 

Getting freak force going and reminding the reader this plot or that plot, is still an on going concern. 

Horridus introduction and situation has unpleasant implications, but nothing much is done with it. 

Horridus  remains mentally a child though and she is rarely able to put up much of a fight in future issues. 

Dart  and Ricochet are now both female characters, with bare legs and  wearing what is basically a thong. 

And issue 5  introduces a third female character dressed like that. 

Must be a 90's thing. 

Issue 4 isn't as strong as  issue 3. It's mostly an world building issue that gets things in to place, but it does so  with  verve and there is a strong direction in the storyline.

And a clear  indication that Larsen had an idea where he was going and hoe he wanted to get there.

Which was something that was frequently missing, from most early Image comics. 

Most of the plots brought up in issue  3 and 4  will be resolved  by issue  6 and 7  never over staying their welcome or wearing out or running out of steam.

Sometimes  the  plotlines will get short shrift, because it all goes so  fast but  this is not the case with issue 4.