Transformers Spotlight 01 Shockwave.

Transformers Spotlight 01  Shockwave.  

Summary :

Six hundred thousand meta cycles ago, during the height of the great war, Shockwave surmises that the  perpetual conflict will have disastrous consequences for the planet.

So he decides to do something about it. 

Distilling raw energon and loading it  aboard missiles, sending them to various  planets among which a pre ice age earth.  

Much later, after the last ice age and the mammoths are dying off  Shockwave becomes proactive, stabilising  the wild energon reactions.

First stop: earth.

However the Dynobots have tracked him to the planet. During the war the Dynobots got foiled by Shockwave and are eager to extract revenge. 

The energon reactions on the surface of the planet  are dangerous to unshielded  Transformers. Causing the Dynobots  to  go to extreme lengths, by wrapping themselves in to synthetic flesh, buffering them against the  energy fluctuations and taking on alt modes that resemble dinosaurs.  

Down on the planet, Shockwave goes about his business, ruminating  about the parallels of  earth's current condition  and Cybertron's predicament. Concluding that evolution is key. Evolve or die. 

The Dynobots attack and are barley able to hold their own. As the battle goes on, Shockwave  realises this is about nothing more then wounded pride and he can barley comprehend it. This is not logical. 

Instead he  turns off his  higher core functions and facilitates a synthetic form of rage,  with which he brutally takes the Dynobots down. 

Grimlock however has anticipated things not going to plan and pre-programmed their ship to fire  upon a nearby volcano. Sweeping Shockwave and the Dynobots in to a pit of molten lava. 

In a Decepticon base Megatron notices Shockwave's absence and order Bludgeon to look in to it. 

In 2006  a  team archaeologists in Eureka Nevada, unearth a  massive purple hand.   

Credits :

Writer : Simon furman

Artist : nick Roche

Colorist : Josh Burcham

Letterer : Sulaco Studios

Editor : Dan Taylor

Notes  :

Set six hundred thousand megacycles before Infiltration, at the very least. 

The website on the first page of the very first issue of Infiltration 1, refers to the last  page of this comic. 

This issue is released in September 2006,  concurrently  with Stormbringer 3.

After Infiltration 6  (  June  2006. ) 

And before Escalation  1  (  November  2006.  )

The Dynobot ship isn't named here yet, but it will get it's name in Maximum Dinobots. 

Revealed to be skyfire  ...gee  ..wonder who that could be in relation to.

Review  :

It's only logical that this should be the first spotlight review. 

The spotlight series were an  loosely set of  one shots. Spotlighting one character in particular, with ties in to the main storyline weaving in between the main story arcs. 

As such the placement of the spotlights is a bit hard to determinate sometimes. 

But not in the case of the series premier issue. 

Spotlight Shockwave.

Which quite clearly, is set far before Infiltration or any other current issues, 

at this point in time.  Spotlight Shockwave is one of the earliest excursions in to Cybertron's past. 

With only Megatron Origins, being earlier. 

Autocracy, Primacy and Monstrosity in due time will be set even earlier then  Spotlight Shockwave and so will stories in, More Then Meets The Eye.

But right now this is our first glimpse in to Cybertron's past and a character piece for Shockwave.

The first  page already set the tone of Shockwave's personality : "six hundred  thousand meta cycles ago, I foresee the future of  Cybertron. A dead world deplete of  natural resources, I decide to do something about it.

And just like that we  get an glimpse of Shockwave. Cold, detached, unnatural,  unemotional  and willing and capable to do anything.  

Spotlight Shockwave also  gives us some anwsers on the back of  Stormbringer  and  Infiltration.

And concurrently with Escalation.

The origin of  ore 13, which is  rather  fast  considering the slow burn of the preceding issues.

But considering this is at least issue 11 or 12, it might be in time after all. 

And the awnser is simple.

 And frightful in it's implications and simplicity. 

Shockwave has seeded worlds with energon ores and then waited to see what will happen. 

After which  he went to the worlds he seeded, to take a direct  hand in the matter and stabilise the  injected energon. Otherwise their  evolution would be wildly unpredictable. 

Earth is Shockwave's first stop, around the end of the last ice age, and only stop  as it turns out. 

This issue also introduces the  dino...ahem Dynobots, whom have not changed a bit.

In fact, their design are carried over from The War Within issues over at Dreamwave. Probably because they were too good to waste and Hasbro owns the designs regardless. 

In fact the Dynobots are still the same as they ever were, way back in G1.

 Rebellious, contradictionary,  aggressive, a group unto their own.

 Listening to nobody and unbeknownst to them, they may have doomed countless planets by interfering with Shockwave. 

Their reason to tackle Shockwave is in character, amounting to nothing more then wounded pride. A realisation that nearly shorts Shockwave out, because of the supreme banality. 

Needless to say Shockwave demolishes the Dynobots. 

This issue is a  somewhat modern reinvention and reinterpretation of marvel US 8 'Repeat Performance'.

Probably one of Budiansky's finest scripts on the title. Where the Dinobots also tackled  Shockwave in a prehistoric setting and also got decimated. Even though the circumstances were different, the outcome was pretty much the same. 

This issue seems to uphold the old adage of the more things change, the more they stay the same. 

And both the Dynobots and Shockwave have been taken over wholesale from the G1  comics. But some characters don't need to be reinvented, they were perfectly fine as they were the first time around.  

Shockwave is  more pragmatic however  and  doest seem to care about  leading the Decepticons or even what Megatron thinks of him or could  do to him. 

Clearly, Shockwave is his own agent with  the power and abilities to underline that.  ( Something the Dynobots will attest to. )

Shockwave meditates on the meaning of evolution and his message is simple, evolve or die. Which is what the meaning has always been. 

The reasoning for the Dynobots  to appear as well, dinosaurs is perfectly realised within the frame of the story and is perfectly logical.  

To dampen the Rampant energon radiation, they have to  envelop themselves in to  synthetic mammal flesh and  look like indignant life forms. 

Which is a leaf  taken right out of the Beast Wars book. 

Grimlock's revulsion is also a small glimpse in to Cybertronian general distaste for organic life, which is something that will come to the forefront later on in the series lifetime.  

Shockwave is also willing to practise what he preaches, by turning off  his  high functions and producing a synthetic equivalent of  rage. 

This, he proclaims allows him to evolve.

It also makes him even more of a  unstoppable juggernaut, who would probably have  no problem holding his own against the likes of Optimus Prime or Megatron. 

Shockwave seems to wipe the floor with the Dynobots effortlessly. 

But then, he always has been at this level  in the original Marvel comics.  

Spotlight Shockwave also introduces Nick Roche to the interior art chores. Formerly a cover artist only, until he took over art duties from EJ Su, for a single issue of Devastation. 

Roche went on to write and draw one of the best single spotlight issues as well as tackle one of the most brutally violent and disturbing mini series in 2010.

 (  And one of that years few bright spots, in an otherwise utterly miserable and bleak offering. Not that the mini series wasn't miserable and bleak, the comics around it were just  excruciatingly bad.  )

Roche's art is somewhat more cartoony then Su's more realistic approach, but it's  perfectly fine here. 

The story telling  beats  are  perfectly easy to follow, as is the action even if it's a beat of  'Repeat Performance' albeit  more kinetic.

In Infiltration I disparaged about the reuse of the same panel  over and over again ona  single page, but Roche does the same trick to  show  the passage of time and it's perfectly fine here, because the panels are visually  distinctive. 

We see the same  hills and mountains as they  change over the eons. Tricks like these are something comics excel at. 

Roche also redesigned  the  Dynobots  to conform more to their new  alt modes, which makes Swoop  look very gangly and giving him  goggles for some odd reason.   

Spotlight Shockwave is a fine start for the anthology series even if it riffs a bit too much off 'Repeat Performance'. 

The Dynobots reason to attack Shockwave is petulant and childish, but  in character for the. 

The story  gives us awnsers in regards to ore 13, where it came from and what it  actually is, while opening up new questions and plot avenue's and a insight in to Shockwave's  character. 

If only all spotlights were like this. 

Gold Digger 01

Gold Digger 01 

Curse Part 1

Summary:

Gina and Brittanty are lying on a cliff overhang, looking down on a temple buried in a rockface. 

Unfortunately for them, they stumbled on a black arms merchant deal. 

Off course shenanigans ensue, the sisters are  discovered  by  the black arms merchants and a chase ensues.

She sisters manage to  lose the black arms merchants and enter the tomb. 

As Brittany calls Strype via  a satellite phone, Gina by accident activates all the traps !

Way to go genius... 

Escaping a lava trap, the two sisters each go their  separate ways. 

Brittany encounters a shape shifter named gen that feeds on ethereal energies, 

while Gina finds a recording device.

So Brittany is responsible for Mr Peepers disappearance !! The spotted fiend  !!

She also finds  out how her father rescued the infant Brittany and that  the treasure is gone. 

But in Gina's infinite wisdom she picks up the  armband left behind, which triggers the  curse.

Gah  !  Way to go genius  !

And you can read along with the link provided down below.

Best way to read it, is to download Comic_rack

And install Ghostscript

But Adobe Reader works fine too

Gold Digger 1 

Notes : Strype's actual name is Stryypp, it's also  spelled in the comic as Stripe.

I tend to just combine the two and call him Strype.

Gold Digger along with The Savage Dragon, are  the two longest running comics by a single artist\writer. 

Credits :

writer-artist : Fred Perry

Editor: Ben Dunn

Review :

And now we are at the first issue of the ongoing series.

This series started in 1993,  2  months after the wrapping up of the  mini series.

It has been running ever since in various shapes and forms, including crossovers, mini series, annuals and one shots.  

The black and white series ran for 50 issues, before transitioning in 1999  in the color series.

Which has been running for  171 issues so far. 

With issue 150 of  the color series, Perry folded both series in to each other, turning issue  150  in to  200  and picking up the numbering from there. 

Maybe he couldn't wait till 200, he would have made it regardless in  2017  or so.

Regardless, starting this review, the reviews for Gold Digger till issue 199  will be different. 

I wont be posting any interior art.

The first reason is, that I have  a  lot of  Gold Digger comics in various shapes and forms. From TPB's to pockets, and those are hard to scan. 

The other  reason is off course, because the issues are free to read and download on the  Antarctic Press library. 

From now on I will be posting a direct link to the issue I'm reviewing. 

And you can read along with me. 

Now the preamble is out of the way, we can start  with the review proper. 

And,  ..well that's a classy opening  shot Fred...thanks. 

Get used to this sort of thing. Gold Digger is not above  dressing it's characters,  ( both male and female, but mostly female )  in skimpy clothes. 

The story is a bit pat, but it works well enough and  sets up things, if you overlook the somewhat questionable depiction of  the black arms merchants. 

Thankfully the story wastes no time with getting a move on.  

However it doesn't  quite work as an  first issue.  The comid  throws  you  in the middle of a situation, and just expect you to go along with it. While giving a few lines to try and  establish who is who. 

For anybody coming off the mini series, this is fine, but for newcomers it's rather confusing. 

Unfortunately, the ditzification of  Brittany starts right  here.

In the mini series  she was cranky, sarcastic,  moody, surly and not to be trifled with. 

In the first issue of the ongoing however. While she gets off some snarky remarks to Gina, but after that it goes downhill  quickly. 

Brittany  takes offence to the term lascivious,  ( during the middle of a car chase  no less and wants to climb out of the damn car  )  complaints about sand in her hair and fur.

Complaints about tombs being dark, dingy and  dirty and  would rather spend her time in a mall and then proceeds to call Strype via a satellite phone. 

None of these are actually stellar moments, even if they are played for laughs. 

And its more  like character assassination, especially after the way she was depicted in  the mini series. 

And you'd think she  is used to this kind of thing by now, fortunally after all that  the story picks up again and Brittany isn't submitted to any further character assassination to turn her in to a spotty valley girl. 

She is suitably unimpressed and snarky with Gina's self inflatable back pack for example.

And I personally think that hat looks rather fetching on her.

Pity Perry never did much with that. 

Brittany's encounter  with Gen and how easily she deals with him is a bit  pat.  Especially how easily she is willing to  let him take along, but then he does live in the temple.  And the old saying goes, keep your friends close keep your enemies closer,

but Gen as it turns out, will play a rather large role in the stories to come. 

The real centre points of the story is Gina finding an  device that so far has recorded all of history since it was made.  ( No Star Trek reruns sadly. )

And it  shows the murderer  of  Brittany's mother and  how Dr Diggers saved her life by happenstance,  by stumbling in on the scene  disrupting the killer. 

A rather dark moment in what is otherwise a light comic.   

Gina also mentions another dark secret. The fate of Mr Peepers her canary  ! 

 That's more like it. Gold Digger tends to  have mood whiplashes, it goes  from  deadly serious to ridiculous in the blink of an eye.

The device also tells us and the sisters, that there is no  loot in the tomb. It's all gone. 

It's been gone for two thousand years, something  Brittany finds hilariously funny. Except for one brass armband, which Gina naturally  picks up. 

Aaand that's where the title of the comic comes in. 

The thieves of the treasure are cursed by the original  owner and considering the Diggers sisters  picked up  the last armband, they technically are the thieves.

I foresee shenanigans. 

We will eventually find out what happened to Mr Peepers but not in a issue of the main series.  ( Damn it ! )  But in a one shot  named Gold Digger minus 18. 

We will talk about that, when we get there. 

The art is still it's usual well defined self, but it's a step down from the gorgeous art of the mini series. 

Off course the  art chores of the mini series, which was a bi monthly series in late 92 and early 93, could have never held up  in a monthly schedule, so it had to go. 

Things have been streamlined  and later on would be streamlined even further.

Right now it's just a step down from the mini series.

And that is what can be said about issue 1.

It doesn't  really work as issue 1 it works as issue 5 and it's a step down  from  the mini series 

much like another series launched in 1993.

The thing that brings the issue down the most however, is the  character assassination of Brittany and giving her some questionable traits, some of which are  still in effect. 

Can issue 2  do better  ?

   

Transformers Stormbringer 1

Transformers

Stormbringer  issue  1

Summary :

We open  to a flashback with ominous narration, narrating ominously. 

In orbit around Cybertron the crew of the Calabi Yau  pick up a  energy signal. The problem is, that the planet is dead and has been dead for years.

The captain, Jetfire  drops down with  three of the  technobot crew to the surface of  Cybertron, to conduct more conclusive  investigations. 

They find out that they have landed near Thunderhead  pass, where it all came apart.  

On Cybertron in the past Megatron shakes Optimus Prime awake.  The adversary has breached  the siege wall.  Megatron commands Prime to get up and fight, because he isn't getting off that easily. 

On the Autobot command hub, Optimus Prime receives a message from Prowls unit  on earth, informing him that the Decepticon  infiltration unit has broken protocol. 

Prime orders Searchlight to keep him informed, while his thoughts linger back to what happened on Cybertron.

The Technobots, Nosecone and Afterburner are the ones left behind on the Calabi Yau,  as Jetfire and the others traverse the incredibly unstable surface of the planet. 

Discussing the disaster that befell the planet, Jetfire thinks back to how he and the others ignored all the warnings. In particular the warnings from Decepticon scientist Thunderwing. Who tried to convince fellow scientists, regardless of allegiance, of Cybertrons impending doom and the toll  the war has taken on the planet.

Cybertron is decaying in response to the stress placed upon it.    

Suddenly the Calabi Yau  is attacked and destroyed by a missile volley, as the  groundbound Autobots are attacked by invisible assailants. 

During the Cybertronian apocalypse, a winged  figured clad in flame, continues to march  forward.  Unstoppable, untill the  planet itself swallowed the figure. 

The combined might of the Transformers in the end proving  unable to  stop the avatar of the apocalypse. 

Jetfire wakes up  below in the catacombs of Cybertron  to the rhythm chanting  of a group of  Cybertronians  worshipping a massive figure. 

Thunderwing. 

Notes  : This was released  in july 2006 after Infiltration ended the month before.

Originally this was supposed to be issue 7  in the sub numbering, but this idea was  quickly dropped. As it proved to be too distracting  and confusing with all the spotlights,  which do not make it  each to keep  track off. 

Credits:

Writer : Simon Furman

Artist : Don Figuroa

Colorist : Josh Burcham

Editor : Chris Ryall and Dan Taylor

Review :

Back in  2006  this  was a highly anticipated  four part series. 

The return of Don Figuroa, released of the constraints of  the Dreamwave house style, back to team up with Simon Furman, hot on the heels of  his groundwork in Infiltration. 

No earth. 

No humans.

We get to see what Cybertron is like, in this newfangled universe.

What's not to like.  

Issue 1 opens with  heavy handed portentous, purple prose, which isn't exactly a  good sign. 

The story it self is rather simple  and divided in  2 contemporary strands. One with  the  Technobots and Jetfire and the other with Optimus Prime narrating and brooding  on board the Autobot command hub. 

We also see  that he receives the message Ironhide send in Infiltration 3. Which makes  this one of the best scenes in the entire comic, because it just shows the breadth and scope of the entire conflict. 

Prime  even needs to be reminded of  the detachment and the planet there. 

Thunderwing in  yet another call back to  G1, was another heavy  and whatever he did  it turned him in to a mindless monster  and the cataclysm that followed in the effort to stop him made Cybertron uninhabitable. 

And that is pretty much the whole storyline so far. 

The narration is at times  heavy and ponderous, but it gets the point across  and the flash backs  convey the  feelings of dread and doom  quite well.

Reusing Thunderwing  as a harbinger of doom, is a bit  been there done that, but it works well because he has been unstoppable before.   

The art is perfectly fine, if a bit squat.

Figuroa  has been relieved of the constraints of the Dreamwave house style and refined his art.   

The biggest  difference is  the  story telling, which is a lot  cleaner and easier to follow  then his Dreamwave efforts. 

And his figures are less balloony and bloated, then they were in Dreamwave. 

Stormbringer 1 also bring the Technobots to the table, who are a virtual blank slate. 

Other then  a single cartoon episode and their toy bios they never had much  characterisation, and usually showed up as cannon fodder or in their combined form.

Their character beats here are pretty much their toy bios.

Nosecone is dedicated and thorough. Scattershot trigger happy, strafe antsy and so on.  But it's still more characterisation they have had for years. 

And they do get to shine briefly, before taken down  hard. 

Jetfire is ...Jetfire.  He takes a leaf  from his Dreamwave self, complete with  removable armor  and detachable helmet.

This is the Jetfire that walked out of the pages of The War Within, The Dark Ages. 

And thats perfectly fine, because the character was perfectly fine there. 

And he is once again an agnostic, thrown in to more spiritual themes. 

Apocalypse this time, instead of a overpowered zealot.

And there is a  flash back  to Megatron digging Prime out of the rubble and  forcing him  to fight. 

It's a small character moment  and  loses a bit of its  power because we have seen  Megatron and Optimus Prime fight side by side before. 

But it does sell  how much of a  threat Thunderwing must have been, for these two  adversaries to put aside their differences, even if temporary. 

Especially, considering what we know so far of Megatron and the situation of the war. 

Cybertron looks a lot like Coruscant from Star Wars. 

First seen in episode 3, which  at the time of this issue's release date was about a year

old. 

But, it also looks a lot like the Cybertron from Beast Machines. 

While the conceit that the Transformers unite together against an unstoppable foe is not new.

What is new, is that they weren't able to stop him. That the planet made a final sacrifice for theTransformers and has since then become an uninhabitable shell of it's former self.

Cybertron is dead and the Cybertronians are scattered to the  four corners of the universe.

And this is a huge, huge shake up of the status quo, especially this early in the run. 

Previously Cybertron has been  in bad shape or over run  by the Decepticons, but until now it has never ever been uninhabitable. Which is a huge paradigm shift and the  Cybertronian cold war has been cast in a new light. 

Prime still has his War Within design, which is a design he will keep in the Cybetron stories set in the past and in fact he won't change his body untill  his appearance in Infiltration 6. 

And again in Spotlight Orion Pax later down the line.

Prime is also portrayed  more as his G1 self.  A brooding loner, carrying the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders and he may blame himself for the state of Cybertron.

Though this might just  be  another attempt by IDW to show the  fans that this will not be  like Dreamwave  and that  this is more akin to The Transformers, they  knew  even with a new status quo.

Stormbringer purportedly has been  called to life, because the fans objected to the icky humans and the slow burn of  Infiltration.

Whether that's true or not I cant say, but  I cant shake the feeling that  Stormbringer 1  was a single issue story, divided over  2  issues.

The plot is a bit threadbare and slow moving, but that's  unfortunately par de course for modern comics  and Stormbringer 1 can't be faulted for it.  

The Savage Dragon 3

The Savage Dragon 3 

Summary :

The issue opens with Peter Klaptin, about to make his first public appearance after losing his  trademark hair in a fire.  But when the assistant producer comes to  get him he is gone.

Dart is out on her own, trying to hold back a jailbreak and she is  quickly  assisted by  Star without hair.

But they  have no powers  and are soon overwhelmed untill Mighty Man comes to save the day !

Well them at least.  

Dragon returns to Chicago and visits Dart in the hospital.

Things go swimmingly, Dart and Dragon antagonise each other  and Dragon is oddly incredulous about Mighty Man returning.

The Vicious Circle puts the pressure on Frank and  despite  Dragon asking a few pointed questions, Frank claims there is nothing wrong. 

It also turns out that Debbie's mother had a  half hour long talk with Arnold Dimple, before he came over  and accidentally shot Debbie 

And then The Fiend attacks, but it turns out his bite is worse then his bark  as he gets shot down after barely hurting Dragon. 

He changes back in to Charley Macarthur from  accounting, but The Fiend is gone.  warning them he will be back.

...Ominous. 

In DeKalb the police has finally shown up.  

Notes :

First time we see Star without his hair.

First time we see Peter Klaptin. 

First time we suspect a connection between Star and Klaptin

First full appearance of the new Mighty Man. 

First appearance of The Fiend

Credits :

Story\Art\ Ink\ Erik Larsen 

Letterer, Chris Eliopolous

Color, Steve Oliff and Reuben rude

Editor, Jannie Wong.

Review: 

Issue  3 is an issue of many  firsts.

It introduces  The Fiend.

It lays down the foundation of how many future Dragon issues will work, with rapid  cuts.   

And its also the  first  issue that  actually feels like an actual Dragon comic.  

Issue 1  felt more like  an issue four, an extension of Image zero and dealing with the fallout of Debbie's murder.

It worked well enough as that, but it failed  as an issue 1. Or as an  introduction to Dragon who was wildly out of character and unlikable as a result.

Speaking of Debbie's death,  issue 3  makes it clear that Arnold Dimple, Debbie's ex and accidental shooter, had a long conversation with Mrs Harris.

Whatever was said. she may have had a hand in  the accidental death of her own  daughter.

Let's think about that for a bit.

Issue  2  worked  as a Dragon issue, but  it was part  of a crossover. 

And included 2 short stories, in a 52  page comic.

Issue 3 is the first one that stands on it's own. 

It is also the second part of a mini arc that  will end in issue 6. 

And it works pretty well.  

This issue also lays down the foundation of every future Savage Dragon issue.

Striking a balance between ongoing sub plots, new subplots and the rotating supporting cast.

There are always at  least 3 to 4 stories going on which intercut each other.

Sometimes  there are just minutes between pages, other times it's days or weeks.

It can be a bit disorientating at times, but it's never unclear for long.

Dragon is off course still the main character, but the comic isn't solely his party anymore. 

Larsen  keeps on  world building and putting his  team together.

With Dart and Star, dealing with a jail break, while Dragon is out of  town. 

We also get to see the mystery such as it is, around Peter Klaptin.  ( Who doesn't at all look like Peter Parker the way Larsen drew him ! ) and the now hairless Star.

And Klaptin just happens to be away, just as Star goes in to action.

...Hmmm.

The jailbreak  is mostly used  to  show us what Dart is capable off, after she was introduced in issue 2. We haven't see much off her so far until now. She and Star manage to hold their own, which is lampshaded in the comic book itself. Bodycount wonders why  they are even slowing the jailbreak down.

But the real  reason  for the jailbreak is to re introduce, the superman analogue of the Dragon comics. 

Mighty Man,  ...no don't laugh.

He swoops in and saves the day,  ...I told you not to laugh. 

Well more or less, he takes out a few superfreaks and hauls Dart and Star's asses out of the fire.  ( And in a very  90's  move, we get a shot of Dart's ass. )

When Dragon finally returns to his own comic, the Frank subplot gets some more  forward momentum, but not a whole lot is done with it yet.

This plot will  be sorted out before long though, before it wears out it's welcome.  

Dragons incredulity when hearing from Dart that Mighty Man is still alive is a bit, ...odd to say the least. 

He was out in New York, fighting  stone gargoyles along side talking turtles and he is a  green skinned, super strong bullet proof  cop with a fin on his head, in a city inundated with super powered miscreants.  

You'd think in that setup he'd be more lenient about the possibility that Mighty Man is still alive. 

But at least Dart gets some characterisation out of this issue. 

She and Dragon won't be getting a long very much in future issues.

So far her personality is  ..prickly. 

And then we have The Fiend. A character that seems to have a personal grudge against Dragon and is fuelled by hate. Able to hope from person to  person and capable of  using their hate to become more and more powerful. 

This is a an  interesting concept  for  an  antagonist  and it's a character that will continue to bedevil  Dragon for at least  2 and a half years, well in to the mid 30's.

It's a bit of a shame then that  he looks absolutely ridiculous  right here. 

Green pants, black shoes, long flowing silver hair, naked upper body   and  ...red  arm length gloves ?

...Okay then. 

Larsen at least  redesigns The Fiends appearance next time we see him.  

This issue is packed, my review is already long enough as it is and I only touched on what amounts to maybe half the comic 

And future issues will be just as packed as this one .

After a great start  with the mini series and then a bit of a rough start, after issue 0  where the comic tries to  find its footing. The Savage Dragon 3 is the actual first issue,  and it's a great, if  gruesome start.

This issue also has another back up comic,  This wont be reviewed as of yet.

The back up comics will be rounded up later on  and  reviewed  after issue 10.