Graphic novel review: Savage Dragon, baptism of fire by Erik Larsen

Genre: Superheroes.

This a super hero comic. That entails a lot of beefy men and women with impossible proportions. There is also a lot of fighting and property damage. Erik Larsen, has however managed to construct a pretty interesting tale with engaging characters in this framework.

Larsen does the writing, pencils and inking for this trade paper back. The art throughout the book is very good. The lines are clear and the coloring is vibrant. The writing except for a few exceptions is good. The one exception that stood out for me was the title character giving a lecture about the police abusing their powers, and this whole thing was too preachy and contrived. All in all though, the writing through out the book keeps a pretty high standard.

This book is the miniseries that launches the Savage dragon series, it introduces various characters and lays out the ground work for future plot lines. The characters are developed well, and the pace of the book is brisk. I enjoyed reading this book and will be hunting down the other paper backs to see how the story proceeds.

Rating: 4 / 5, Recommended.

Note: The Amazon listing below is for a older trade paper back.