Great Art: Savage Dragon and Spider-Man by Erik Larsen!

Erik Larsen is one of those guys that is just a consummate comic professional. He just loves making comics and has made a living doing so for over three decades now. Twenty-five years of that have been focused on Savage Dragon, his childhood character that he turned into a multimedia star for a few years before comfortably settling in to regular adventures of the entire Dragon family. Hundreds of issues later, he stands as a unique single writer/artist on a book with only Dave Sim and Fred Perry challenging him for commitment to his creation.

He also happens to be one of my favorite comic artists, dating back to his Marvel days. I actually saw his work first in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents though, not Spider-Man. He did a strange little Excalibur arc in that book where the team basically fought the Looney Tunes characters that I adore and am a little surprised has never been reprinted. It wasn't until a few months later I found his Spider-Man and loved that just as much. But I was an X-Men guy up until the rise of Image. Yet after I read the first couple issues of Dragon's adventures, I knew I had read something different. I could almost feel Larsen's commitment to the character and making him work. It impressed me then, and he became the character I most latched onto as a young man. (Though I'm still mad that none of my contributions won his villain creation contest in issue 10.)

To make a long story short, I'm always excited to see unique pin-ups from Larsen. So when I found this Spider-Man / Savage Dragon crossover piece, I thought it was the perfect image to feature on a Great Art installment. Enjoy and be sure to go buy a copy or two of Savage Dragon, still going strong after all these years.

As always, you can check out a lot more Great Art in the Super Powered Fiction Facebook group!. And after you're done admiring some great art here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff from me this week!

Coming Continuing Comics 3: A crossover, rebirth and jumping on point, all in one!

One article, that is.

The April Previews does not show a lot of big debuts in the month of June. Or at least, not a lot of debuts I care a lick about anyway. Yet I still have a few picks worth taking a look at.

But first I wanted to give an honorable mention to Usagi Yojimbo. The book is coming back from IDW now with a new first issue (which makes this Usagi volume 4 I believe.) There's little to nothing super powered fiction about the character outside crossovers with the TMNT, but he's well worth a mention as the title is consistently one of the best comics on the market. Alright, on to our more superheroic fare, none of which comes from either of the big two this month!

Savage Dragon 247

It's about as far away from a number one as you can get, but Erik Larsen has consistently produced one of the most impressive superhero universes ever now for twenty-five plus years. I'm behind on the series by nearly a year right now, but this issue offers a "perfect jumping on point" for readers as Malcolm Dragon fights the Demon King as the run up to the next anniversary starts. If you're an old school comic fan and not reading Savage Dragon, I encourage you to seek out what you're missing and be surprised by one of the most impressive superhero sagas of all time.

The Crow / Hack Slash 1

Tim Seeley has come up with a winning formula for bringing back Cassie Hack and Vlad, the monster hunters of Hack Slash. He's just wrapping a crossover at Dynamite with the old Chaos Comics characters that embroils her in their entire new history at that publisher. As soon as that one wraps, it looks like she'll be right back into it, this time at IDW!

The story is a pretty basic setup. A new Crow rises, but his revenge spree is taken by Cassie and Vlad as the rise of a new slasher, the supernatural horrors they hunt! It's a superb concept to run a story about. More impressively, Seeley returns to pencils on the book for the first time in years, while he's inked by regular Crow artist Jim Terry. This one promises to bring the fun and violence!

Psi-Lords 1

Valiant has been dusting off old IPs with new versions for quite some time now, but they still haven't covered them all. The Psi-Lords are fondly remembered by anyone that read the book but this one doesn't look to have heavy ties to that concept. Still it looks like an intriguing book by artist Renato Guedes and the criminally under-rated Fred Van Lente.

The book takes four humans and drops them with amnesia into the middle of an intergalactic hotspot. And while it spins off from events in the current X-O Manowar book, it is meant to stand on its own. With a star creative team, this looks like a great new ongoing series in a universe filled with intriguing moves in 2019.

Do you have a new favorite coming soon to the comics world? Let me know in the comments below! 

Jon Sable! Madman! Dragon! Nexus! A new line of Amazing Heroes! (Kickstart the Week 66)

It's been awhile since I focused on a Kickstarter over in these parts. I've cooled a bit on the platform as I've forced myself into a bit more financial frugality over the last year or so. But when I see something that's just really cool, I still want to share it with you.

I supported the previous incarnation of Amazing Heroes, where they produced several figures in the style of the old school Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. They were fun figures, but they were limited with few joints and with a majority of the figures being classic public domain characters.

A swath of characters are available for the new line.

This time around, they're taking the opposite route. Proper 1/18 scale (a la G.I. Joe and classic Star Wars) figures featuring a variety of licensed properties with names like Savage Dragon, Madman, Jon Sable, Nexus, E-Man and Stray in the initial wave. If the Kickstarter proves wildly successful, they have several additional figures planned as stretch goals including the Red Hook, Jack Staff, Flaming Carrot and the Destroyer himself, Remo Williams. It's an impressive array of figures.

Unfortunately, it's currently in danger of missing its funding goal. This is a superb line of toys featuring a ton of indie favorites, so if you've ever loved superhero toys, now is the time to show some support with a few shekels. Check out the Kickstarter for full details on how to back.