|
SUPERMAN & SAVAGE DRAGON: CHICAGO
Not Recommended (2/10)
|
DC Comics/Image Comics
Writer/Pencils: Erik Larsen
Inks: Al Gordon
Colors: Reuben Rude & Chris Chuckry
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Price: $5.95 US/$9.95 CAN |
You've got to give Erik Larsen credit. He's the only Image founder actively creating still creating his own comics 10 years after the company was founded. His love for the medium is clear, as is his affection for classic characters and his own. Yep, you've got to give him credit... just not for this book. This is an overpriced attempt to merge two past status quos, mired in the continuity of Larsen's creation, a continuity he left behind a while ago. Along with some sketchy art and clunky dialogue, it makes for an arduous read.
A number of Superman's foes have been sprung from jail and have joined forces with the Vicious Circle in Chicago. Superman travels to the Windy City to help clean up the mess, much to the chagrin of an envious cop by the name of the Dragon. As the green-skinned cop acts like a major pain in the ass around the Man of Steel, the pair teams up to track down a throng of super-powered thugs, led by a new Overlord, an old adversary of Superman's who's now wearing the Overlord armor.
Larsen brings the usual sense of energy, chaos and motion to the art on this book, but it's not as polished as I've come to expect from his work on The Savage Dragon. There's a rushed quality to the art at times, and an abundance of characters seems to force a lack of detail on several pages.
Larsen's story hinges on Superman stories from more than a decade ago, and events from a few years back in the Dragon. Readers unfamiliar with either will find themselves at loss while reading this book. The characters have undergone a lot of changes in that time, and Larsen offers up no primer to fill the audience in on those differences.
The biggest problem with this book, though, is that the plot just isn't all that interesting. This is the simple kind of plot one found in team-up stories in the 1970s. The villains team up, so the heroes do as well. The antagonism between the title characters is forced as well, and not terribly believable. Larsen has shown he's capable of far more ambitious storytelling than this.
Email Don MacPherson comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.
|
