Throw it Back! Thursday returns with a vengeance this week as we take a peek back in time to 1993, and the beginnings of Erik Larsen’s THE SAVAGE DRAGON in THE SAVAGE DRAGON #3! As with all comic related articles, click on a picture to view it in gorgeous Expand-O-Scope.

In 1992, several big name artists (Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Rob Liefield) who felt they should be making more money than MARVEL was willing to put out, left to form their own publishing company, IMAGE COMICS. There they would own everything they worked on, and have the editorial reigns cut loose. For some this proved a bit of a double-edged sword. Without editors, the books were late or often times plots were very confusing. One such book was Erik Larsen’s THE SAVAGE DRAGON.

Issue three starts with a riot at the local super villain prison. Apparently the titular Savage Dragon is on vacation, as they only heroes who show up to try and stop the break-out are the non-titular, yet still prominently titacular, Dart (who apparently throws darts) and some guy named Star (whose costume has stars on it. clever).

Some fighting occurs. Then we are introduced to the Shazam rip-off, Mighty Man, who saves Dart and Star from being killed.

The Dragon returns to work as a police officer after getting back from the airport. There, we finally get a glimpse of the person the cover showcased, the Fiend. Dragon punches him in the face, then the Fiend gets shot up. What’s going on around here, indeed?

And that’s it. That was the whole issue. All 22 pages of it spent delivering… well, I can’t rightly figure out just what developments I was supposed to care about. Clearly, this is one of the things someone in editorial would have noticed. The writing certainly isn’t all that bad dialogue wise. The plotting here just didn’t really do anything for me. But, heck, what did I expect for a dollar?

I can’t pick on Larsen too much, though. He was still learning. How to rip off Frank Miller, that is. Zing Pow! I guess that’s what happens when you’re allowed to ink your own work: You get a little loose with the ink brush, and just start throwing black lines all over the place.

The book got way better though. Larsen really fine-tuned his craft while working on this, and still puts it out all by himself. The book is now up to issue #134. There was even a short-lived cartoon on the USA network. It was short-lived for a reason.

FINAL VERDICT: Throw it Back!

See what we did there? It’s all coming together, man. See you next week.

Check out these other Throw it Back! Thursday articles, now with FINAL VERDICT! Dun-Dun-DUUUUUN!

Throw it Back! Thursday: X-Men #30

Throw it Back! Thursday: The Ray #1