And we open with a continuation from last issue; Malcolm fighting the hi-tech power armored ‘Alpha Male’, who was attacking and killing random people at the ‘Bay to Breakers’ footrace, an annual race in San Francisco where the participants walk/run from The Embarcadero beside San Francisco Bay to the Great Highway along the California coast where the waves ‘break’ as they come in. Most people dress up in costumes or wear nothing at all, which is of course how Maxine, Malcolms wife, is running it. This gives Erik the chance to put his political thoughts on things, whether you like or agree with him or not and can get a bit heavy handed with zero subtlety, he does use this to sometimes drive the story or interactions in the book, as ‘Alpha Male is killing those he finds to be degenerates, deviants and just ‘other than him’.
While Malcolm is dealing with Alpha Male, Maxine continues to deal with the perverted attentions of a certain world-famous cartoon mouse now in the public domain.
And the 3rd storyline with the Dragon children rushing to the Golden Gate Bridge to find and save Walter the tiger who had been seemingly shot and killed last issue but really just shot with a tranq dart.
The 4th plot line picks up with Angel, Malcolms sorta step-sister and fellow hero known as ‘Battle Girl’ visiting her husband Frank Jr in prison, after killing a racist police officer several issues ago, where she FINALLY realizes that Frank jr is in fact being possessed by the long time Savage Dragon villain ‘Mr. Glum’.
Yeah, lots going on here.
We jump back to the battle between Malcolm and Alpha Male, who seems to have the upper hand, while still spewing his hatred of all things he doesn’t like when Malcolm gets a hand from local San Fran superhero ‘Bay Guardian’.
Then back to the Bay to Breakers race as Maxine is still being chased by that cartoon mouse who wants to have sex with her whether she wants it or not.
And back on the Golden Gate Bridge, Paul Dragon finally catches up to the dragon kids and explains who Walter is and why he was on the bridge, gathering Walter up he leads the kids off the bridge, and they start back home.
And the 5th plotline in ‘Mr Glum’s’ home dimension we see Frank jr in Glums body and Little Angel, the child clone of Angel, on board Glums ship trying to find a way back to ‘our’ dimension.
Then back to Bay Guardian and Malcolm fighting Alpha Male who’s STILL randomly killing people before Malcolm drops part of a building on him.
Then back to Maxine fighting with the perverted cartoon mouse who simply will not take no for an answer.
Back at the Dragon home Walter wakes up and talks to the kids.
Malcom FINALLY rips the helmet off Alpha Male to, in a very Scooby-Doo reveal, show us that Alpha Male is really ultra conservative radio DJ Dusty Cooch (yeah, gotta love those names) who still refuses to stop his aggression.
Back to Maxine as the world-famous cartoon mouse has gained the upper hand but stops his assault when he notices the other racers filming him assault Maxine, who finally gets the best of him.
Back at the prison Angel confronts Mr Glum/Frank jr telling him she knows who he is now and wants to know where her husband is.
Where at that same moment Alpha Male tries to attack again but his damaged suit electrocutes him, finally ending his rampage giving Malcolm the chance to start looking for his wife.
WHO is still fighting the mouse, but she gets help from people in the crowd and someone with a ball bat who just so happens to be that other world-famous cartoon mouse in the public domain now and his wife, just as Malcolm catches up to them all and we learn that both cartoon mice are far more open in their relationship than you might think.
As Malcolm and Maxine walk off we come to the end.
Say what you will about Savage Dragon but every issue is filled with story, sometime filler, sometime not the greatest but always entertaining even if in a watching a trainwreck sort of way.
And we get a short story at the end explaining what happened to Greta Gearbox, the robotic maid and protector of Malcolm and Maxine and baby, at that time, Amy.
My thoughts :
Erik juggles the multiple plot threads, easily shifting from one to the next without a drop in pacing or letting the reader lose their place. Not an easy thing with so many different styles of storylines happening at the same time, always advancing the characters and their own stories even if it’s just in a single page. His art is, as always, solid and at times beautiful altho in places it does look a tad rushed, not as clean as it normally is. whether that’s due to him still running late on his deadlines as he’s done a lot over the past year+ or just trying a little different style wise.
Looking forward to how he’s going to start tying up the Mr Glum/Frank jr/Angel storyline now that Angel knows what’s happening and if she’ll tell Malcolm and Paul about what’s going on.
As much as he clears up in each issue he still leaves so much to play with in upcoming stories.
Till next time.
C. P. Hall
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