Savage Dragon #227
Want to read my review of Savage Dragon #226?
***SPOILERS, BECAUSE...***
It's going to be nearly impossible to keep the spoilers out of this review, because so...little...happens. Actually, that's not completely accurate. A lot of setup happens, but it can be summed up in the two sentences I put in the wiki summary:
Malcolm, Maxine, and the kids move to Toronto, Canada with the help of Thunderhead and the Chicago PD. Jennifer, Amy, and Alex remain stranded in Dimension-X, fighting whatever comes their way.
Yep, that's pretty much it. The issue is fleshed out with extensive talk about Jackson Dragon pooping his pants, the things that the women fight in Dimension-X, and one page where the horny-as-ever Maxine proposes a threesome to her husband while standing on his chest completely, full-frontally nude. Yep...full frontal seems kind of tame after Issue 225 and its XXX Cover D, but it's just as completely unavoidable if you're reading this issue. It was addressed in a letter this issue:
Having grown up in Europe with other comics with different rules about content, I... approve of the new rating... I feel it gives Dragon a unique postion... an American super-hero book that can accept that a nipple is not an evil thing.
Larsen responded:
As far as the nudity thing goes--not 100% sure where to go from here. I know it's an available option but... If it's all the time it seems gratuitous but if it's not all the time it seems like a book that can't make up its mind what it wants to be.
I suppose I'll do what I always do and just do whatever feels right at the time.
(Both snippets were edited for clarity)
I've said this before: I'm not a prude. I like sex. I do believe we as Americans are probably way too uptight about the naked human form. Still... that doesn't mean I want to see it everywhere, and I just don't need it in the middle of my damned comic reading experience. Sheesh!
I guess it's that it still feels gratuitous to me. Savage Dragon has always had sex in it, but the most that was ever shown was nipples. There have been some very suggestive scenes, but vaginas and penises were always strategically blocked. After his privates-palooza in 225, Larsen has at shown much less nudity, but it's still gratuitous. Why? Well, full-frontal for one thing. But the other? For all the arguments of "it's in context of a married couple in their bedroom" arguments- and that was the case this issue- we didn't see any big green penises swinging around, did we? Not that I'm looking for penises, mind you, but it goes to the point: if it's not necessary to show a penis in the scene, it's not necessary to show a vagina either. Granted, this one was covered in hair, but come on- it's still full-frontal gratuitousness.
Okay, so obviously, my big problem with this issue was the gratuitous nudity. I'm dinging the score three stars for that. But okay, at least it was in context, even if it wasn't needed, so I'll give one star back for that. The Jackson poop scenes were a cute gag, because hey, kids do that stuff, but I'm kind of over potty-humor, so minus one star for that. Plus one for really complicating the girls' Dimension-X dilemma, and plus one for a new start for the Dragon family. OH! And plus one for the great double page spread of the characters from Graphic Fantasy, the who's-who key on the next page, and the back cover to GF #1! Minus two for the Funnies section. Comic strips like Draw Brandon Draw just aren't my type of humor. They're often nonsensical to me, and I don't see why they keep getting included. That's okay- it doesn't have to all appeal to me, but I get to ding my review however I see fit, and I'm dinging it for that.
Final score: three stars.