Savage Dragon 160

Wow. Just...wow.

Savage Dragon has recently been in a storyline concernining his origins. What happened, you see is, Dragon's brain was eaten by an alien called Virus. The creature mutated into another Savage Dragon and vice versa, but his personaliy was in tact, so it was sort of like a big joke. So, for a few issues they dealt with some other story lines, such as Dragon's kids getting kidnapped, and the aftermath of that. Then in issue 150, they celebrated by having Dragon's nemesis, Overlord, returning (someone new in the suit). The issue ended with Overlord incinerate Dragon, except for his legs, arms, and a crapload of blood. He had it taken back to the local super freak crime gang, The Vicious Circle, and created a chemical that would mutate them into Dragon-clones.
Dragon's son Malcolm went on a quest to revive Dragon's Virus body with a blood transfusion. It worked, but he came back as the evil Emperor Kurr, the man who Dragon was before the first issue.
This was okay because Dragon had a reputation for dying then coming back. However, Larsen had said, that by the final issue of the Dragon War storyline, if Dragon was dead, he would remain dead, and would then become a Legacy Character. I was a bit annoyed, but figured that whatever Larsen did would be best.

Wow.

The issue consisted mostly of a fight between Dragon, J. Jonah Jameson parody R.R. Richards (in a giant robot), the Vicious Dragon Circle, his kids Malcolm and Angel, and supporting character Flash Mercury, The Spectacular Dragon. Dragon slaughtered Richards and the Circle, and gave a pummelling to everyone else. Eventually after attacking Malcolm, Dragon was beaten to a pulp by an enraged Angel. I figured, "Oh well, I guess that's it then." But then I turned the page and, he was still alive, and punched her away, stating that since she and her brother nursed him back to health, he would spare them, then jumped off into the distance.

Seriously, wow.

I mean, I was never expecting the story to have a fully happy ending, I knew Dragon's tenure as hero was over, but, that story was just depressing. Perhaps its because I only recently entered the fandom, but I feel that this is probably one of the most depressing comics I've read. The odd thing is though, that it wasn't so much the issue itself though, but rather, what it implies.
Savage Dragon has survived exploding planets. He has saved hundreds. He has fought enemies twice his size and won, he is the only Image character aside from Spawn to still have his own residence in his original publication. Heck, he's written a book and raised two kids. And how does he meet his end? Not with a bang, but a whimper. In an alleyway. In a conversation riffing on Spider-Man. A scene anyone else would've just used as preparation for a later climatic battle. Dragon did not recieve such an honor, but instead got a single punch, then died...I have read only four issues starring the Dragon that the fans know. This only became truly depressing ten issues later.

He obviously knew how depressing it was, because he included a comedic backup story by another artist about Dragon meeting one of his rogues gallery while on a blind date. This did little to remedy this.

I'm not going to get all sappy and tell you that my world view has changed because of a comic book about a hulkish man with a fin on his head. But I am going to tell you that it reminded me that I need to enjoy what I have while I have it. I'm not going be a changed man because of it, I already believed in this, even if I do still feel that my life could be better. I am not going to say my life is bad. By all accounts, I have a very good life. Savage Dragon has just been a reminder of this fact.

Do I feel like mouthing off to Erik Larsen about ruining the book? No. Instead, I congratulate him on getting the reaction he was no doubt intending. I salute you Larsen, I have said that you are brilliant at what you do, and you have proven that.

This is ThatKidWithTheSideburns, asking you to have a nice day.