Written by Max Bemis
Art by Nathan Stockman
Published by Valiant Comics
Savage’s premise starts off clean enough: What if you took Marvel’s Ka-Zar, threw him into 2021 London, and he becomes an instant social media teen celebrity?
The cover gives you blood-and-guts, dinosaur-killing action. And the interior pages give you a ton of that as well, don’t get me wrong.
But the indicia page gives you a greater sense of what package this story comes wrapped in: A facsimile Twitter screengrab of a search for “savage” that pulls up hero Kevin “Savage” Sauvage’s Twitter feed, with retweets and hacky photos.
Typically a jaded comics reader would skip this page, but don’t. Writer Max Bemis packs it with fun information to get you started.
Kevin’s Twitter bio explains him in a nutshell: “Raised in an alternate dimension on a jungle island where my parents were murdered by dinos so I got my revenge. No really. Bugger off.”
Before we meet Kevin, this bio already gives us a snapshot of his attitude: the “stay ready” type.
As in, “you don’t have to get ready if you always stay ready.” To fight. To haul ass. To react to what is thrown at you and throw some back in kind. And in Kevin’s case, growing up on that alternate-dimension jungle island full of dinosaurs, to maim and injure and kill to survive.
The story opens with a flashback of Kevin locked in struggle with a dinosaur, and he expands on that mentality. And, frankly, it sounds horrible and a post-traumatic response.
He’s hyper-vigilant. But then, so would you if a dinosaur can come rip you apart at any time, and that’s how you grew up.
“Clearing your mind don’t do [shit],” he says. “I don’t stop thinking because I can’t afford to. So, up there, my mind is alive. Always. Reminding me how bad things can get if I’m lazy.”
Blood! Guts! Screaming! Danger!
And then, of course, we zoom out, and he’s in a loft space saying all this for an interview with Teen Zine. He’s shirtless, hair ratty, chomping messily on a turkey leg.
We get some more whirlwind coverage of Kevin’s celebrity lifestyle, juxtaposed with his life in what he calls “the Faraway.”
But now he’s out, back in the real world.
And Kevin is missing that ultra-violence, missing that life with one purpose and one purpose only. Intellectually, sitting for a paparazzi-heavy date with a pop starlet is the better option over stabbing a sea monster. But emotionally, was he prepared to leave the only life he’s ever known?
Of course, this is a story, so you know things won’t stay this way for long. Those dinosaurs begin showing up in London, playing stickball with Big Ben!
Suddenly, our Savage is alive again.
This entire sequence plays out as action-packed, gory and bloody as you’d hope. Artist Nathan Stockman appears ready to make a meal of this beastly opportunity. The Faraway has imbued Kevin with superhuman strength, reflexes, senses, allowing Stockman to through Kevin literally inside some gonzo situations.
And just as Kevin’s ready to meet his end and go down swinging … well, the plot thickens with some super-scientist weirdos.
Of course.
Looking forward to seeing how this goes!
