Comic Review - Savage #3 – Word of the Nerd

Writer: B. Clay Moore
Artist: Clayton Henry and Lewis LaRosa
Colorist: Brian Reber and Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
Publisher: Valiant
Release Date: January 25, 2016

Savage #3

For the Sauvage family things seem to go from bad to worse and in issue #3 (of 4) things do not get any better. After soccer star Kevin Sauvage with his manager/wife Ronnie and young baby crash land on an island that is bad enough. Then to find out that the island is inhabited by dinosaurs that kill Kevin Sauvage leaving his wife Ronnie to survive and care for their baby in this brutal environment. In issue #3 we continue to follow now grown into a teenage “Savage” tearing through man and beast. In the flashbacks, we learn more about this island and the other people that occupy it. We do not learn much about these other men besides that they are not good, Ronnie also has found the key to what transported her family to this island, but she can not risk herself and her young son being captured by man (or beast).

Moore is making Savage a very interesting origin story for Valiant’s newest hero Savage. While the general plot is not anything new, the reader knows from the flash forwards and flashbacks that something bad has happened to his family in the past fifteen years. Savage is exacting his revenge upon these men. Issue #3 starts giving us a little detail of how the Sauvage family and other people got to this island, but we are still left to wonder why are these men are so intent not to try and escape?

Art

Clayton Henry and Lewis LaRosa are still doing a fantastic job art wise on this book. LaRosa’s current day stylings are still brutal as ever, the panel structure and layouts are fantastic. I still love how each issue has some breakdowns of different pages and why the pages are set up like they are, it is a great insight into these creators minds. Henry still does great work with the flashbacks and provides some great character insight through their actions. Brian Reber on colors (Andrew Dalhouse also has credits on this issue) does a killer job contrasting these two styles giving Henry’s flashbacks are more bright and clearer feel to them and a more “painted” type styling to LaRosa’s current day scenes really makes the world feel just “dirty” or “gritty” as it needs to be.

Conclusion

It is really hard for this reviewer to put his finger on just what is making Savage such a compelling read. It is, in all fairness a basic story, but it just oozes this dramatic feel to it. Maybe it is the flash-forward and flashback set up with the contrasting art that makes Savage such a good read or it could be the fascination of seeing this baby/young child turn into a vicious beast of a killer that strikes fear into men. Whatever it is this creative team has it. Savage is a must read. With only one more issue to go, it will be interesting to see where this book goes for here and how exactly Savage fits into the larger Valiant Universe.

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