RIP Horridus

[ToTheNines]

Have you seen this? Have you heard about this?

I’m WAY late, but I just today learned that Larsen killed off Horridus… by way of COVID because she refused to get the vaccine lmao: https://comicbook.com/comics/news/er...ge-dragon-262/

I knew he’d gone off the deep end a little bit, but didn’t realize how bad it was. Can’t stop laughing about this.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Have you seen this? Have you heard about this?

I’m WAY late, but I just today learned that Larsen killed off Horridus… by way of COVID because she refused to get the vaccine lmao: https://comicbook.com/comics/news/er...ge-dragon-262/

I knew he’d gone off the deep end a little bit, but didn’t realize how bad it was. Can’t stop laughing about this.

Never before have I had so much respect for a comic creator who is equally or more a liberal f'n nutcase as compared to his peers. But that sounds about right for Larsen. Dragon is an absolutely ridiculous and fun read. And I have SO much respect for Larsen - digging in and giving his book a continued life for decades now, with unbroken publishing and contiguous numbering. It's a true, true "superhero comic book".

But he's a f'n nut otherwise.

I will also say that if, for some reason, mass market attention ever turns to the Savage Dragon because of a movie or some kind of media appeal, those comics are going to be worth a ton of money. It's probably as low print run or even less in some cases than something like Cerebus was. He keeps that book going on pure willpower alone.

Absolutely respect his creativity and his willpower, but he is an echo chamber nutcase.

[Andrew NDB]

It was "very important" for him to have a COVID death in there. "If only she'd gotten vaccinated!!"

Good grief...

[ResidentEvil7]

I never heard of this person before because I don't follow comic books nowhere near as much as TV or movies. The only comic book creators I know or heard of is Robert E. Howard (Conan The Barbarian), Stan Lee (only heard of) and of course Eastman and Laird.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by ResidentEvil7

I never heard of this person before because I don't follow comic books nowhere near as much as TV or movies. The only comic book creators I know or heard of is Robert E. Howard (Conan The Barbarian), Stan Lee (only heard of) and of course Eastman and Laird.

Erik Larsen is widely known as one of the 90's "superstar artists". He commonly followed Todd McFarlane directly on Spider-Man (not an easy task) and he joined the Image Comics "revolution" against Marvel in the 90's as one of the founding creators with his I.P. "Savage Dragon".

Savage Dragon went on to crossover with TMNT eventually and the Image TMNT comic itself would be published under Larsen's "wing" of Image comics. It's not even that his artwork is really all that great, but rather that he has a truly signature style that is unmistakable.

Not that you would have had to read any of those titles, but it is a little strange that you're on a TMNT forum and haven't at least come across Erik Larsen's name.

[CyberCubed]

Well at least now we know why Michelangelo didn't mention her in Vol. 4 and got with the Regenta.

Also isn't she an alien? How does she die from a human virus? Granted I know aliens wouldn't all be immune to our diseases but still.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

https://i.ibb.co/BKzDX9tY/FYQPwex-Xw-AEAFb7.jpg

It was "very important" for him to have a COVID death in there. "If only she'd gotten vaccinated!!"

Good grief...

Ha, that's kinda hilarious in being so over-the-top with virtue signaling.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Well at least now we know why Michelangelo didn't mention her in Vol. 4 and got with the Regenta.

There was also the bit with Horridus giving Savage Dragon a blowjob in the Savage Dragon comic. Not even terribly much longer after Vol. 3 ended.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

There was also the bit with Horridus giving Savage Dragon a blowjob in the Savage Dragon comic. Not even terribly much longer after Vol. 3 ended.

Over the years, the Dragon comic itself has moved further and further into, ironically, the kind of content that fortifies the concept of the comic reader as an "incel".

Some years back I built a run of the first 175 issues or so and stopped around there. Somewhere around there or maybe in the early 200's Larsen started doing mild porn covers here and there and now and again some strange content had begun seeping into the book.

Honestly, it's a cool book for a long time, but as Larsen gets older the book increasingly reflects the sensibility of a strange, goofy, balding man that I always sort of imagined being an actual incel. The kind who maybe got married at some point, but at his core is an actual incel. Basically like every liberal nut who uses the term - commonly talking about themselves in a reflection of self-anger.

Now that I think about it, given some of the kinds of people in this community, I'm surprised that the Dragon comic doesn't have a cult following here on the boards.

[Cloudrunner]

I'd comment about what a stupid end it is for a character that's existed for nearly the entire comic's run. But let's be honest, outside of her marriage (did they ever actually get married?) with Rex and having screen time due to being adjacent to him... Horridus' entire purpose was to show up for one or two panels during a fight scene and be the first of the heroes to get knocked out or otherwise injured.

She had some funny moments early in the run, but Horridus' legacy will always be that of a "jobber" and what more fitting end for a jobber than to die off-screen to a one-off gag about COVID to feed the author's political agenda?

[IMJ]

hm well said.

[Cloudrunner]

I see in the most recent issue she's been replaced by her daughter, Dixie in Freak Force (or whatever they're called these days). Same outfit and everything. I'm sure she'll be equally as useless, but I guess she has wings now. I just can't get past the ugly demon face on that one, lol. I don't think they'll be as sex focused with this one as they tended to be with Horridus.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

https://i.ibb.co/BKzDX9tY/FYQPwex-Xw-AEAFb7.jpg

It was "very important" for him to have a COVID death in there. "If only she'd gotten vaccinated!!"

Good grief...

Ridiculous. CoVid probably wouldn't have affected her the same way if at all. She wouldn't have a weak human immune system.

Now if it was some made-up alien virus or whatever used to lampshade CoVid, fine, but actual CoVid? Naw.

[IMJ]

I thought the same thing.

But hey! Larsen showed how virtuous he is with the message, and how stunning and brave he is by killing off one of his characters in the books to deliver the message.

[CyberCubed]

I honestly can't understand how Image or Savage Dragon comics are still going in the year 2025. Its been like over 30 years now since the 90's.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I honestly can't understand how Image or Savage Dragon comics are still going in the year 2025. Its been like over 30 years now since the 90's.

If you think that's crazy, wait til you hear about Spider-Man... and Batman.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

If you think that's crazy, wait til you hear about Spider-Man... and Batman.

But they're like the most popular superheroes of all time and DC and Marvel will never die. I'm talking about all the independent comic publishers.

[Cloudrunner]

This discussion made me go back and try to re-read Savage Dragon and jesus christ, what a fever dream. I know a lot of comics are nonsensical and plotlines often don't get time to breathe due to the format (though that's a goddamn lie because the better ones, as well as most manga, have no trouble with storytelling, but I digress...). But holy ****ing **** is Savage Dragon hard to sit through. **** just seems to happen randomly. There's so much character development and plot that happens off-screen and we're just told about later.

Like, using Horridus as an example, I tried to pinpoint when exactly the relationship with Horridus and Rex (the father of her child) happened. The short answer is that it didn't.

1. For about 20-ish issues, Rex is slowly turning into some kind of a demon while living in Dragon's basement.
2. During this time, he and Horridus are shown in about 3 panels together, no sort of relationship implied.
3. Horridus gets framed and sent to prison in a random side story that feels completely detached from the timeline.
4. For the next 23 issues, not a single person mentions her once.
5. Rex is fatally injured and puts himself in a robot body shortly after.
6. Rex is strongly implied, in what few panels he's shown in, that he's losing his humanity and no longer cares for people. He makes no mention of Horridus.
7. Cut to 23 issues later, Horridus is seen fleeing a vigilante hero trying to kill her. Rex tries to rescue her, and implies he's been searching for her all this time and was desperate to see her again.
8. She gets injured and he works to save her, while also discovering that she had a child, and it's his (it has the same look he had as a demon, so it had to have been conceived during that time period).

In that whole sequence of events, there wasn't the slightest hint of a relationship. The characters didn't even speak about one another when separated. In fact, NO ONE spoke about Horridus until she reappeared. But apparently off screen they were in love, got her pregnant, and he desperately wanted to see her all this time. And then they get married in a single panel of a time-skip issue.

It's genuinely ****ing insane, and I feel like a psychopath conspiracy theorist trying to pin down even the slightest hint of character building there. But there was NONE. And that's just one example of like... hundreds. Because the series is so overloaded with characters that have little to no purpose, who just come and go, die and revive, and mysteriously have always loved eachother only after one of them is killed. I have such a headache now, after reading this.

[IMJ]

Savage Dragon is very much so a "stream of consciousness monthly comic book". Like Bronze Age comics, easier to swallow on a monthly basis, can be a little bit of a disjointed read in one sitting. Basically while there are overarching themes at times, it definitely doesn't have a fleshed out, planned story.

There are no other creative teams on Savage Dragon - so it's years of one guy (Erik Larsen), pounding out monthly content. I mean let's face it - it's about a green dragon guy having fistfights with various bad guys that someone designed originally when they were like 18 years old. It's "comic book".

[Andrew NDB]

I'd be interested to see the sales figures of the last 10 or 20 issues. I wouldn't be surprised if Erik has been printing new issues in the red for years now.