Savage Dragon #209
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSavage Dragon #209 marks the wedding of Malcolm Dragon and Maxine Jung Lai — a pivotal domestic turning point that cemented the series' long-running second-generation narrative. Erik Larsen used the issue to demonstrate that a decades-old superhero comic could commit fully to real character consequence: the same issue that celebrates a wedding also delivers the brutal death of Tierra Jones, killed when Malcolm's unborn son Tyrone tears free of her body, a plot thread Larsen had been building for years. It is simultaneously a character-driven 'change of pace' issue and one of the more dramatically dense single issues in the series' run, containing the first appearances of both Tyrone Dragon and Nancy Chu alongside Tierra's death — three lasting catalog entries in a single 20-page story.
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Writer-artist Erik Larsen produced the issue entirely solo — story, pencils, inks, and cover — with Chris Eliopoulos lettering, Nikos Koutsis on colors, Mike Toris handling flats, and Gavin Higginbotham editing. The issue shipped December 2, 2015 under Diamond order code AUG150539, at a time when Larsen had been steering the series through Malcolm's coming-of-age arc since the soft relaunch around issue #193. The backup story 'Mouthful of Death' — an 8-page feature by Polish artist Lukasz Mazur with lettering by Piotr Nowacki — had originally been self-published in Polish in December 2014; Larsen brought it into the issue as an English-language debut, constructed so that every single panel is a deliberate homage to a specific panel from somewhere in the Savage Dragon back catalog.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Tyrone Dragon (Malcolm's son by Tierra Jones), who goes on to become a recurring member of the 'Dragon Triplets' and a long-running supporting character through at least issue #253.
- First appearance of Nancy Chu, a friend and co-worker of Maxine who meets Thunder-Head at the wedding reception.
- Death issue for Tierra Jones (first appeared in Savage Dragon #161): she is killed on-panel when Tyrone bursts from her body while she is riding a late-night train alone, mourning the wedding she could not attend.
- Central story is the wedding of Malcolm Dragon and Maxine Jung Lai, with Frank Darling Jr. serving as best man and Angel Murphy delivering a speech; the couple honeymoon in Hawaii.
- The full production credits for the main story are: Erik Larsen (story & art), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Nikos Koutsis (colors), Mike Toris (flats), Gavin Higginbotham (editor).
- The issue contains an 8-page backup, 'Mouthful of Death,' written and drawn by Polish artist Lukasz Mazur — its English-language print debut — featuring Fantomah (a Fletcher Hanks creation) and constructed entirely of panel layouts homaged from specific Savage Dragon issues.
- Published December 2, 2015 by Image Comics; 20 pages of main story content; rated M for Mature.
- The issue serves as a narrative hinge for subsequent storylines: Tyrone's feral infancy, Malcolm coping with an unacknowledged child, and Maxine's own pregnancy and protective device (provided by Lorella) all spin directly out of this issue's events.
Cast · 31 characters
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