Savage #3

Savage #3

Valiant Entertainment 2021

Written by Max Bemis

Illustrated by Nathan Stockman

Coloured by Triona Farrell

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Project Bizarre's quest to unleash the creatures from the odd dimension known as the Faraway beyond the British Isles is ON -- the Giant Dinos have gone GLOBAL! Can Savage save the tropics or will the dinos rule Earth again?

This is a crazy good time. I mean the whole dynamic that we see throughout the book is so good and so different and shouldn’t exactly work but it does and does it well. With his new home on an Island in the Tropics Savage feels more at home and alive than he’s ever been while in this reality even with Al, the butler. Meanwhile he knows that Project Bizarre has its own schemes going on but doesn’t really seem to care and has left his responsibilities completely. Though lets be honest if I had a brother like he does I’d run far, far away as well and let him get eaten by the dinosaurs that have been brought to this reality.

I have to say I really like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development we see is outrageously good as well. The humour that we see is sensational and there is one line that really got me good, see if you can find where it is. Yes read the damn book it’s a great read. The way we see the characters act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter as well as how we see the dialogue is fantastic! The pacing is great and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story you cannot help but be caught up in this like some kind of twister.

I like the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to make an impact as they grow, strengthen and evolve. Geckopus indeed, will Savage find his way back to London or will he remain in the Tropics remains to be seen but honestly I kind of want him to stay out of his brothers path, even to clean up his mess. The way we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is delightful as can be.

I do like the interiors here. The creativity and imagination that we see is phenomenal as these dinosaurs come to life, and yes they really should be stars on a made for SyFy film. The linework is great and how we see the varying weights utilised to create the detail work that we see is fabulous. The use of backgrounds here could be better yet overall the composition within the panels allows for depth perception, a sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective within the panels show a sensational eye for storytelling. The colour work is also extremely well rendered. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is extremely nice to see.

Max is writing one hell of a great story that is as untraditional as he is and it’s damn fine stuff. Who wants the norm? We see enough dark angst elsewhere so to see some serious levity happening within this book not only sets it apart but it’s the way that the story is being told that makes it what it is.