Savage Dragon Creator Erik Larsen on Mickey Mouse, Mister Glum, and Other Criminals in #271

Savage Dragon is back on schedule, and a bunch of different plots all come together this issue.

By Russ Burlingame - July 3, 2024 11:08 am EDT

Savage Dragon #271, in stores today, feels like an event book, except that nobody is really at risk of dying and there's no big, cosmic threat. But it cuts back and forth between plot threads led by Malcolm Dragon, Maxine Dragon, their kids, and Malcolm's half-sister Angel Murphy. Each one has some very plot-relevant stuff going on and, at one point, three of the four stories are all engaged in different fights, with Larsen cutting back and forth between them -- one of which is likely to raise some hackles, as it continues the theme of Mickey Mouse being a serial sexual abuser.

That particular aspect of Mickey -- played here as a Hollywood legend who can't accept no for an answer -- was based on his personality in Plane Crazy, the second and less famous of the Disney/Mickey cartoons to enter the public domain in January. In it, Minnie Mouse made her first appearance, with Mickey relentlessly pursuing her romantically despite her repeated rejections.

"He was a real creep to begin with," Larsen told us in June. "That was the state of entertainment at the time. Skirt chasers were something of a staple back in the early days. That sort of thing was prevalent for decades in comics and cartoons. Nobody stopped to think about how terrifying it was for the poor woman being doggedly pursued."

Larsen joined ComicBook to talk about Savage Dragon #271, but the interview is spoiler-filled, so head to your local comic shop or pick up Savage Dragon #271 on a digital reading platform before you continue.

This is maybe the most fast-paced action we've had in a while, but it's all fairly low-danger. There's never really a sense that Malcolm, Maxine, or the kids are going to get hurt on their adventures. Did you just feel like you wanted to speed up the pace a little bit?

There was a lot to cover. As is often the case, whatever plans I may have had when I wrote solicitation copy have fallen by the wayside in favor of whatever base impulses I had at the moment I was sitting at the drawing board.

Initially, I had hoped to have wrapped up #270 and not have it spill directly over into the next issue but the closer I got to the end of the issue it became clear that I just couldn't wrap it up satisfactorily.

I tossed in Alpha Male at the last minute so that this issue wasn't Malcolm vs. Mickey Mouse. That seemed too small and in that case, it would make Malcolm seem like too much of a bully. I wasn't really expecting it to fill up the entire next issue!

I love how the Angel/Glum reveal played out. Was it always the plan to have it be a fairly short-term mystery? I assume the full story will play out over a longer term.

It seemed kind of ridiculous to not have her figure it out at this point. Not with all of the evidence in front of her. Sometimes I just set characters in motion and sit back and watch how things unfold, and this was one of those. I have some nebulous idea of where this is all headed, but that could change if a better idea comes along. Sometimes it's nice to have a wildcard to contend with.

Given that Dragon still ended up serving a bunch of years for stuff that happened while Kurr was in his body, does Frank still have a long road ahead? Or is it different because Dragon's body made him an obvious danger to society even after the villain was gone?

We'll have to wait and see how this all plays out. There are a number of ways I can go here and I'm weighing multiple options. Surely, if word got out that it was Mr. Glum's mind in Frank's body that there would be a lot more charges being thrown at him. Mr. Glum did take over the world, after all.

Does Paul have security clearance to be able to "make an exception" for Walter? I guess I forgot he was officially SOS.

I suppose so. I'm supposing there was something of a time jump in #270 from where Angel suggested contacting Paul to Paul fighting by Malcolm's side. I would suppose there was something of a process necessary to get him onboard.

Is Mickey subject to rules of cartoon violence? Like, is he really not feeling it that much when Maxine beats his ass?

Yeah — he's pretty much invulnerable. The stars indicate some level of pain but he's clearly not a bruised, bloody mess after taking a rock to his head, so he's able to roll with whatever she's throwing at him and I would imagine that it was somewhat cathartic to be able to really let him have it, especially after he popped her one.

I'm really glad to see our pseudo Alex Jones getting wiped out. I don't think I would have had much patience for that guy. But should we worry about yet another powerful suit of armor out there in the middle of this mess? Or am I just paranoid because we started these interviews back when Flash Mercury was in the Overlord suit?

Super suits are a thing in this world and anybody could conceivably get one if they have to scratch to get one built. I don't plan on this particular suit getting passed around like a reefer at a summer camp the way Overlord's armor was. But it's not impossible that we might see others have something built for them.

Who were those first two people who kicked Mickey before Minnie came along? Just good Samaritans, or was it Malcolm?

They were good samaritans. Malcolm's wearing shorts. People don't always jump into the fray like that, of course, but given just how crazily that rascally rodent was acting, and how vulnerable Maxine was, it didn't seem too hard to imagine passersby stepping in to lend a hand.

I love seeing Paul and Alex with the kids. It almost feels like a different book sometimes, though. Is that ever something you have to work around in terms of making a particularly jarring segue?

I don't mind a jarring segue. At least then there's no confusion as to where we are and what we're looking at. The more awkward transitions are cases where scenes are too similar and the reader is confused.

Here, we were shuffling back and forth between Angel talking to Frank/Glum in jail, Glum/Frank and Little Angel in Dimension-X, Malcolm and the Bay Guardian battling the Alpha Male at the Bay to Breakers, Maxine fighting the vengeful vermin at Bay to Breakers and Paul and the kids together with Walter at the Bay Bridge and later at home with Alex. That's a lot of plates to keep up in the air.

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