Out of the jungle, into the fight…

When all hope seems lost, the final threads tethering the Sauvage family to their humanity will finally be severed. Just as the beasts within begin to take hold, the final revelation about the prehistoric island that has claimed them will finally stand revealed. But will this twist of fate offer a last chance at rescue…or forever seal their doom?

The finale of the four-part miniseries is here, and I have questions that I’m eagerly anticipating answers to; will we see this character enter the main Valiant Universe, or will he remain (at least for now) separate from the established characters? Is there going to be an actual conclusion or will the series be left on an annoy cliff hanger?

Savage #4 is a brutal comic, with some pretty fantastic action scenes involving dinosaur on human, and human on human fighting that are rendered wonderfully. Lewis Larosa opens the comic with a fantastic sequence of Savage dinosaur surfing – there is no other way for me to convey just how brilliant it is with mere words, because it’s an exhilarating piece of art. The comic takes some dips from here with Clayton Henry‘s work not quite matching up to the vibrancy of Larosa’s. Although I think that has more to do with the differing styles and how the colourists work with Larosa’s detail filled black and grey as opposed to the more minimalist line work of Henry than any gap between the two artists.

Unfortunately, the fourth issue seems to finish before it really gets going.

That isn’t to say that it was so good I couldn’t believe it was over, but rather I’d read it far faster than I expected – more than likely because of the lack of any significant dialogue or narration boxes apparent as B. Clay Moore allowed the art to tell much of the story. Indeed, it felt a little strange to see the older version of Savage to say so much during the issue, having been largely a silent character up until this point. At the end of the day, I didn’t find this issue had as satisfying a conclusion as I had hoped for, and rather than close out the first Savage miniseries with the strength of a T-Rex’s jaw, Savage #4 left me feeling as though I had just read an extended – albeit very good – prologue for what was to come next…

Story: B. Clay Moore Artists: Clayton Henry and Lewis Larosa
Colourists: Brian Reber and Andrew Dalhouse
Story: 7.5 Art:10  Overall: 8.5
Recommendation:  Buy for the art alone. Happily, the story is good.

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review