For those not keeping up on Valiant Entertainment’s books, seeing a character like Savage might be a bit of a confusing thing. Many readers of the 90s were familiar with when then-Valiant had the Turok license and paired him with some of their big guns and even gave him his own ongoing. Those days are gone and Turok is doing just about nothing of note but Savage #1 is picking right up as Valiant’s newest dinosaur hunter series.

If you didn’t read the mini-series that spawned Savage, a bit of a recap: a world-famous soccer player and his pregnant wife disappear while in flight. They land on a strange island populated with dinosaurs. The wife gives birth but the child is more-or-less raised in a wild, violent environment known as the Faraway, where time bends back on itself and all manner of creature roam. After a big throwdown with the human scum of the island, Savage is portaled to current day England.

Savage #1 is the newest mini-series and sees what’s happened to Savage since he just showed up. He’s a teen sensation thrust into the limelight – limelight he may not necessarily want. In short time, dinosaurs and other creatures are let loose and Savage does what he does best – he goes to war with them, only to be captured by those that set them free in the first place.

I was really skeptical of this first issue. I think the first Savage series was pretty good and it honed something that a lot of us fans of Valiant thought was missing. I was a huge Turok fan and while he’s not Turok, he’s an awesome equivalent to what we once had. But when the writer of that previous mini, B. Clay Moore, was not returning, nor were the art team of Lewis Larosa and Clayton Henry, it just felt like nothing about a new Savage series would be anywhere near entertaining. I can say that I’m a bit wrong in that regard.

I’m only familiar with Max Bemis from when he was writing Moon Knight for Marvel, which I enjoyed. Here, he takes a fish out of water story and puts him back into something primordial. I don’t want to give away too much but this was a bloodbath of a book, action-packed and overall, really awesome. It reminds me that Valiant can have a character like this again, one that’s got a familiar presence while at the same time, being a newer character free of years of continuity.

Nathan Stockman, Triona Farrell, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou aren’t going to stack up to Larosa and Henry but that’s okay. Really, any book with dinos should be done by Larosa. It’s a rule. But on a serious note, the art team opens with a rad fight scene and closes with some rather creative fighting. From a visual standpoint, this issue is as action-packed as any previous issue of Savage. While I would prefer a bit more detail, I really can’t complain about the art. The visuals are wild.

Savage #1 ends up as the blood-and-guts battle royale book that I desperately needed. I’m glad that this is finally seeing the light of day, as I am sure this was probably supposed to have been released last year and should have finished by now. And for older Valiant fans, it’s okay to like this. Turok will never return to Valiant and with a character as wild as Savage, they’d never need him back in the first place.

Story: Max Bemis Art: Nathan Stockman
Colorist: Triona Farrell Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Story: 9.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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