CSBG Archive
Comic Book Easter Eggs – Savage Dragon Easter Eggs Galore!
Every week, I will be sharing with you three comic book “easter eggs.” An easter egg is a joke/visual gag/in-joke that a comic book creator (typically the artist) has hidden in the pages of the comic for readers to find (just like an easter egg). They range from the not-so-obscure to the really obscure. So come check ‘em all out and enjoy! Also, click here for an archive of all the easter eggs featured so far! If you want to suggest an easter egg for a future column, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com (do not post your suggestion in the comments section!).
Erik Larsen is one of the great students of comic book history, which is plainly evident by his long-running Image comic book series Savage Dragon, which has seen guest appearances from characters from all areas of the comic book world. Dragon has teamed up with Superman, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Madman, Hellboy, the list is seemingly endless. Not to mention his (relatively) recent addition of Daredevil and the Little Wise Guys to the cast. As a result, Larsen has had a TON of easter eggs over the years. If I went through them all, we’d be here all year, so I’ll just a few specific Larsen easter eggs that readers have written in to me about (and I’m sure I’ll revisit Larsen’s Savage Dragon easter eggs in the future).
Reader Marco wrote in to suggest a cute bit from Savage Dragon #65. Throughout the issue, the villain known as the Possessor believes that he has reformed (inspired by the Dragon) and he has been using his mind control powers to push people to get Dragon involved in the Possessor case (the Possessor wants to work with the Dragon. What the Dragon doesn’t know is that he has “inspired” the Possessor to kill thousands of people with “evil” thoughts by making them kill themselves)
When just asking doesn’t work, the Possessor sends the Dragon’s superhero friends to come get him by force. First, familiar supporting cast members from Savage Dragon…
and now some familiar heroes that are not supporting cast members from Savage Dragon…
Reader Jason wrote in to suggest this neat bit from Savage Dragon #87 where Dragon hitches a ride with Gilbert Shelton’s The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (click here to see an article by MarkAndrew about the Brothers) along with their favorite runaway, Little Orphan Amphetamine(herself an obvious parody of you know who)….
Finally, Stephen B. suggested Savage Dragon #41, which has the wedding of Barbaric and Ricochet of the Freak Force. Barbaric wants a superhero wedding like Reed and Sue Richards where EVERYONE shows up, so he invites every comic book character he can think of.
A number of the guests are official cameos, like Vampirella and Hellboy…
But others are unofficial, like Elton John…
Batman and Robin…
Thing and it looks like Superman’s boot…
And then a whole mess of them including Reed, Sue, Sandman, Electro and more in the big wedding scene (click on the image to enlarge)…
Thanks to all the suggestions and thanks to Erik Larsen for making all of these neat easter eggs over the years!
If you have a suggestion for future easter eggs, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com
26 Comments
Freyes2011
October 3, 2012 at 3:53 am
The panel with Batman and Robin also features Daredevil and aren’t those bad-colored Hawk and Dove?
Freyes2011
October 3, 2012 at 4:14 am
Last panel you have the entire cast of the Michelinie-Larsen Sinister Six, as well as Peter Parker taking pictures.
Jonathan
October 3, 2012 at 5:06 am
Isn’t the blue hair next to Daredevil Marge Simpson?
Benn
October 3, 2012 at 5:43 am
Cool. Cerebus made the wedding, as well as Destroyer Duck and Leonard (Howard) the Duck.
Benn
October 3, 2012 at 5:50 am
The Thing sits next to Reed. (Presumably, that’s Johnny on the other side of Sue.) Further in the background of the big wedding picture, you can find the Hulk and near him, Popeye the Sailor Man. (Did Terry Austin do the inks?)
Cadio
October 3, 2012 at 6:16 am
There is a rat creature from Jeff Smith’s Bone and Rafaello in the panel with Cerebus.
EthanK
October 3, 2012 at 6:58 am
The girl with the Freak Brothers could also be Little Greta Garbage, another underground character who had two issues of her own book. The white “Little Orphan Annie” eyes were Greta Garbage while Little Orphan Amphetamine’s eyes were big pills. But Little Orphan Amphetamine did show up as a back-up feature in Freak Brothers.
Anonymous
October 3, 2012 at 7:05 am
and right behind Rapture there’s Monkeyman and O’Brien.
David Coxsey
October 3, 2012 at 8:04 am
On the flip side there is the issue of Adventures of Superman where mentions he has to take care of a guy with a large green fin on his head. I think it was issue 505, but I can’t remember. All I know is that it is the first issue after the end of ‘Reign of the Supermen’. Not sure if that counts as a cameo for Savage Dragon, but the description that Superman gives sounds alot like him.
CBR pays props to Savage Dragon Easter Eggs! | Dragon Fan
October 3, 2012 at 8:13 am
[...] http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/10/02/comic-book-easter-eggs-savage-dragon-easter-eggs… [...]
Kirayoshi
October 3, 2012 at 8:36 am
In the brawl page I clearly saw Madman and Zot. Also Destroyer Duck and E-Man on the first page, with the Hulk next to them(purple pants with rope belt).
Brian Cronin
October 3, 2012 at 9:21 am
If there’s an independent comic character in the scene, it is likely an official cameo. The rat creature, Destroyer Duck, the cast of WildCATS, etc.
Winter_Decay
October 3, 2012 at 10:41 am
I always thought that the person to the far right in the Batman and Robin panel was Captain Paragon.
buttler
October 3, 2012 at 10:43 am
Why would you invite a stupid, stupid rat creature to your wedding?
I like that Destroyer Duck brought his little buddy “Leonard the Duck” along, and E-Man’s got Nova Kane and Teddy Q with him.
BeccaBlast
October 3, 2012 at 10:51 am
Cerebus and Raphael between Barbaric’s legs — anything other than COMICS! than can get you a sentence fragment like that? — and obviously, the Flaming Carrot in the “uh, oh, the bride is PISSED” panel.
Simon
October 3, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Next to Batman and Robin is Scarlet Scorpion and Captain Paragon from the Sentinels of Justice.
John Pannozzi
October 3, 2012 at 1:16 pm
The issue summaries at savagedragonwiki.wikispaces.com have detailed cast lists which include all cameos, official or otherwise.
The Mad Monkey
October 3, 2012 at 1:19 pm
On the page with the Superman beatdown, that looks like Hercules (from Walt Simonson’s “Hercules Unbound”) delivering the HROKK! punch.
Damian696
October 3, 2012 at 2:00 pm
that’s Larsen’s very own version of Hercules.
Kendall
October 3, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Was there any Vertigo characters?
Travis Pelkie
October 3, 2012 at 9:16 pm
I thought I have 65, but I don’t remember that bit. Maybe that’s one of the issues I haven’t read yet.
I do have the one with the Freak Bros and the Annie reference. Larsen’s style is odd in at least that issue, and maybe for a while after. It’s all line work, I think, like he left all shading and “3-D” to the colorist, and I’m not big on it. But hey, it’s cool that he’d experiment.
Any book with Flaming Carrot, Cerebus, Madman, and EMan is automatically awesome. It’s an unwritten rule of comics. Ok, NOW it’s written.
DanLarkin
October 3, 2012 at 9:37 pm
The Punisher’s behind the rosebush, I think.
John
October 4, 2012 at 5:59 am
To the right of the Sinister Six, it looks like the Doom Patrol (who Larsen also drew, in the late 80s).
Andrew-TLA
October 5, 2012 at 12:44 am
We’ve also got Thunder Girl, Ultiman, and Knight Watchman from Big Bang.
TJCoolguy
October 5, 2012 at 9:41 am
The Freak Brothers will always hold a special place in my heart as my first “adult” comic. One of my friends sold me one of the collections for like ten bucks, saying he had this awesome comic with naked chicks and pot-smoking in it.
Also, this post reminds me of a great quote I once read from Erik Larsen. If I remember correctly, someone wrote into Wizard Magazine asking about Larsen’s, let’s say, “exaggerated” way of portraying the female form. When the editor contacted Larsen, his response was something along the lines of “I just like drawing chicks with big boobs.” Gotta love that honesty.
PeterCSM730
November 8, 2012 at 10:03 pm
The wedding scene is pretty cool. Thanks for making me awares!