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''Savage Dragon'' is an ongoing American comic book series created by Erik Larsen, published by Image Comics and taking place in the Image Universe. The comic features the adventures of a superheroic police officer named the Dragon. The character first appeared as Dragon in ''Graphic Fantasy'' #1 (June 1982) and first appeared as the "Savage Dragon" in ''Megaton'' #3 (February 1986). The Dragon is a large, finned, green-skinned humanoid whose powers include super-strength and an advanced healing factor. He is also an amnesiac: his earliest memory is awakening in a burning field in Chicago, Illinois. Thus, for most of the series, the origins of his powers and appearance are a mystery to readers. At the beginning of the series, he becomes a police officer and battles the mutant criminal "superfreaks" that terrorize Chicago. ''Savage Dragon'' is the only one of the original Image Comics titles that is still written and drawn by its creator, for which Larsen has been lauded.〔David, Peter. ("Giving Credit Where Credit is Due, Part 1" ) peterdavid.net; August 23, 2010; Reprinted from ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1033; September 3, 1993〕''Savage Dragon'' is the longest running American full-color comic book to feature a single artist/writer. The character was also adapted into an animated series, which ran for two seasons (26 episodes) on the USA Network beginning in 1995. Savage Dragon was listed by ''Wizard'' as the 116th greatest comic book characters of all time.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Wizard's top 200 characters. External link consists of a forum site summing up the top 200 characters of Wizard Magazine since the real site that contains the list is broken. )〕 IGN also listed Savage Dragon as the 95th greatest comic book hero of all time stating that he has the trappings of a great comic book hero.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher=IGN )〕 ==Publication history== Like many of Erik Larsen's characters, the Savage Dragon was created by Larsen while he was a child in elementary school. In his youth, Larsen drew the Dragon in homemade comic books. The original Dragon, inspired by elements from Captain Marvel, Batman, Speed Racer and later The Incredible Hulk, differs greatly from the modern incarnation. After launching ''Savage Dragon'' in a professionally published comic book, Larsen returned to the original and reworked his designs into the characters William Jonson, a police officer ally of the Dragon, and Flash Mercury, the "Spectacular Dragon". Much later, a greatly redesigned ''Savage Dragon'' was featured in two issues of ''Graphic Fantasy'', a self-published title with a small print run, published by Larsen and two friends. In this incarnation, the Dragon was a widower and a retired member of a government-sponsored superhero team. Subsequently, the Dragon made another appearance in the third issue of Gary Carlson's ''Megaton'' anthology in its ''Vanguard'' strip, which Larsen had been drawing. In these appearances, the character of the Dragon remained basically the same as it had been in ''Graphic Fantasy'', with a few details modified (such as the inclusion of his wife, who was dead in his previous incarnation). Both the ''Graphic Fantasy'' and ''Megaton'' issues containing the Dragon have since been reprinted in high-quality editions. In 1992, when Larsen left Marvel to co-found Image Comics, he reworked the character for the new publication venture. This time, the Dragon was a massively muscled green amnesiac, who joined the Chicago police department after being discovered in a burning field. Initially debuting in a three-issue mini-series, the ''Savage Dragon'' comic book met with enough success to justify a monthly series, launched in 1993. To this day, Larsen continues to write and illustrate the series entirely by himself, and has maintained a reasonably consistent monthly schedule (save for occasional lapses) in comparison with the other original Image Comics titles. Larsen has occasionally produced ancillary mini-series, and sometimes allowed other creators to produce stories featuring the Dragon or other characters from the series. According to Larsen, the series is aimed at "older Marvel readers who are about ready to throw in the towel on comics altogether. It's the missing link between Marvel and Vertigo. More mature than Marvel; less pretentious than Vertigo. The kind of comics (wants ) to read. () book is really self-indulgent." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Savage Dragon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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