Savage Dragon #225

The Merging of Multiple Earths – 3 of 3
July 2017
40 Pages

Credits

Erik Larsen: Story & Art
Chris Eliopoulos: Letters
Nikos Koutsis: Colors
Mike Toris: Flats
Gavin Higginbotham: Editor
Josh Eicchorn: rebel scum

Summary

Mister Glum can sense that his machinations have paid off and that the love between Angel Dragon and him has been recreated within Battle Girl. He begins to make preparations to prevent his actions from being reversed by Darklord. Glum worries that Darklord will be able to recreate the multiverse using his equipment and so sets about setting a trap. He then soon departs, leaving long before Darklord returns to his stronghold. Darklord soon discovers that his life’s work has been undone and the multiverse has been destroyed. Before he can move to act upon this, the entire facility is consumed by a huge explosion.

Meanwhile on Earth, the heroes try to come to terms with the various new memories that have been placed within their minds due to the multiverse’s destruction. Jennifer believes that this is now the end of any relationship with Dragon and wishes him nothing but happiness in the future as Alex looks on. Maxine is angry that Malcolm got to sleep with various different women in the other realities whereas she was all on her own but when pressed on whether she would rather have slept with other men she admits that that is not the case.

After freshening up, Jennifer is pressed by her daughter on whether she really has moved on from Dragon but that does appear to be so. Angel heads for a shower as Mister Glum stops by her apartment and is immediately attacked by Jennifer. She does not want him influencing her daughter as he did her counterpart. Angel quickly dons her Battle Girl costume and joins the fray to prevent either combatant from injuring the other.

The Dragon family sift through the ruined apartment where Dragon comes across one of the many vials of Malcolm’s blood that have been kept here for safekeeping should he be negated again. Craig Gotsill then checks in on the group and revels in the insanity that has been caused by the multiverse merging together. He finds a vial of his own as the family go to a nearby hotel that has been booked in for them all by Alex.

Darklord survived the detonation of his headquarters and makes his way to Earth, the one reality that never truly felt his presence. He decides that he will destroy the entire planet to end its threat before starting all over again through time-travel to create a new multiverse. Darklord’s blasts end up causing the deaths of millions worldwide. The S.O.S. move into action but are cast aside, Darklord taking a moment to recognize his grandfather amongst them as he knocks them all out.

The devastation breaks up the fight between Glum and Jennifer and he decides to take on Darklord to prevent his work from coming undone. His battle-suit drains off much of Darklord’s energies before it is destroyed and Glum cast back down to Earth. Battle Girl goes to comfort him but when he molests her she admits that although she now shares the love that her counterpart had for him, she has too many other negative feelings of her own towards him to ever act on that. Glum pulls a gun on Angel and vows that if he cannot have her then no one will but his weapon backfires and blows him up along with it.

The hotel refuses service to the Dragons on grounds that Malcolm is an “alien” before it is destroyed by Darklord’s assault. Malcolm leaps into action but even with Jennifer’s assistance they are not able to gain an upper hand. Craig joins the fight after taking on Malcolm’s blood but he almost immediately blows up from the Chosen One blood. Salvation comes when Dragon ingests his own vial of the blood of his son and becomes super-powered again. Darklord and Dragon are locked in combat once more and when all looks lost, Dragon surprises everyone by accessing the lightning powers of Malcolm’s and blowing up his foe in a huge blast.

With the threat ended, Dragon suggests he go to Stronghold Penitentiary quickly so that he can be reverted back to a regular Krylan again using the device that Lorella created. Before he can leave, the blood causes Dragon to explode in front of all of his loved ones. Jennifer comforts Alex as Maxine does the same to Malcolm. Angel hopes that Dragon has gone onto a better place, not knowing how correct she is. Dragon finds himself standing in front of a castle in a world of clouds and as he enters the building he is surrounded by a bevy of leggy supermodels that he will make love to for eternity.

The media begins questioning various heroes about the crisis and they talk about how Darklord was responsible and that supposed alien menaces like Dragon and Glum gave their lives to stop him. They are all unaware that Glum did not die in his gun’s explosion but rather he secretly teleported back home to Dimension-X. He had hidden away one of the pregnant Jennifer Murphy duplicates that Darklord had stored and cuts her throat. Glum cuts out the infant Angel and decides to take her away so that he can raise her to be a replacement for his own Angel and hopefully live happily ever after.

Backup Story

DRAGON

(NOTE: This story takes place out of continuity)
3 Pages

Credits

Derek Hunter: Story & Art

Heroes

Dragon

Supporting Characters

Lieutenant Frank Darling

Guest Supporting Characters

Officer Axel Murphy

Summary

Dragon leaps into battle and decapitates his super-freak opponent with a single punch which leads to him getting verbally dressed down by an angry Frank Darling. He is instructed to stop killing all of his foes by punching their heads off and his partner Axel Murphy is ordered to keep him in line. Dragon is soon called into action once again and immediately punches the villain’s head off.

Backup Story

FLASH MERCURY

1 Page

Credits

Joe Keatinge: Story
Ryan Alexander-Tanner: Art

Heroes

Flash Mercury
The Special Operations Strikeforce
– Horridus
– Ricochet

Supporting Characters

Jon Day
Thunder-Head

Villains

Mister Glum

Summary

Flash Mercury is interviewed for a potential place on the roster for Special Operations Strikeforce by Ricochet. She asks him how his life is going right now and he tries to put a positive spin on it all but ultimately they both conclude that his life sucks.

Backup Story

FREAK FORCE

8 Pages

Credits

Erik Larsen: Story
Nikos Koutsis: Art & Colors
Mike Toris: Color Flats
Ferran Delgado: Letters

Heroes

Freak Force (All quit The Special Operations Strikeforce)
– SuperPatriot
– Barbaric
– Dart III (Joins)
– Horridus
– Marsha Bradley
– Mighty Man VI
– Ricochet

Villains

Real World:
President Donald Trump

Summary

Jane August adopts the costumed identity of her older sister Jill and joins the Special Operations Strikeforce as the new Dart. She accompanies them during a training exercise and soon proves her skill and earns a positive review from SuperPatriot for her performance. Barbaric, meanwhile, is berated by Ricochet for his reckless actions during the session but she ultimately gives up as he has been the same way since they were teenagers and is unlikely to change any time soon.

As the team relaxes together in front of the television, the latest antics of President Trump prove to be too much for SuperPatriot. When he is ordered to lead a team in to disperse protestors he decides that enough is enough and opts to quit the S,O,S, He proposes to his allies present that they should reform the Freak Force team they now have complete memories of from another reality. Every single member of the team agrees and they leave the government’s payroll. Mighty Man flies over to ask what they are doing and soon joins them too.

Backup Story

BATTLE GIRL

Throwdown!
7 Pages

Credits

Erik Larsen: Story
Raven Perez: Art
Ferran Delgado: Letters
Mark Englert: Colors

Heroes

Battle Girl

Supporting Characters

Thunder-Head

Villains

Slag

Summary

Battle Girl comes under attack from Slag who has reformed her liquid metal body finally after her last fight against the hero. She still blames Angel and Malcolm Dragon for the death of her boyfriend Adrian Weatherspoon and wishes to avenge his loss by killing Battle Girl. The fight causes Slag’s burning touch to destroy all of Angel’s clothes before she ultimately defeats the villain completely nude. The monstrous woman’s body is blasted apart again and her head is kicked down into the sewers by an arriving Thunder-Head who passes his shirt to Angel to hide her body.

After she has showered and dressed, Angel goes for some lunch with Thunder-Head where they catch up on all of the recent events in their lives. Thunder-Head was dumped by his girlfriend who was terrified that if she had children with him that they would end up like Malcolm Dragon’s triplets and endanger her. The world’s new memories from the multiverse have also caused the general public to distrust him as a villain. Angel meanwhile remains somewhat linked to Frank but admits that she finds him somewhat boring and does not want to settle down with him and his daughter in his mother’s house. The two flirt with one another before parting company.

Backup Story

FLASH MERCURY

1 Page

Credits

Joe Keatinge: Story
Ryan Alexander-Tanner: Art

Heroes

Flash Mercury
Ant
Ricochet

Summary

Ricochet hopes to help improve Flash Mercury’s life and sets him up on a date with Ant. The depressed hero is asked about what he does for a living and after rambling on about previously driving race cars the awkward conversation soon grinds to a halt.

Backup Story

MALCOLM DRAGON

I Faced the Monster from the Murky Depths!/The Monster’s Revenge!
10 Pages

Credits

Erik Larsen: Story
Frank Fosco: Art
Ferran Delgado: Letters
Mark Englert: Colors

Heroes

Malcolm Dragon

Supporting Characters

Maxine Jung Dragon
Amy Dragon
Jack Dragon
Tyrone Dragon

Summary

Malcolm Dragon enjoys dinner with his handful of a family before he is disturbed by a call for assistance in dealing with a huge monster that has just emerged from the lake. Maxine does not want him to leave as she is still unsettled by her new memories from the multiverse but duty sadly calls. Malcolm arrives to witness the monster moving through the streets and neither his strength nor his electrical abilities prove to be enough to halt its passage through the city.

A passing train is then stopped in its tracks and a single man is plucked from the carriages and is crushed to death by the creature. It then returns to the lake but Malcolm electrifies the water with his lightning and is finally able to slay the beast. He then returns to the victim and learns that he was not a man at all but actually some kind of humanoid sea creature that was wearing a necklace trophy of what appear to be the teeth of the slain monster’s family. Malcolm realizes his haste in killing the monster and identifies with its motives of trying to protect its family no matter the cost.

Backup Story

GRAPHIC FANTASY

Revenge!
(NOTE: This story was originally printed in GRAPHIC FANTASY #1)
23 Pages

Credits

Erik Larsen: Story & Art

Heroes

Paul Dragon
Past:-
The Society of Superheroes
– SuperPatriot
– Battle Tank
– Mako
– Mighty Man II
– Poison Dart
– Rock
– Sgt. Marvel
– Star II
– Zeek

Supporting Characters

Angel Wilson
Past:-
Susan Wilson
William Jonson

Villains

The Bronze Man
Animal II
Bloop
EXROE-5
Mace

Summary

Dragon considers how he has featured in the news a lot lately and even though he has retired from the S.O.S., his enemies do not seem to have gotten the message. He is disturbed in his kitchen when he is attacked by a villain bursting through the wall behind his fridge. Dragon attempts to convince his assailant to go elsewhere but when his words are ignored he simply falls back on instincts and defeats him with ease.

As he pops open a drink, another assailant is spotted moving in the shadows and another villain leaps out at Dragon. The villain is swiftly defeated too and Dragon considers just how many times he has been attacked in such a short time and that if he was still with the S.O.S. then at least he would be getting paid. He resigns himself to having to put up with this type of unwanted attention for awhile and goes to check up on a sleeping Angel. When it is obvious that his daughter is suffering from a nightmare, Dragon wakes up Angel and gets her ready to visit the zoo.

Dragon and Angel catch a taxi where Dragon’s mind starts to drift off to the past few months of events, detailing how his relationship with Susan developed until her murder at the hands of the Bronze Man. He vowed then and there that he would avenge this death but Bronze Man has remained hidden ever since, knowing full well that the moment he reveals his location that Dragon would be after him. Dragon returns from his thoughts and apologizes to Angel for drifting off.

The taxi driver points out that a sign on a bus alongside them is acting strangely as a sign lowers down and guns area revealed. These weapons fire a series of metal spikes at the vehicle that kills the driver and badly wounds Angel. She is rushed to hospital for treatment before Dragon speaks with the police and several other cops as they work the case, figuring that Bronze Man is the likely suspect for the attack.

Dragon takes to the streets in the hope of uncovering the location of his nemesis and assaults a large number of criminals during the course of his search. It is evident though that although he is foiling some criminal activity, none of those he confronts know anything about Bronze Man. On one raid, Dragon hears a noise behind him and turns around just in time for Mace to strike him with his ball and chain, rendering him unconscious.

As he passes out, Dragon’s life from the time of his discovery flashes back through his mind right up until the present day. As he catches up with his own experiences, Dragon awakens to find himself strapped into a contraption and surrounded by members of his rogues gallery. He is to be executed and Bronze Man has brought minions with him to serve as witnesses to Dragon’s death. Bronze Man claims that he does not need to prove himself against Dragon in a one-on-one confrontation as he has beaten him before and it would be redundant. Dragon simply suspects that his inability to harm him during their previous encounter has left Bronze Man scared of him.

Bronze Man activates his machinery which uses gas, lasers and electricity to hopefully kill Dragon but his captive summons up all of his strength and breaks loose. Dragon proceeds to take out Animal with a punch before confronting Mace. He is disappointed that the vigilante has begun working with those he formerly detested but ultimately just takes him down too. EXROE-5 is the next to fall before Dragon manages to strike Bloop which causes his water form to splash out into numerous puddles.

A final confrontation then takes place between Dragon and Bronze Man in which the villain is unable to stop his opponent. Dragon shrugs off the energy blasts before reaching his hated foe and punching him until he can pop off his helmet to reveal that he has killed his foe. With the threat of Bronze Man now ended, Dragon returns to check up on the recovery being made by his daughter. Angel soon regains consciousness and sometime later, she is able to go home with Dragon. The pair finally gets to visit the zoo where Dragon spoils his daughter with junk food, knowing that his late wife would not approve as they begin life without her.

Backup Story

FLASH MERCURY

1 Page

Credits

Joe Keatinge: Story
Ryan Alexander-Tanner: Art

Heroes

Flash Mercury
Ant

Summary

The date between Ant and Flash Mercury has ended and Ant confesses that the date did not go at all well. Flash hopes that they can try again in the hope that a second date would be an improvement. It was not.

Pin-Ups

Timothy Green II: Dragon