Like a hybrid of Jurassic Park and ABC's Lost, Savage (4-part series from Valiant Comics) opens with a bloody bang and never lets our attention go. The savage boy, KJ, who ends up on this mysterious island full of prehistoric reptiles after he survives a plane crash that leaves him stranded, jumps on a velociraptor and beats him to death, clawing the animal's insides with a long, curvy claw that he uses in lieu of a knife. This isn't your ordinary teenager, nor is it an ordinary island.
Writers B. Clay Moore and illustrators Lewis Larosa & Clayton Henry create a fantastically exciting setting that immediately engage the reader. The mysterious island KJ finds himself on is also populated by a strange group of vicious and violent people (who are responsible for murdering someone very near and dear to him years ago), and these men also control some sort of a time portal door (once again, Moore pays homage to Lost in more ways than one). The bloodthirsty dinosaurs aren't the only danger, apparently.
The artwork by Larosa and Henry (colors by Brian Reber & Andrew Dalhouse: cover art by Jared Fletcher & Felipe Massafera) is sharp, clear and filled with imaginative creatures and characters. The battle scenes are properly staged with the right amount of carnage and ferocity. Because this comic book is mostly a visual experience, the spoken word is limited to a minimum, as it should be with any predominantly visual medium. Savage is a tour de force book whose elements, although familiar, feel like new all over again.
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