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Hey Erik, I decided to read through Savage Dragon from the Gangwar storyline through the beginning of This Savage World recently and made it through #22 - #46 over the weekend. Really enjoyed reading through these comics but was struck by how sudden and random the death of Rapture seemed -- I went through a lot of really great material with their relationship developing and ending on such a sad note through a lot of highs and lows... and then it suddenly ends when Rapture is used as cannon fodder for Darklord, without much fanfare or ceremony. Personally, I felt she (alone with Alex) was the most interesting, unique and believable of Dragon's love interests and it seemed bizzarre to kill her that way.

1) Why did you end up deciding to kill Rapture? To make way for Smasher as the book's main love interest? To add pathos and tragedy to Dragon's life? Tired of drawing her?

2) What's your thoguht process usually when you kill a major character? To be honest, so many have been killed so randomly that I've come to see most as expendable cannon fodder and don't really get attached anymore.

I remember Erik saying that he wanted to kill a majo character to make the Darklord saga have more of an impact. As none of the other characters were as important, Rapture got picked. I imagine that that clearing the way for Jennifer was a bonus.

And there's still tons of guys round that I'd never consider cannon fodder: SuperPatriot, Vanguard and Wally, the Deadly Duo, Barbaric and Ricochet, Rock and his family, William and Rita, PowerHouse, Mako, Rex and Horridus, Dart, DD and the Little Wise Guys... Likely lots more I'm forgetting.

I'm hardly expecting every character except Angel and Malcolm to get blown away.

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- Gavin Higginbotham.

http://savagedragonwiki.wikispaces.com/

Well, the other thing is the alternate dimensions angle makes it feel like it's all the more possible to off an old favorite since Erik could just bring back a new version of an old character...

But yeah, there are guys who I'd still be stunned by -- Superpatriot, Vanguard, Powerhouse, and a few others.

I guess it's just the whole "no fanfare" thing. Frank was killed at the beginning of Back in Blue and it really felt like, "Well, he's dead, time to move on"... most other stories, comics or otherwise, usually make it a big deal to kill a character that's been around for nearly 20 year, y'know?

Death has no fanfare or often forewarning. The whole Marvel/DC "somebody is going to die..." stunt is kind of sick, I think. It's used as a gimmick--like a die cut cover or a new costume--and that's kind of ghoulish I think. In the line of duty--on the police force--in the army--firefighters--death is sudden and there is no buildup to it.

These characters put themselves in harm's way. And often--harm follows.

The thought process is always: what makes for the best story?

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-Erik Larsen
Savage Dragon perpetrator

www.savagedragon.com
www.imagecomics.com

I guess "fanfare" is the wrong term -- I just mean it feels like the characters move on really quickly. It felt like the death of Debbie Harris mattered more to Dragon than Rapture or Frank. We don't seem to see characters really reeling from the loss of a close friend.

One of the shortcomings of real time, I'm afraid. There simply isn't space to have characters mourn for issues on end. The best I can do is a funeral and the occasional visit graveside. Their deaths do get mentioned relatively often. Their impact is still felt--but it's hard to dwell on them.

Think about your own life. How much time do you devote to mourning loved ones? How much time does it consume and in the overall scheme of things--how important is that compared with the rest of your life? I've lost a few people who were very close to me--and while their passing crosses my mind from time to time--if you were to boil down the highlights of any given month--I doubt those fleeting thoughts would make the cut.

I dunno. Maybe I'm just a cold hearted son of a bitch.

_________________
-Erik Larsen
Savage Dragon perpetrator

www.savagedragon.com
www.imagecomics.com

One reason I enjoy the book as much as I do, is the sense of danger the characters face. This isn't Marvel or even to a lesser degree DC. Marvel has become the house of gimmicks and parading someones death is just a tactic to boost sales for a month. In Dragon, you really don't know who is going to go and when. The big catch is that when someone dies, they stay dead. Human Torch dead? He'll be back. Thor's dead again? He'll be back. The Shrew is dead? He won't be back.

In a way it's kind of scary, but it feels real. Sure it's a super hero book, but it's not one full of gimmicks and tricking the reader with deaths and resurrections. If someone dies, I don't expect them back. (With one major exception of course) Death is sudden, and you don't come back from it. Sucks and is unfair, but that's life.

Well, that's a given.

I think Marvel and DC have really done themselves an incredible disservice by resurrecting certain characters -- guys like Bucky and Jason Todd.

You kill off a Superman or a Captain America, yeah, it's no surprise that they're coming back -- those are the icons, and anyway, they should be around for new generations to enjoy. But second and third tier characters should always be fair game. And going after the really sacred cows like Bucky completely undermines all sense of fear your readers might otherwise have felt for other endangered characters in future stories.

Now there's no sense of real danger-- no sense that anything that could befall these heroes is permanent anymore. The term "Bucky Dead" used to mean something, and now that it doesn't -- I think that presents a real problem.

To treat death cheaply is a huge mistake -- death is the ultimate, final consequence/end... but in Big Two comics, it doesn't seem too much worse than a lengthy nap.