Under the guidance of Senior Editor Heather Antos, author Max Bemis has crafted a completely different world for young Kevin Sauvage to inhabit. In Valiant's first Savage series, Kevin lived on an island located in the dimension known as the Faraway. There, after the death of his parents, he interacted with nature in all its forms. This became especially rich and colorful as the island was also populated with dinosaurs.
For this second Savage series, author Max Bemis works hard to make Kevin's new home of modern London just as rich and colorful. In Savage #1, he showed Kevin triumphing in the social media landscape, and in a way, ruling as a king (at least among the youth culture) in this world-class city. In Savage #2, he takes on the literary and cultural history of England.
Since the British government, and leaders such as Winston Churchill, worked underground to protect the country during World War II, writers have often hypothesized about what else might be going on underneath the capital city. In Savage #2, we learn that Project Bizarre, under the leadership of Professor Nealon, has set up his premises beneath these historic streets.
We also lean into post WWII cultural mythology, with the notion that intelligence agencies employ spies to protect us from the potentially world-ending plots of supervillains. Thus, the need for inventive people to develop super-weapons to counter the supervillains' super-weapons, such as the colorful agent Q in the James Bond franchise.
Of course, the mad scientist is another type of story that writer Max Bemis mines in Savage #2. Story Editor Terrance Dicks has often lamented that, during his tenure on Doctor Who, the third Doctor was largely stuck on Earth. This left Dicks with two possible types of plots to exploit: alien invasion and mad scientist. Of course, just because you're stuck with a given framework doesn't mean you can't craft interesting and unique stories from it.
Like Terrance Dicks, Max Bemis has found a way to make Professor Nealon shine as a unique villain in this mad scientist story.
One thing that Max Bemis, along with Nathan Stockman's penciling and inking, makes clear right away is that Professor Nealon has never been focused on the consequences of his research. He just loves inventing. He's like Q without a conscience. It doesn't matter who gets hurt along the way. The more spectacular the result of his research, the more consequential Nealon feels.
After awhile, it doesn't matter that the American government stopped funding him. Professor Nealon moved Project Bizarre into Winston Churchill's underground bunkers, and continued his work in England.
Like all the best supervillains, he clearly sees himself as the king of his castle: the ruler of his domain. If anyone stands in his way, as Kevin intends to, well, he'll just take what he wants.
In Kevin's case, District 9 style.
In Savage #2, writer Max Bemis explores the rich tapestry of post WWII British storytelling, and does it in a fun and zany way. I haven't even suggested a comparison yet with Roald Dahl's beloved novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, have I? Did I really need to?
Dragon Dave
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