Savage #4 Review: Lettering

 

Savage #4 Cover B by Paulina Ganucheau

Letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou kicks off this final issue of Savage in rather sedate form. He relates Henry Sauvage's soliloquy about his upbringing without much deviation in textual style. But when Savage #4 returns to the present, Hassan immediately signals this with one of his familiar yellow paper scrap narrative boxes.

 

I wish I could show the next panel bigger. Still, you can see three things: how tiny the print is from the social media messages on Henry's phone, how he speaks in normal size and style font when he talks of himself, and how the words suddenly go bold when he talks about everyone else.

Kevin's older brother clearly has a chip on his shoulder. He feels the world has rejected him again and again. Hassan signals this three ways: 1) Everyone else is tiny and therefore insignificant, 2) he is normal, and 3) those who embraced his younger brother warmly--while rejecting him--can die for all he cares.

Penciler Nathan Stockman tends to render Project Bizarre's paleolithic recreations somewhat shakily, as if to suggest they don't belong in our world. Hassan echoes Nathan's style in the way he writes the dinosaurs' dialogue.

 

Or perhaps Hassan is signalling that these weird dinos are as mad as Professor Nealon, the director of Project Bizarre. After all, it's often the truly insane who offer the most astute social commentary.

Either way, Kevin makes his position clear. He has no problem with Britain's bovine population. But when it comes to these wacky dinosaurs, he's making sure that they Rest In Peace. 

Or perhaps a better translation of Hassan's sound effect would be: Rest In Insanely Intolerably Intense Peace?

Thanks for enhancing Savage #4, and this entire series, with your excellent lettering talents, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou!

Dragon Dave