Review: Savage Avengers #16

Savage Avengers #16 is about heroes standing at the brink of hubris and taking a giant step back. The book wonderfully written by the always epic Gary Duggan. The art is absolutely amazing by Patch Zircher.

The story takes place in Brudges where resides the Asgardian dragon Sadurang. The august company of Black Knight, Conan, Juggernaut and Magik are sent by Dr Strange to take on Sadurang in the hopes of retrieving the second Eye of Agamotto. This is needed to defeat the larger villain Kulan Gath and his zombie horde.

In spite of using a very atypical squad Duggan has brought us a classic Avengers tale of great warriors using their skill and strategy to take down a grand enemy. The scale of this issue is massive as befits the villain. We dive immediately into battle as the Avengers have finished negotiations and commence into battle with Sadurang.

Each of the characters are given moments to showcase their unique abilities within the battle against the fire breathing dragon. The Star of the issue is Magik who coordinates with her teammates and pulls out all the magical stops to bring down the mystical villain. When Sadurang is reduced to human form, Magik ignores her teammates’ cries to kill him and instead takes him to Limbo where he can recharge. In gratitude Sadurang gifts Magik with the Eye. They return to Dr Strange’s sanctum where he offers the eye to Conan. Conan turns down the offer stating he doesn’t need enhancement and that the magic would just be a signal to his enemies that he would be too powerful and would need to be brought down.

The wisdom of these massively powered teammates not to give into rage and power-lust shows that in spite of being savage they are still at heart heroes worthy of being Avengers. Although this is clearly an unusual team of heroes, Their dynamics are extremely interesting. It is great seeing them being able to interact and take on such a powerful villain. The art throughout is exactly as epic as it deserves to be. If you have a dragon in a comic book it needs to be a mighty and enormous dragon. This comic clearly delivers on that front. The colors by Java Tartaglia are exactly the bright raging shades of fire and brimstone needed to raise the issue even further. This is an absolutely epic chapter of a larger tale which gives strong moments to some great characters.

Writing: 4.4 of 5 stars
Art: 4.6 of 5 stars
Colors: 4.6 of 5 stars

Overall: 4.5 of 5 stars

Writer: Gerry Duggan
Art: Patrick Zircher
Colors: Java Tartaglia
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.