Alas, Poor Scrappy: Seemingly invoked. The characters Witherspoon and Lamarr were both introduced as intentionally irritating side characters with a lack of common sense, and both die shortly after being introduced. Both times are, however, played for drama.
Angst? What Angst?: While not as common in the comic's early days, has become more prevalent in recent issues.
To elaborate; since the late-Aughts the comic has been published on a very inconsistent and scattershot schedule, with some delays lasting for several months. Because of Larsen's dedication to keeping the book on a 1:1 comic book/real-world time scale, this often leads to him, for example, cramming a long-time character's sudden death, funeral, mourning, and subsequent avenging, the equivalent of an entire story arc's worth of content, into the space of less than 20 pages, robbing it of much of it's emotional weight.
Long-time character Tierra is impregnated by Malcolm, and due to the nature of the fetus, is killed by it during the gestation period. The subsequent issue has many of the characters reacting to her death — which amounts to little more than an "Oh, that's horrible." before moving on.
Said monster-baby is shortly after adopted by Malcolm and Maxine, alongside Angel's baby. How do they take having to raise three monster children, all born from three separate but very close friends, one of whom was murdered by said baby? "It's alright, we'll raise them as triplets.'' Tierrahasn't been mentioned since.
In the most recent arcs, Maxine is pregnant with the same monster baby that's been shown to kill the host mother during gestation — how will she handle this? Oh wait, they have a scientist friend who can make up a cure no-problem. But wait! — said scientist is killed before he can help her! How will she handle this?! Never mind, she got cured by a completely different person off panel between issues.
The reworked trade version of the first issue had Savage Dragon giving an extended "The Reason You Suck" Speech to a bigoted police officer, who implied to have harassed non-whites in his duties. It seems pretty preachy and the message that Racism is Bad is delivered a couple of times before the speech even ends. Though it should be noted this sequence was originally intended to be part of the unpublished one-shot Urban Storm, an anthology featuring Image characters whose funds would have been used to help the Rebuild L.A. Foundation in wake of the then-recent riots stemming from Rodney King beating.
Issue #261 has Horridus hospitalized with COVID after refusing to be vaccinated, while Malcolm discuss with his half-sister Marsha the usefulness of the COVID-19 vaccine, spending a full page on debunking anti-vaccine arguments. In particular, Malcolm notes that Marsha is wary of getting a vaccine shot, but thinks nothing of getting injected with Malcolm's bloodnote which heals anything, but kills the injected person in a couple of hours followed by the freak-out drugnote which resets a character's body, stripping them of superpowers and any other alterations, even beneficial to heal another character who has been hospitalized with COVID-19. The comic was published in early January 2022, when people refusing to get a vaccine shot was a serious issue in the real world, but the seriousness of the discussion contrasts with the tone of the rest of the comic. And then just to hammer it home even more, in the next issue, Horridus dies of the virus.
Emperor Kurr, Dragon's former identity, was the "Chosen One" of the Krylans. As their brutal ruler, Kurr maintained control by violence and savagery, raping his consorts and tearing apart any he slept with. Upon locating Earth as a new home, Kurr attempted to exterminate all mankind before being betrayed and overthrown. Kurr later resurfaces and exterminates all humanity, gleefully attempting to murder his own children.
Johnny Lee Raeburn started as a janitor in an unassuming town who violently tortured 28 children to death, before being sent into space for NASA's Seeker program where he assimilates an alien probe and gains its powers. Giving himself the moniker of "Deathwatch", Raeburn returns to Earth as a cybernetic supervillain able to feast on the minds of his victims and make them experience the terror of those he's killed, making them die in absolute fear. Deathwatch slaughters several people connected to the trial that convicted him as a child killer before single-handedly massacring his entire hometown and killing his mother, even mentally torturing Donatello into brain death before he's foiled. Hitting his stride upon his return in Savage Dragon, Deathwatch convinces the Servant Race of the Kalyptan people into ultimately kickstarting a war that devastated Kalyptus and almost completely eradicated the Kalyptans, the Krylans, and the Tyruss in one fell swoop. Nothing less than gleeful at what his manipulations have wrought, Deathwatch intends to butcher all life on Earth next out of nothing more than petty spite. From a simple hick serial killer to one of the greatest mass murderers in the universe, Raeburn is one of the most evil beings to have ever fought the Dragon and his allies.
The series has got this in spades. Erik Larsen obviously loves designing these guys. Given the tongue-in-cheek nature of this comic, it makes sense, and the costumes fit their silly names, and the series sometimes lampshades this fact. A lot of them are throwaway baddies, but several members of his Rogues Gallery fit this category as well.
Meet Hellrazor◊. This guy made his first appearance in issue 2 of the mini, and he's one of the longest-running recurring villains of the series, as a duo with his partner Cutthroat. For that matter, Cutthroat◊ qualifies too. To make things even better, Hellrazor keeps that hairstyle even when he's in jail◊.
Fridge Horror: At first, Emperor Kurr mowing through every enemy he meets seems just like the writer trying to show us how dangerous he is. Then you realize, that's not the only reason. Dragon was the hero of the book, he overcame almost impossible odds every storyline, as with any good superhero. Emperor Kurr is Dragon. He is overcoming impossible odds, but now he's not trying to save us...
The Body Function, a gang led by the pus-filled Villainous Glutton Cesspool, consists of the phlegm-spewing Nasal Ned, the Fartillery-powered Backfire, and Belcher. Oddly, he didn't recruit the diarrhea-cannon wielding Dung or Menstrual Menace Heavy Flo.
Malcolm and his girlfriend Maxine having a threesome with Angel in issue 200, if you still saw the two as brother and sister.
Malcolm ejaculating into Maxine so hard that she's Blown Across the Room, landing upside-down with all of the spunk dribbling out of her vagina and down into her mouth. And then she kisses Malcolm.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: The comics were not at all appropriate for children, but there was once a kid-friendly cartoon series based off of them.
Overlord is the leader of the Vicious Circle, and Dragon's most persistent, personal enemy. A Superfreak who seeks to take over Chicago and enslave every human in the city, Overlord uses his gang of freaks to commit crime and spread fear across the city. These include murdering She-Dragon's father for refusing to sell him a chip that would grant him access to the city's computer system; taking the city's train passengers hostage and attempting to have them crash into an unfinished tunnel; planting a series of bombs across town, with the final one planted inside the police department during a charity ball; and gaslighting Dragon into believing that he was the original leader of the Vicious Circle in an attempt to break his mind and ruin his life. Despite his rhetoric of freaks never harming other freaks, Overlord frequently tries to have Dragon and pals killed, and isn't afraid to torture or gruesomely punish his lackeys should they fail him, even once attempting to assassinate a freak running for mayor under the belief that only he shall lead the freaks.
"Possession", "Armageddon", "Ceasefire": Horde is a sapient Hive Mind of leeches from ancient times who seeks to obtain global domination. Having the ability to control one's mind by planting one of his leeches onto them, Horde seeks to have every human on Earth under his control, viewing the concept of humans lacking free will to be exciting. After Horde is resurrected after an encounter with Dragon, he manipulates the corrupt Der. Reginald into using his new laser to destroy the ozone layer, which will cause a heat-themed apocalypse that'll allow Horde to walk amongst the Earth and take it over, later betraying Reginald when his plan's almost complete. Returning one final time, Horde possesses the minds of the Vicious Circle to get closer to the world's leaders, hoping to plant his leeches onto them and be able to control the world through them.
"Loathing", "She-Fiend", "Endgame": The Fiend is a demonic entity who gleefully feeds on hatred. Regularly possessing people who have a strong hatred for somebody, the Fiend regularly enacts his hosts' hurtful desires for fun. Possessing a hateful self-help guru about to give a seminar on a yacht, the Fiend tries to have everybody on the yacht killed by steering the ship into an island. Later taking control over She-Dragon to feed off her hate for Overlord, the Fiend taunts Dragon over the fact that he's endangering her. In his final appearance, the Fiend acquires a magical orb, using it to absorb the agonized souls of hateful people to increase his strength, utilizing its power to open up a portal and suck up every hateful soul from across the entire universe.
whose funds would have been used to help the Rebuild L.A. Foundation in wake of the then-recent riots stemming from Rodney King beating
