3 out of 5

I did it for the Fiffe.

Running in the back of several issues of Savage Dragon, indie artists had their chance to depict the character – and the related cast of the mag – as they pleased, wrangled (it seems) by Copra guy Michel Fiffe, who contributes a strip of his own as well.

Here’s what I will say about the read itself: none of these strips, which range in pages from 2 to a few, really made me laugh (although the ‘Funnies’ in the title may just mean ‘Comics’), and only a couple of them compelled me enough to want to check out the creator’s other works.  But the book is definitely readable, and each entry is short enough with a striking visual style that it’s easy to flip through, if not fun.  It’s something you can pick up, stop, read a couple and set down and not feel like it’s wasted reading time, just not particularly involving or compelling.  That, combined with the slightly over-sized presentation, well-spaced binding (enough margin so you don’t have to break the spine), and smart pacing by Fiffe – which mixes some unseen strips with the printed ones, spreading out artists such that each entry feels fresh – is what makes it an acceptable three star read.

And it’s totally, 1000% possible that, not being a Savage Dragon reader, I’m missing out on some yuks; that if you’re into the world, these ‘funnies’ are that much ‘funnier.’  But as a plus/minus, I never felt like I had to know what’s what to read these.  There’s some vague connecting theme of Dragon getting sent to parallel worlds (justifying all of the non-canon nonsense), but that’s very much in the background; everything felt self-contained, and SD is a somewhat basic world of heroes and villains, so that’s all it really felt like you needed to know.

I dig that Erik Larsen allowed his character to be taken for a ride, and that so many notable indie creators took up the task.  Unless you’re a fan – of Dragon, or one of the contributors – I can’t say the book is required reading, but if you do fall into one of those categories, or you stumble across it in some affordable format and a flip-through amuses, it’s a fine time-passing addition to your comic book shelf.