The Savage Dragon/Marshal Law : Ten (1997)

All illustrations are © Kevin O'Neill, Pat Mills & Erik Larsen   

Released material

2x 22 pages, B&W, drawings and inks by Kevin O'Neill, lettering by Chris Eliopoulos.

The title chosen by Pat Mills "Ten" (see plot), appears only in the editorial pages signed by him (two in each issue). This two part story (comics format) has been entirely scripted by Pat Mills, Erik Larsen being cited only to have created The Savage Dragon and his universe. As well as the adventures of The Savage Dragon, these issues were published by Image Comics.

 

Up to this date (until the Top Shelf omnibus perhaps), that story has never been coloured nor collected in paperback form.

Plot

This story is the conjunction of two ideas: to celebrate 10 years of Marshal Law, and to apply David Fincher's "Seven" (1995) framework about the Seven Deadly Sins, to the Ten Commandments. The Savage Dragon finds himself projected into his own near future, which happens to be also Marshal Law's universe. There, he has to help the Marshal stopping "The Commandments Killer", whom assassinates superheroes or mutants, as punishment for their alleged discard to the Ten Commandments.

An introduction to the universe of The Savage Dragon

For a detailed history of the character created by Erik Larsen, go here, but to justify the idea of that Team Up, we can still point out the obvious similarities between the two heroes. They are both police officers with superhuman powers, and they are both used by governments, one to contain superheroes gang in an uchronic San Francisco (San Futuro), the other to tame mutant criminals plaguing an uchronic Chicago.