Savage Avengers #1 (2019)

“Savage” is one of Marvel’s oft-used adjectives that has bounced around quite a bit. Unlike fellow adjectives “Incredible” or “Amazing” that seem to have found permanent homes, “Savage” has been all over the place. We’ve had “Savage Tales”, “Savage She-Hulk”, “Ka-Zar the Savage”, “Savage Sword of Conan”, “Conan the Savage” and even “Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders”!

Eagle-eyed Marvelites will probably notice that 3 of those titles mentioned involved Conan. Conan had a long publishing history with Marvel, but the license drifted away from them in the late 90’s, only returning recently. During his Marvel stay, Conan never really directly interacted with the “Marvel U” superheroes, as everybody’s favorite shirtless, furry loin-cloth wearin’ Cimmerian was off in his own Hyborean Age world. Sure, there were some “What If” stories and Conan villain Kulan Gath had some pretty fun run-ins with the X-men and Avengers. But for the most part, Conan himself was off in his own lil’ world. Yet, now that Conan’s back at Marvel in 2019, they’re integrating him; not in his own world; but in the mainstream Marvel U. So what better place for the returning Conan to land than in Marvel’s Savage Land? So I guess that’s the basis for this new series.

That’s the quick n’ dirty of Conan’s return. If you want the full details, you can check out the recent “Avengers: No Road Home” mini-series. There, Conan met a cosmic, time and reality travelling team of “Former Avengers Who Are Not in the Current Avengers”. The Grandmaster, his daughter Voyager, and Mistress Nyx were involved. In short: a buncha’ magic and reality-bending stuff. End result: Conan got dumped in the Savage Land, where he’s happily been slaying dinosaurs and doing barbarian stuff.

Now, it appears that more than Conan himself made it to the Savage Land. As this story opens, a walled, medieval, town that would be at home in any issue of Conan (or an episode of Game of Thrones or Vikings) is the setting. Typically, the Savage Land has been a crazy jungle with dinosaurs, monsters, and wild cavemen with axes running around. So I’m assuming this slightly-more-advanced town dubbed (“The City of Sickles”) and its inhabitants are a by-product of Conan’s arrival. For me it works better than having, say, a floating town of vikings in the middle of Oklahoma.

Conan is on his way to the City of Sickles in search of a “priceless amulet”. He runs into some Red Ninjas, errr, ninjas from The Hand. Conan’s having a blast slicing them apart…but is perplexed when someone else joins the fray— good ol’ Wolverine, looking to increase his running total of Total Comics Appeared In.

After the obligatory Superhero Fight of Misunderstanding– including a kick to the non-Adamantium nards of Conan– they crash into a storage hut and become pals. Already impressed by each other’s prowess, Conan name-drops the Avengers and Wolverine is intrigued. They share some banter, or as Lt. Lenina Huxely once said: “this is how insecure hetereosexual males used to bond”:

Conan’s after the amulet, but Wolvie’s there to rescue his pal, Doctor Voodoo! Voodoo was kidnapped by the Hand and an “evil wizard”. They’re rounding up “the finest of makind. Artists, thinkers and most importantly– warriors” to raise Jhoatun Lau, the Marrow God. This plan involves tossing all these kidnapped people into a big bowl of blood as sacrifices (kinda’ reminds me of 80’s Teen Titans villain, Brother Blood’s private sauna a bit). The whole scheme also involves the alignment of the planet Pluto. Yeah, it’s probably not going to work out well for them, but they’re EVIL VILLAINS goshdarnit!

While Conan’s off after the amulet, Wolverine attempts to save Voodoo. For once, the Hand flunkies seem formidable, as they “subdue” Wolvie. Their leader then wonders why more flunkies are bringing in corpses. The corpses are revealed to be bait for another “warrior”– one Frank Castle, the Punisher. They dug up the graves of Punisher’s family?! Oh ho, no you-din’t! I’m sure this will go over smoothly in the balanced mind of the Punisher.

So that’s your intro. Along with Punisher, Venom and Elktra are slated to join up (although that kinda’ looks like Daredevil’s old flame, Echo, on the cover). This story makes no bones about being “Savage”, but I’m curious if it needs the “Avengers” part. Obvious reason: for sales. Calling this “Savage Heroes” or “Savage Defenders” wouldn’t have a wide appeal. Obviously, they’re not “official” Avengers at this point, and do not appear to be tied to the main team. I don’t foresee them hanging out at a Mansion and flying Quinjtets. I’m still not sold on the various uses of the “Avengers” team name that have proliferated Marvel in the past 15 years or so. Kinda’ dilutes the pool, so to speak. I mean, do we really consider guys like Kaluu, Bloodstone; and now the Punisher; on the official all-time Avengers roster?

Story-wise, it’s non-stop action along with some humor. Or attempts at humor, that tell us that this book isn’t taking itself totally serious. The main focus of this issue is the big battle between Conan and Wolverine. If that old issue of “What If” didn’t tickle your Conan vs. Wolvie bone, this issue definitely will.

Oh, and one random question: why is Wolverine wearing his brown/tan 80’s gear? For a guy who’s supposed to be rough n’ tumble, his wardrobe is almost as vast as Janet Van Dyne’s. “I’m with the X-men… will wear my yellow/blue U of Michigan gear. I’ll wear my black gear when I’m with X-Force. Brown gear when I’m in the Savage Land. Patch gear in Madripoor. My old Fang gear for Alternate Sunday Home Games”.

This would work well as a 6 issue mini-series, but I’m not convinced it will last more than 14 issues as a regular monthly title. I’m sorry, but I see the novelty of this Savage Land adventure— and how everybody is pulled in — wearing off and not grabbing audiences for the long term. I’d love to come back in 3 years and be proven wrong, but I’m not optimistic.

So I’ll enjoy “Savage Avengers” while it’s here and keep my expectations grounded. In most regards, this title appears to hit its mark by continuing the pulp tradition of Conan as “Low Fantasy”. If you like that genre and like your superheroes, then check it out.

Summary: Conan and Wolverine smack each other around and begin a loving bromance in the Savage Land. Dr. Voodoo and Punisher pop up.
Cover Price: $3.99
Rating: $1.50 out of $2.50