I know I’ve already used a couple of fights from the Savage Dragon recently in Friday Night Fights — but frankly, I’ve already got the scans done, so that means you’re going to get one more.

This one is from January 1996’s The Savage Dragon #25 by Erik Larsen. The backstory on this one is pretty good — the Dragon had previously been captured by a villain and badly beaten up, breaking most of his bones, then stuffed into a smokestack so his super-healing abilities would make his bones heal crooked.

Now the Dragon finally regains consciousness to find Mighty Man, one of his allies, bearing down on him ready to administer another brutal beatdown. Has Mighty Man been mind-controlled by another villain to do the Dragon in permanently?

And as it turns out, it’s not mind control — it’s medical treatment. In his secret identity, Mighty Man is a magically transformed nurse, and at the request of his doctors, he’s using medical knowledge to re-break the Dragon’s bones so they’ll heal properly this time. It wasn’t a particularly big moment, but it was one I always enjoyed because it showed that Larsen was able to think in creative ways that the other Image founders at the time weren’t able to match.

Time for another new round of Friday Night Fights! Let’s kick things off with February 2000’s Savage Dragon #72 by Erik Larsen, in which the Dragon has to take on the all-new, all-evil incarnation of Mighty Man:

Hope y’all have a good weekend — see y’all back here on Monday!

Even for an election year, there is a lot of wild comics-related political news out there.

For example, there’s this new organization called “Comics Industry for Obama” — to the best of my knowledge, the first time a bunch of comics creators have gotten together specifically to support a single candidate. Eric Powell, creator of “The Goon” is a member, as is Mike Mignola, creator of “Hellboy.” More than likely, Erik Larsen, creator of “The Savage Dragon” has signed on with ’em, too. Buncha others — Mike Allred, Jimmy Palmiotti, Denys Cowan, Steve Niles, Cully Hammer, Rick Remender, Sarah Grace McCandless, Jennifer Grunwald, Andy Diggle, probably a bunch more whose names I just don’t recognize.

And with this group out there in the public eye, it probably won’t be long before we see a “Comics Industry for McCain” group — or maybe more likely, considering their actual popularity levels, “Comics Industry for Palin.” Eric Powell, for one, seems to feel like that’s A-OK.

I spoke about this with a fellow comic creator who signed up. We both acknowledged the fact that we could face a backlash from some readers for being associated with this. We were both of the opinion, “Oh, Well.” It’s time to grow a pair, people. I love my readers and if your views don’t mesh with mine, fine. If you don’t like Obama, work for McCain’s campaign. That’s your right. Just like it’s my right to support the candidate of my choice. That’s what the process is all about. Why does it have to be about getting pissed off and hating a guy because he has a different point of view?

It is kinda weird, isn’t it? There are folks out there who’ll actually quit reading Mignola’s “Hellboy” comics because his choice of candidate doesn’t match up with theirs. Did “Hellboy” and “B.P.R.D.” somehow stop being awesome? Did “The Goon” stop being the most hilariously violent comic out there? Of course not — but there are really people out there willing to stop reading Mignola’s, Powell’s, and Larsen’s comics in an attempt to punish them for having opinions that don’t mesh with their own. And of course, there may be liberals out there who won’t read old “Spider-Man” comics because Steve Ditko is conservative, or “Fables” because Bill Willingham is a Republican. It’s almost Stalinist — those who oppose the cult of personality must be cast out and erased…

I certainly recognize that there are legitimate reasons why someone might want to boycott an artist’s work, but boycotting someone because they want to exercise the right to vote seems a bit much…

Is this not the weirdest political season you’ve seen in a while? It seems particularly unusual for us Texans — when was the last time that we actually had a say in helping to pick any of the nominees? Usually, the candidates have been narrowed to one-per-party long before the Texas primary hits. But this year, we’re still in play. Seems to make a lot of people much more interested in the presidential race than normal.

We’ve already had ol’ Bubba in town to talk up Hillary’s candidacy. Right now, Obama’s currently disappointing a lot of folks who were hoping he’d come to town, too. So right now, everyone’s thinking about matters political. And hey, I’m a shameless attention hound, so I figured I’d hunt down nice presidential-themed comic covers for your amusement.

 

Ya ever wondered who various superheroes would vote for? I figure Wonder Woman would be endorsing Hillary, right?

 

Captain America’s got a military background — I figure he’d pull the lever for McCain.

 

Green Arrow? While he hasn’t run for president, he did get elected as mayor of Star City not too long ago. I think he’d definitely be a Kucinich supporter, though I’m sure he complained that Kucinich was a bit too conservative for his tastes.

 

Hey, good ol’ Prez Rickard, the 18-year-old president from the old ’70s DC series. I’m betting Prez would write in whoever was running as the Green candidate. Crazy ’70s hippie weirdo presidents…

 

Yeah, the Savage Dragon was briefly the president. Who would he support in this election? Definitely the Greens. Get it? Get it? Oh, man, I’m hilarious.

 

No reason not to let the villains in on the act. In DC’s continuity, Lex Luthor actually got elected president of the U.S. back in 2000. He wasn’t considered too bad a president either, though he eventually got booted out of office after turning supervillain. As for who he’d vote for? I figure Lex would write himself in. Crazy megalomaniac ex-presidents…

 

I think I’m the only person in the world who liked the “Emperor Joker” storyline that ran in the Superman comics a few years ago. Sure, he’s not exactly presidential, but being an all-powerful emperor counts for something, I guess. I’m not sure the Joker would think any of the candidates were crazy enough for him. Maybe Alan Keyes. That dude’s craaaaaaazy. Maybe Huckabee, if he keeps talking up that garbage about making America a theocracy…

 

Whoa, looks like Superman’s endorsing Obama.

So who are your picks for the nation’s top job?

UPDATE: Can’t believe I forgot Howard the Duck!

I figure Howard would vote for Mallard Fillmore or Andrew Quackson…