Great action scenes, dynamic art, interesting premise. Unfortunately the story didn't quite deliver on the development of the interesting premise and characters, which ultimately felt slightly one-dimensional. However, it was entertaining, fast-paced, and action-oriented.

'Savage: The Wild' by Max Bemis with art by Nathan Stockman is a graphic novel about a feral boy who is trending on social media.

Kevin Sauvage was born and raised on a prehistoric island where he learned to kill all manner of monsters. Now he is back in England and is trending on the internet and people are crazy about him. The only problem is that he misses his island. The other problem is that someone is out to kill him and Savage doesn't know it.

This was a fun overindulgent story making fun of media and fame. The characters feel a bit one-dimensional, but that doesn't take away from the fun. Perhaps I was in the mood for some brainless fun. I liked the art and all the cover variants that were added.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Attempted to be an action packed satire of modern fame, but mostly fell flat. There were too many characters introduced too fast to be anything but one dimensional. The plot whiplashed from predictable twist through predicable twist, and the themes felt superficially addressed. The art was great and there is a lot of potential with this setup (alternate dimensions! monsters! survival! trauma!) but this story just felt like a cut rate tik tok tarzan.

Didn't really like the artwork, the humans were drawn kind of strangely but admittedly the monsters were really cool, didn't really like the the storyline. Kevin 'Savage' Sauvage is just not my thing.

**Disclaimer: I received a free early access copy of Savage: The Wild by Max Bemis through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.

Savage: The Wild is a sci-fi fantasy young adult graphic novel about a young man who got trapped in an alternate dimension and then returned to our world and made into a celebrity.  It is set to be published on July 13th, 2021. I rated it three stars on Goodreads.

Here's the summary from Goodreads:

Teenage heartthrob. Feral social icon. Dinosaur hunter.
Born and raised on an uncharted island full of prehistoric dangers,
Kevin Sauvage has a taste of home when a mutant dino threat invades England!
From the mad minds of international superstar Max Bemis (Moon Knight) and powerhouse artist Nathan Stockman (Spidey) comes the craziest action book of 2020.
Collecting SAVAGE (2020) #1–4.

The premise of this graphic novel was quite interesting.  I was intrigued by the plot of it.  However, I didn't love the execution of this. 

The art was really well done and it was really interesting.  I liked the details included to differentiate the different characters.  They each were super readable and had really interesting design aspects.  I loved the monster/dinosaur designs and really liked how they were introduced.

Overall, the story line was interesting.  I liked a lot of the different aspects of the story.  However, I just wanted a bit more development of certain characters and certain aspects of the story.  They didn't really explain the alternate dimension part very well and I wanted more information there.

I enjoyed the twists that were included.  They were surprising for sure.

Overall, if you're interested, I definitely recommend that you check this book out.

Collecting issues 1-4 from Savage The Wild. The book started out strong. I loved the panels that show how popular Savage is. The panel where he was on a version of Masked Singer was my favorite. When we saw the dinosaurs it was so brutal that you almost feel bad for the dinosaurs. The art and colors are bright and fun. It gives off a great fantasy vibe.

I also loved the small details that the artist put into the background. It doesn't take away focus from the main story, but there is so many fun things to see in the background. For example there is one panel after Savage fought the dinosaurs where a person is kicking an already dead one.

The dialogue does get cheesy but it is what you would expect from a prehistoric character. The book does get really wordy and some pages have so many dialogue boxes that the art has to be small.

Creative Team:
Writer: Max Bemis
Artist: Nathan Stockman
Colorist: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Hassan Ostmane-Elhaou

Max Bemis' Savage: The Wild truly is a wild ride. Teenage Kevin Sauvage is a semi-feral heartthrob that is forced to use the skills and savvy he developed as a youngster growing up on an uncharted island full of prehistoric creatures when his new home in England is threatened by mutant dinosaurs.

ARC From Netgalley.
When I was younger (in 1992) a movie came out called Encino Man. In it, two teens from Southern California find a caveman in their backyard, whom they then teach all about living in the 80s. It’s a fun comedy movie… and the entire time I was reading SAVAGE: THE WILD, it was playing in the back of my head.

The premise is simple: As a child, Kevin Sauvage was left in the jungles of “The Faraway” and had to grow up there. Returning to the normal world as a teen, “Savage” quickly rises through the ranks of popularity and begins to take on an idol status as he masters social media and earns several hits as a British teen pop singer. His physique and occasionally feral attitude only help him with the ladies.

Content with his life of popularity and luxury, he also is getting bored and longs to return to his jungle home. BUT it also makes him the only one qualified when giant dinosaurs invade London… Will Kevin/Savage be able to find a balance between his home now and the home he grew up in? AND when scientists want to get involved, what will they discover?

Max Bemis (MOON KNIGHT, EVIL EMPIRE) brings us a story with a bit of the prehistoric mixed with the comforts and technological advances of the present. Action packed and well illustrated, ending with a cliffhanger, SAVAGE THE WILD should be on your list of summer must reads.

Ages 13+

The story surprised me in all positive ways. I was holding back a little when I started reading this one because it was initially a story, based on the premise, out of my comfort zone. I did enjoy it in the end. It was such a cool experience from the characters, to the art style and the plot.
There was room for improvement on the prose aspect but it didn't affect massively my impression of the book. I highly recommend this to my friends out there who like to read a fast-paced graphic novel with a great set of characters.

This was a bit of a struggle to get though at times. The art is above average and the monster designs are interesting for the most part. However, the plot is weak and even though there’s a lot of dialogue not much of substance ever manages to get said. I’ll probably end up reading the next volume eventually but if the story doesn’t improve I can’t see sticking with it beyond that.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 Stars

Well, it was wild. A Tarzan like Kevin Savage, who was living/lost in a parallel world where he used to hunt dinosaurs for fun, now, after getting back to the real world through a portal, he finds it difficult to accept his status as a celebrity. His wish to get back to hunting and living in the wild might be fulfilled when a crazy scientist made his appearance suddenly with a bunch of mutant dinosaurs wanting to rule the world.

I loved the art work mainly but the dialogues were too much with sometimes nonsense at all, the story was average funny if not boring.

This collection of the Savage comics #1-#4 was a really fun experience. We see Kevin Sauvage as a dynamic protagonist who has to balance his old life with his new celebrity status. I particularly enjoyed the art in this series. It was full of color and detail. There was tons of action and it was drawn beautifully.

However, the story and writing felt somewhat all over the place. There often seemed to be so much dialogue to read in proportion to the images, which distracted me from the full imagery impact. It felt like more work to read this than I wanted it to be.

I still think it's a decent read, and I'd recommend it to graphic novel enthusiasts to try out.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

A very entertaining addition to the Valiant universe and also a stand alone volume which is a great way for new readers to start exploring the different characters in the Valiant universe.

Kevin Sauvage is a popular teenage icon. Ever since he managed to return from an alternate dimension, his popularity has sky rocketed. Everyone likes the idea of a young, rugged hero but Kevin has had enough of all the hangers on and of his brother who is also his publicity agent.

Kevin decides to relocate to a private island but just as he does, dinosaurs and monsters invade the earth. They have come from the alternate dimension where Kevin was stranded as a child and if anyone knows how to deal with them, it is Kevin and so the battle begins.

As Kevin battles against the dinosaur invaders, he also finds himself battling against the enemies who managed to let the dinosaurs cross to earth. Kevin eventually finds out that sometimes enemies lie close to home.

The artwork is good and the story is entertaining with a good mix of action and humour. The graphic novels from the Valiant universe are always great to read and this is another good volume to add to the collection.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

4.5💎

this was such a funny & adventurous graphic novel! i absolutely loved the story and the characters and the artwork ugh 😍 i decided to pick this up bc dinosaurs and Tarzan looking guy??? are u kidding me?? COUNT ME TF IN. also the matey named Savage is kinda modern day Tarzan fighting dinosaurs for hobby and ofc survival so it's even funnier lmaoo. i definitely recommend reading this!

I would, first, like to thank NetGalley for this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Starting this comic, I can honestly say I don't have much experience reading comic books but I always have wanted to. I thought this would be a good way to introduce myself to the comic book industry.

I thought it was an interesting comic to say, nonetheless. Especially the different kind of dinosaurs.

Beginning the comic, I was a little lost between Earth and The Faraway. It was a rough start and I could tell the story was having a small issue blending together with the storyline.

I, also, think The Faraway needs a better name. It's an alright name but there's nothing that stands out about the name.

Savage, himself, is an interesting character. He's super powerful and strong. In some sense, he's a little cocky but he gets lonely. I thought it was cool that it was added to his character showing he's still a human.

Mae was a cute character but I felt bad for her. She came out totally cool too!

This comic overall was fast paced and packed with action. It was too quick for me but I still enjoyed it. The art style was also admirable as a fellow artist. The shading, the dynamic poses, the anatomy was all pretty good.

The only other pet peeves I have is where is Savage really from? At first, I thought he was from Faraway and somehow got trapped at Earth, but then it showed him with a human family. I don't understand that part but maybe that's why I need more comics to explain it.

Overall, I would give it a 3.75.