Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Steve Bennett looks at extreme violence in the Savage Dragon, excessive violence in Golden Age comics, and the trend of good writers leaving comics because of the demands of intra-company continuity:

Grant Morrison recently said that "Comics are relentlessly violent," and while off the top of my head I could come up with a half dozen examples of comics that weren't, if the statement isn't true there are definitely times when it certainly feels true.  Like when I read last week's Savage Dragon #150.

It's a great homage to the DC 100 Page Super Spectaculars of my youth (right down to a faux Comic Code Authority emblem on the cover) that includes a very strong Savage Dragon lead story, back-up features, humorous one-pagers, several pages of letters and reprints* all for only $5.99.  I enjoyed the heck out of it and it should come as no surprise to regular readers that this is exactly the kind of format I wish publishers would use more often.

But it also contains one of the single worst scenes I've ever seen in an American comic book.  When I learned that Erik Larsen was bringing back The Little Wise Guys, underage pals of the Golden Age Daredevil, I was a little worried how they were going to survive in modern times.  Knowing Larson's work the way I do I pretty much knew that something horrible was going to happen to one of them and felt particularly afraid for Pee Wee (see my column for 5/12/2009, Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Best. Day. Ever).

It hardly warrants a *SPOILER WARNING* but unfortunately I was right and it's worse than I could ever have imagined.  People say that sort of thing all the time but I actually edited a line out of that column, something to the effect that poor Pee Wee was probably going to end up crucified to a wall with a nail gun or something.  But what Larsen actually does pales in comparison to my worst imaginings.

Usually this would be the point where I start complaining bitterly (a) about creators killing off longstanding supporting characters (especially ones they didn't create) and/or (b) the use of extreme violence in a superhero comic.  But Larson is a professional, he knows what he's doing and while what he did is shocking in context it isn't gratuitous -- the context being that anything can happen in the pages of Savage Dragon.  I feel terrible for the fallen Wise Guy but unlike Marvel and DC, Larsen has an excellent track record when it comes to comeuppance so I have every confidence that he won't go unavenged for very long.

In yet another of my columns I observed after reading entirely too many Golden Age comic books I had discovered that while the symbolic covers might have featured our heroes committing all sorts of atrocities against members of the Axis (Bucky was particularly bloodthirsty, frequently smashing in the skulls of Nazi's with a Morningstar, a spiked mace with a chain that links the handle to the spiked ball) the actual stories had surprisingly little violence beyond the traditional punches to the jaw.

But I recently came across this issue of Miss America where the heroine, who is super strong and can fly, decides to machine gun in the back a group of escaping war prisoners because she didn't want to waste time incapacitating them.  Since there's no statute of limitation on war crimes I'll be awaiting news of her extradition to The Hague.

Undoubtedly this is none of my business but J. Michael Straczynski, who made Thor a Top 10 title, quit Marvel because he didn't want his scripts compromised by another one of their 'events,' and Dwayne McDuffie  was fired from Justice League of America for speaking the truth; DC continuity made it impossible for him to tell stories.  These are two men who know how to tell great stories; maybe publishers should buy a clue, get out of their way and actually let them.

I've also spent a number of columns writing about Arab superheroes so naturally I was intrigued with the announcement that was going to be a miniseries featuring DC's Justice League and Teshkeel Media's The 99.  Of course I'd be more intrigued if the announcement contained anything beyond intent to publish, leaving questions dangling about who'll be writing and drawing it, what the plot will be and especially why DC wants to team their star players with characters who are essentially unknown in America.  Or is this the first baby step towards DC publishing The 99 in America?

* which include the Golden Age Daredevil's origin. Raised by Australian pygmies (I didn't believe it at first myself but I checked; apparently there are Australian pygmies) while still a kid he became their leader and donned the chief's ceremonial garb, Daredevil's signature red and blue rubber suit.  But how exactly a piece of child sized European fetish gear ended up in an Australian pygmy village isn't explained.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.