Popeye the Sailor, who entered the public domain in 2025, guest-starred in this week’s issue of Erik Larsen‘s Savage Dragon, establishing his lore within Image’s shared universe. In the story, Popeye — famous in-world for his feats as a sailor — teams up with Tyrone Dragon, the son of series lead Malcolm. It’s the latest in a series of one-and-done issues that deal with Malcolm and Maxine’s kids having their own adventures while Malcolm and Paul Dragon, along with Angel Murphy and Super-Patriot, are fighting their way back from Russia.
This is far from the first major character to drop into Savage Dragon from the public domain. Previous examples include the Golden Age Daredevil, Mickey Mouse, and Captain Tootsie, the onetime Tootsie Roll mascot. Mickey Mouse, in particular, is a recurring villain in the series, having sexually assaulted Tyrone’s mom Maxine. Mickey appears in Savage Dragon #278, stopping his limo to harass Tyrone over the lawsuit.
In addition to Popeye and Mickey, another public domain comic character — Dagwood Bumstead from Blondie — makes a brief appearance in this week’s issue. While both Popeye and Mickey have pretty important roles in the story, Dagwood is more or less a glorified extra. While Popeye entered the public domain last year and Mickey the year before, Dagwood only joined the party earlier this month.
Popeye and Tyrone face off with a group of bloodthirsty sea monsters in the issue, after they attack a swimmer while Popeye is hanging out on the beach. By the end of the issue, Larsen seem to be teeing up more drama between Popeye and this particular gang of monsters.
The long-delayed Savage Dragon #278 hit the stores this week. Larsen has been keeping busy working on freelance projects at Marvel including Venom: Red, White, and Blood and Spider-Man: Noir.
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