Erik Larsen

Erik Larsen
Larsen at the 2011 New York Comic Con
Born	Erik J. Larsen (1962-12-08) December 8, 1962 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer, Penciller, Inker, Publisher
Notable works	The Amazing Spider-Man Doom Patrol Savage Dragon Spawn Spider-man Supreme

Erik J. Larsen (born December 8, 1962) is an American comic book writer, artist and publisher. He is known for his work on Savage Dragon, as one of the founders of Image Comics, and for his work on Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.

Early life

Larsen was born on December 8, 1962,^[1] in Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[2] As a child growing up in Bellingham, Washington, and Albion, California, he created several comic books featuring versions of a character named "The Dragon", whom he has since described as a Batman-like character who drove a car copied from Speed Racer's Mach Five. The Dragon turned into a superhero using a magic word to trigger his powers like Captain Marvel. Larsen and two friends produced a fanzine called Graphic Fantasy, which featured this character.

Career

Larsen's first paid work was for the anthology Megaton, co-creating and illustrating a feature called "Vanguard" with publisher Gary Carlson. A revised version of the Dragon debuted in issue #2 and appeared in the following two issues. The original Dragon, inspired by elements from Captain Marvel, Batman, Speed Racer and later The Incredible Hulk, differs greatly from the modern incarnation.

Savage Dragon was first featured in two issues of Graphic Fantasy, a self-published title with a small print run, published by Larsen and two friends. In this incarnation, the Dragon was a widower and a retired member of a government-sponsored superhero team. Subsequently, the Dragon made another appearance in the third issue of Gary Carlson's Megaton anthology in its Vanguard strip, which Larsen had been drawing. In these appearances, the character of the Dragon remained basically the same as it had been in Graphic Fantasy, with a few details modified (such as the inclusion of his wife, who was dead in his previous incarnation). Both the Graphic Fantasy and Megaton issues featuring the Dragon have since been reprinted in high-quality editions.

Larsen went on to work for AC Comics on Sentinels of Justice and The DNAgents for Eclipse Comics.

Larsen did work at DC on The Outsiders, Teen Titans, Adventures of Superman and Doom Patrol. His art on Doom Patrol was negatively received by readers at first, something Larsen thought was due to his style being such a drastic departure from that of his predecessor on the series, Steve Lightle. He remarked, "Years later, I learned from the experience and made more of an effort to ease the transition."^[3] His first work for Marvel Comics was a fill-in on Thor that was inked by Vince Colletta.^[4] He later did a The Amazing Spider-Man fill-in story and five issues of Punisher for Marvel. A Nova story for Marvel Comics Presents was greenlit but cancelled because it did not fit with an upcoming New Warriors series that would feature the character. Though he continues to write and illustrate The Savage Dragon, Larsen has occasionally returned to Marvel to write and illustrate, on titles such as Fantastic Four, The Defenders, Wolverine and Nova. He has also done work for DC writing Aquaman.

In 1990 Erik Larsen replaced Todd McFarlane on The Amazing Spider-Man with issue #329, having previously penciled issues 287, 324 and 327. With writer David Michelinie, Larsen illustrated stories such as "The Cosmic Spider-Man", "The Return of the Sinister Six" (#334–339) and "The Powerless Spider-Man" (#341–343). He left the title with #350, was succeeded by Mark Bagley with #351. Larsen again succeeded McFarlane on Spider-Man, where he wrote and drew the six-issue story arc "Revenge of the Sinister Six" (#18–23). Larsen also gained critical acclaim for his work with the character Venom during his time on Amazing Spider-Man. His design of Venom was highlighted during the story "Venom Returns" (#330-#333, #344-347, Annual #25), which introduced signature visual elements to the character such as giving Venom a mouth full of jagged teeth and a reptilian tongue dripping slime. Though his work with Venom was widely lauded and sales were strong, Larsen has gone on record saying he did not enjoy drawing the character and that he found the origin story of both Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote to be unlikable.^[5]

Image Comics and Savage Dragon

In 1992, seeking greater control and profit over the work they created, Larsen and six other illustrators left Marvel to form Image Comics, where Larsen launched a series featuring a reworked version of Savage Dragon. This time, the Dragon was a massively muscled green amnesiac, who joined the Chicago police department after being discovered in a burning field. Initially debuting in a three-issue miniseries, the series met with enough success to justify a monthly series, launched in 1993. To this day, Larsen continues to write and illustrate the series entirely by himself, and has maintained a reasonably consistent monthly schedule (save for occasional lapses) in comparison with the other original Image Comics titles. Larsen has occasionally produced ancillary mini-series, and sometimes allowed other creators to produce stories featuring the Dragon or other characters from the series.

In the mid-1990s, Larsen published his titles under Highbrow Entertainment, the label for his imprint of Image Comics. Titles they published included:

• Dart (1996)
• Deadly Duo (1994–1995)
  • Deadly Duo vol. 2 (1995)
• Freak Force (1993–1995)
  • Freak Force vol. 2 (1997)
• Dragon: Blood & Guts (1995)
• Savage Dragon (1992)
  • Savage Dragon vol. 2 (1993 – ongoing)
• Savage Dragon/Marshal Law (1997)
• Savage Dragon: Red Horizon (1997)
• Savage Dragon: Sex and Violence (1997)
• Savage Dragon: God War (2004–2005)
• Star (1995)
• SuperPatriot (1993)
  • SuperPatriot: Liberty & Justice (1995)
  • SuperPatriot: America's Fighting Force (2002)
  • SuperPatriot: War on Terror (2004–2005)
• The Dragon (1996)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1996–1999)
• Vanguard (1993–1994)
  • Vanguard: Strange Visitors (1996–1997)

Savage Dragon is one of two original Image Comics titles still published (the other being Spawn) and the only one still written and drawn by its creator.^[6] The character was also adapted into a short-lived (26 episodes) USA Network animated series that started in 1995.

In 2012–2013, he had a run as writer and artist on a short-lived revival of Rob Liefeld's Supreme, illustrating writer Alan Moore's final unpublished script with issue #63 and writing new stories from issues #64–68.

Erik Larsen in Artists Alley at New York Comic Con 2015

Technique and materials

For penciling, Larsen uses a Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 2H pencil and a Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser. For inking, he uses a Hunt 102 nib with Higgen's Design ink, a Uni-ball pen, and Pentel Rolling Writer pen.^[2]

Personal life

Larsen and his wife, Jannie, live in San Francisco, California, with their two sons, Christopher and Joseph.^[2]

Awards

Larsen was nominated for the 2016 Inkwell Awards All-in-One Award, for "Favorite artist known for inking his/ her own pencil work in award year interior, cover-dated, American comic book material."^[9] In 2017, he was again nominated and received the 2017 All-in-One Award for his work on Savage Dragon.^[10][11]

Bibliography

References

External links

• Official site
• Erik Larsen at the Comic Book DB
• One Fan's Opinion, Larsen's column at Comic Book Resources
• Erik Larsen at Lambiek's Comiclopedia
• Comic Geek Speak Podcast Interview, October 2005
• Where Monsters Dwell Interview , Larsen's interview on Where Monsters Dwell podcast
• Erik Larsen Interview with Super Hero Speak
• Fukunaga, Kevin (May 6, 2012). "Podcast #3: Erik Larsen". Scripts & Scribes.