5 Quick Questions with Erik Larsen

Erik J. Larsen is an American comic book writer, artist, and publisher. He is best 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.

Larsen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a child growing up 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. He and two friends produced a fanzine called Graphic Fantasy, which featured this character.

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. 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. For Marvel he did an Amazing Spider-Man fill-in story and five issues of Punisher. In 1991 Erik Larsen replaced Todd McFarlane on Amazing Spider-Man with issue #329, having previously penciled issues 287, 324, and 327.

Seeking greater control and profit over the work they created, he and six other illustrators abandoned Marvel to form Image Comics, where Larsen launched a series featuring the Savage Dragon.

In 2004, Larsen became publisher of Image Comics, taking responsibility for all comics produced by creators other than the Image partners and their studios. Larsen stepped down as publisher in July 2008 and executive director Eric Stephenson was promoted to the position.



He agreed to answer 5 Quick Questions.

1) What would you say is your greatest achievement in comics?

Thus far, writing and drawing 149 consecutive issues of Savage Dragon.

2) Who was your favorite writer or artist that you worked with & why?

Dave Johnson (on SuperPatriot) because he kicked my ass and showed me just how cool that character could be. After Dave was through with SuperPatriot he was forever changed.

3) What character you have never worked .., would you like to do & why?

Captain Marvel (Shazam) because he clearly had something going on, which nobody has been able to capture for fifty years--just for the challenge, if nothing else. After that, I could be the latest guy to "get it wrong" and screw everything up. But really-- I'd rather not be that guy. Having worked on my own it's really difficult to go back to working for somebody else. I'd rather do my own thing.

4) Who are your influences?

Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Frank Miller, Herb Trimpe, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walter Simonson, Steve Ditko, Alex Toth, Mort Meskin, Jerry Robinson, John Byrne, Klaus Janson, Terry Austin, Stan Lee and a whole host of others. This list changes all the time and there are a mess of new guys whose work inspires me--even if I don't necessarily take anything from it.

5) What hero or villain would you like to change if you could and why?

There are a few that come to mind--but honestly--we'd be better off not going there. At this point in my life--I really don't care what's going on outside of Image Comics. I have no hidden desire to work on anything outside of Savage Dragon. This is my dream book--anything else doesn't interest me a whole heckuva lot.

Check out Erik Larsen on Savage Dragon every month from Image Comics.

Brian Isaacs
Story Editor