Erik Larsen

Erik J. Larsen (born December 8, 1962) is an American comic book artist, writer, and publisher. He currently acts as the chief financial officer of Image Comics. He gained attention in the early 1990s with his art on Spider-Man series for Marvel Comics. In 1992 he was one of several artists who stopped working for Marvel to found Image Comics, where he launched his superhero series "Savage Dragon" – one of the longest running creator-owned superhero comics series – and served for several years as the company's publisher.
Early life.
Larsen was born on December 8, 1962, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 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.
Early 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.
DC 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." In the late 1990s, he wrote the series "Aquaman" for a year.
Marvel Comics.
His first work for Marvel Comics was a fill-in on "Thor" that was inked by Vince Colletta. He later did a fill-in issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man" 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.
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 "", 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 long 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.
Larsen stopped working for Marvel in 1992 (see below) but has occasionally returned to write and illustrate, on titles such as "Fantastic Four", "The Defenders", "Wolverine" and "Nova". In 2000, he returned to pencil "The Amazing Spider-Man" vol. 2, issues #19–21 with writer Howard Mackie. In 2019, he penciled and wrote "Amazing Spider-man: Going Big", a one-shot for Marvel's 80th anniversary, along with Mark Bagley and Gerry Conway.
Image Comics.
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 version 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. Larsen continued to write and illustrate the series entirely by himself, usually maintaining a roughly monthly schedule except during times when it was not in production. Larsen has occasionally produced ancillary mini-series, and sometimes allowed other creators to produce stories featuring the Dragon or other characters from the series.
As an Image partner, he formed the studio Highbrow Entertainment, which publishes through Image.
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. The character was also adapted into a short-lived (26 episodes) USA Network animated series that started in 1995.
In 2004, Larsen replaced Jim Valentino as 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.
In 2012–2013, Larsen 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.
Personal life.
Larsen and his wife Jannie live in San Francisco, California, with their two sons, Christopher and Joseph.
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." In 2017, he was again nominated and received the 2017 All-in-One Award for his work on Savage Dragon.
Bibliography.
DC.
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Marvel.
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Image.
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