Erik Larsen

Infobox Comics creator

---

|150px
imagesize =
caption =
birthname = Erik J. Larsen
birthdate = birth date and age|1962|12|8
location =
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = American
area = Penciller, Writer, Publisher
alias =
notable works = Savage Dragon
awards =

Erik J. Larsen (born December 8, 1962) is an American comic book writer, artist, and publisher. He is best known for his work on Spider-Man with Marvel and Savage Dragon and as one of the partner owners of Image Comics since the early 1990s.

Biography

Larsen was born 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 rip-off who drove a car copied from Speed Racer's Mach Five, and turned into a superhero using a magic word 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. He 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". 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.

He replaced Todd McFarlane on "Amazing Spider-Man" with issue #329, having previously penciled issues 287, 324, and 327). With writer David Michelinie and Larsen the series experienced increasing sales, with 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, leaving it to series mainstay 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).

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. 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 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. [ [http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080710-estephenson.html Eric Stephenson: Talking to the New Image Publisher] , Newsarama, July 9, 2008]

In an interview [ [http://www.projectfanboy.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1288 Project Fanboy Interview] ] with comic book website Project Fanboy Larsen explained that the rumors of a coup for the position where baseless and gave his reasons for stepping down as publisher.

...fans wanted more Savage Dragon and I wanted to do more Savage Dragon—but it was not possible to be both a fulltime publisher and a fulltime cartoonist efficiently. Something had to give and given the fact that Image was in a good place—going in the right direction-- and Eric Stephenson was completely up to speed and ready to go—it seemed that the timing was right.

Larsen told Project Fanboy that he believed Eric Stephenson was the "best man for the job", as he was Jim Lee second in command as well as his own and had been with Image Comics almost from the inception of the company.

Other

Erik Larsen is not to be confused with another artist named Erik Larsen who has produced covers for special issues of Scandinavian The Phantom comics, made in the so-called "pocket format" [ [http://www.imagecomics.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?p=291805 Larsen clarifies he is unrelated to the "Phantom" artist on Image Comics' message board] ] .

References

External links

* [http://lambiek.net/larsen_erik.htm lambiek.net entry on Erik Larsen]
* [http://www.imagecomics.com/ Image Comics]
* [http://www.savagedragon.com/ savagedragon.com]
* [http://www.brotherhoodofthefin.net/ The Brotherhood of the Fin] , The Ultimate Savage Dragon Fan Site.
* [http://www.dragonfan.com Dragonfan.com] , A fan site that keeps Savage Dragon enthusiasts informed on Erik Larsen/Savage Dragon related news.
* [http://comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=20 One Fan's Opinion] , Larsen's column at ComicBookResources.com
* [http://www.comicgeekspeak.com/episodes/comic_geek_speak-80.php Comic Geek Speak Podcast Interview (October 2005)]

succession box | title="Wolverine" writer| before=Todd DeZago
after=Steve Skroce| years=1999–2000