Taming the Savage Beast:
Talking Comics with Erik Larsen

By Ron Richards
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January 26, 2000 | Page 1, 2, 3

Erik Larsen has been one of my favorite comic book writer and artist for over 5 years now. I was first turned on to his work on Spider-Man when he worked for Marvel Comics. Then he, along with several other creators such as Todd McFarlane (Spawn), Jim Lee (WildC.A.T.S/Wildstorm Comics) and Rob Liefeld (Youngblood, Supreme/Awesome Comics) formed their own comic book imprint, Image Comics. Erik Larsen's contribution to Image was his creator owned title, Savage Dragon, which he writes, draws and edits himself.

There have been 55 issues of the Savage Dragon to date and each issue is better than the previous one. Gaining notoriety for his combination of bloody action and relationships, the Savage Dragon tells the story of Dragon, a muscle bound green guy with a fin on his head with super strength and regenerative powers. When the serious first started, Dragon was found in a burning vacant lot, an amnesiac, and put quickly to work for the Chicago Police Department. While at the PD, Dragon has suffered severe damage (had his hand blown off among other injuries) in his quest to clean Chicago up from the Vicious Circle, an evil crime syndicate. Throughout this battle, Larsen has worked done some amazing stuff, such as having Dragon witness a fist fight between God and Satan, help fight against the Mars Attacks! Invasion of Earth, and even fight Hitler's brain. There has been some criticism of Larsen's use of language, violence, nudity and sexual situations, but none of that seems to stop him. He is a monument to the creator owned comic book philosophy. It's his book and he does WHATEVER he wants with it.

Somehow he found the time to answer a few questions over e-mail for me. The following are my questions and his answers and I believe it is apparent that Erik Larsen is a guy who loves what he does and loves doing it well.

Since this interview took place, Erik has moved on from working on Aquaman for DC and from Wolverine for Marvel. Currently, he still writes and draws Savage Dragon and is working on a Fantastic Four maxi-series for Marvel.

Please introduce yourself, tell us in your own words what you do and who your favorite Star Wars character is.

My name is Erik Larsen. I write and draw Savage Dragon for Image Comics. I also write Aquaman for DC and Wolverine and Nova, The Human Rocket for Marvel Comics. At Image, I publish a mess of comics including Kabuki, A Distant Soil, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Desperate Times, Big Bang Comics and Jackie Chan's Spartan-X. My favorite Star Wars character is the red Droid that Luke's uncle picks initially. When he threw a rod--I cried.

After making such a public split from Marvel and helping to start Image, how does it feel to go back to the "BIG" Imprints like Marvel and DC years later, and work on Wolverine and Aquaman, two of their biggest titles?

I'm back in a different state. When I was at DC it was as an artist only and most of my work at Marvel was as an artist as well. I only wrote a handful of stories there and in almost all cases, I drew them as well. Now, I'm writing stuff at DC and Marvel but as an artist, my attention is still concentrated solely on Savage Dragon. I'm thankful that the two companies have recognized me as a writer and can see the contributions that I can make in that regard.

Can you tell us any of your plans for Wolverine or Aquaman?

There's too much to tell and in doing so, I'd likely spoil too many surprises. My goal for Wolverine on a very basic level is to get him out of baggy pants and Madripoor and to get him in costume against worthy opponents. As for Aquaman, I'm out to expand his world and give him a greater rogue's gallery. I know, I know--it's not much to go on but I'd rather say too little than too much.

Are you enjoying the irony behind working on Aquaman, Peter David's old title?

Not too terribly. My focus is on making it an entertaining read. The fact that fans are anticipating me to undo everything Peter did while I extract some strange form of revenge annoys me. I may voice my opinions at times in letters columns but I try not to let it effect the work. It's a challenging book. Peter made it work for 50 issues and that in itself is amazing considering the character's track record. I hope I can keep it going for a while longer.

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