*FULL NAME:  Erik Jon Larsen

*BIRTHDATE:  Dec. 8, 1962

*BIRTHPLACE:  Minneapolis, MN

*HOMETOWN:  Oakland, CA

*MOVIES:  Summer of '42

*FOODS:  Cap'n Crunch with Crunch Berries, Hostess Snowballs, Coffee Crisp

*RESTAURANTS:  Rosie's (local Mexican joint), Tommy's (local hofbrau), Zachary's (pizza)

*ATHLETES:  Oakland A's

*COMIC ARTISTS:  Kirby, Kane, Simonson, Miller

*COMIC ISSUES:  Hulk #156, Thor #337, What If #3

*COMIC CHARACTER:  The Dragon

*WHAT QUESTION ARE YOU ASKED MOST OFTEN? 

"Do you draw like that?"  I hold my pencil funny, and by the way, the answer is yes!

*WHAT ARE YOUR PET PEEVES?

Having my name spelled wrong.  Answering questionnaires.

    If not for comics, Erik Jon Larsen says he would have been a dishwasher, ditch digger or a tedious, menial laborer.  He started drawing seriously at birth, and broke into comics when he published a fanzine, Graphic Fantasy.  After reading it, Gary Carlson contacted him and the rest was history.  His first professional work was Megaton #1, Nov. 1983.
    "Getting married and Savage Dragon 1-3 are my greatest accomplishments," Larsen says.  He spends four hours on full pencils and uses a Mars Lumograph 2H Clo-erase non-photo pencil.  He joined Image so he could have comlete control over his creations, with no editorial interference.
    In twenty years, he'd like to be doing Savage Dragon #240.  And he wants to be remembered as a "burned out old hack who's totally lost it... whining about the new young punks who are outselling him."

    Erik has shown tremendous versatility over the course of his career, working on a variety of characters and books.  Erik gained his popularity during his tenure on Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man.  What makes Erik's career rise so special is the fact that in both cases on Spider-Man, he followed a successful run by another artist, Todd McFarlane, and continued to establish sales records utilizing his own personal style and rendition of the Spider-Man character.

    "Learn to draw... learn to draw everything.  Drawing comics is a very demanding profession.  Take classes, study anatomy and perspective.  Learn to draw!"

    "Thanks for your support.  I'm having a hell of a time doing these comics and I hope you like them!"