Plenty Of Fish In The Sea: An Interview With Erik Larsen

Erik Larsen has been in the spotlight before. He was in the spotlight over nine years ago, when he took over the artist position on Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man shortly after Todd McFarlane left the title. He was also in the spotlight over five years ago when he, along with several other prominent creators, left Marvel to create a new comic book company you might know as Image. Since that time, Erik has become well known for his humorous storytelling on The Savage Dragon, as well as his tendency to create interesting characters. Now, once again, Erik is in the spotlight.

As of issue #50, Erik will be thrust into the spotlight, this time, at DC Comics when he takes over on Aquaman. Erik will be starting the title with a brand new creative team, as Aquaman artist Jim Califiore, inker P.L. Palmiotti, and letterer Albert De Guzman will be leaving the title. Replacing them will be penciller Eric Battle (of X-Factor fame and the upcoming JLA: Giant Special) and letterer Chris Eliopoulos (of Savage Dragon fame). There is no word yet on who the new inker will be.

When asked how long he thinks he'll work on the title Erik replied, "I'd like to do it at least through #100...possibly more." Erik plans to take the characters in the title in various directions, but promises not to contradict anything that has gone before. "By the nature of me being the new writer, I'm bound to do new things on this title."

Erik has already begun to plot the title, and hinted about his first story line. His first story will contain "the discovery of another undersea realm that a new character named Noble rules and how he effects Aquaman's world."

"Noble is an undersea king of the hidden city where the Lurkers dwell. Noble's life parallels Arthur's but he's more likely to fly off the handle or invade the surface world. He's Submariner meets Lancelot. There are insane things that a guy like Noble would do that Aquaman would never do and the two become not only rivals for control of the sea but rivals for Mera's affections."

Larsen also plans to introduce many other new characters to the title. He stated, "Aquaman has a weak rogues gallery and my first order of business is to change that." When asked if he would use any of the current members of Aquaman's rogues gallery, he said, "I don't plan on using any of them in my first year. Aquaman has a very weak rogues gallery and my first order of business is to change that. If this were Batman--I'd have to say that we've seen the equivalent of Kite Man and Calendar Man in these pages-- I want to introduce Aquaman's Joker, Two-Face, Catwoman, Penguin and Riddler."

Many fans feared that the departure of Peter David from Aquaman would seriously hurt the book, but then again, none anticipated that Erik Larsen would be his replacement. Erik is well known for his interesting characters and high energy on The Savage Dragon, and if he is able to convey that high energy to Aquaman, then the fans truly have nothing to fear.

But that's not all that Larsen plans on doing for DC. Larsen is also involved in a Savage Dragon/Superman crossover. Larsen explained the crossover by saying, "There will be two issues. The idea is...Superman goes to Chicago in one and Dragon goes to Metropolis in the other. Superman's foes join Chicago's Vicious Circle and Superman goes there to help out Dragon who resents his interference. There's more to it than that, of course." The creative teams aren't completely determined yet, but Larsen adds, "I'll be doing Dragon/Superman myself. Terry Austin will ink it, and I'm wanting it to be in the 'Dark Knight' format." The crossover is due out in late August.

Article by Kurtis Evans

[Main Page][Email][Back to Features Contents]