The pages below are for Savage Dragon #137, which I had the great pleasure of coloring. The line art is by Erik Larsen.
I've admired Erik's work since I was a kid. I think the first thing of his that I picked up was "The Return of the Sinister Six" storyline from Amazing Spider-Man #334-339 (?), which I managed to score at a second hand book shop a short drive from where I lived. He was a definite favorite of mine growing up. Jason Pearson, Art Adams and Erik Larsen were my top three as a kid. Mignola would later join this illustrious crew after reading my first Savage Dragon issue, Savage Dragon #34, part one of a two part Savage Dragon and Hellboy team up. Unfortunately to this day I've never read the second part of that story. Comics were hard to come by for me as a kid. Thankfully I work at a comic shop now.
Aside from Savage Dragon, which I continued to pick up scattered issues of until issue #100, I was a big fan of his work with Kurt Busiek on The Defenders. His work on Defenders really struck a chord with me, I love all 12 of those issues. They are well done, quirky and just all round fun to read.
Getting to color these pages below was a dream, for myself its the closest I will ever come to working with Jack Kirby. That is how highly I rate Erik.
I've only done a handful of work in comics, but to know people out there, like Erik, are actually taking notice of what little I have done, is very inspiring. Keeps me going.
Savage Dragon #137 is released on September 3rd
art : Erik Larsen
colors : Dylan
