Erik Larsen’s first professional work appeared in Megaton # 1. By the time Megaton #2 rolled around, two years after issue # 1 Paul Dragon, the director of the Society of Super-Heroes appeared in his first mass-produced comic book. Paul Dragon, who was simply called Dragon at the time, appeared only in the last page of the story featuring Vanguard. However, by Megaton #3, Dragon was featured on the cover and in the lead story. The Dragon story line concluded in Megaton #4.
Despite Dragon’s connection to Megaton Comics, Megaton #2 was not his first appearance. Dragon first appeared in a Larsen published fanzine, Graphic Fantasy. As chronicled in a text piece from Megaton #4, Larsen created Dragon when he was in the fourth grade. “I started drawing a series of homemade unpublished comics that featured my own characters. It was then I created the Dragon combining a few of my favorite characters: Batman, Captain Marvel (Shazam, to those too young to remember), and Speed Racer. He’s evolved considerably since then. Not owning a TV helped a lot to help keep me glued to the drawing board. I ended up creating over a hundred heroes and about 75 comics.
“After I got out of school, I drew a Dragon story for Charlton Bullseye – it wasn’t published. Editor George Wildman told me Bullseye was overstocked and advised me to send it to other publishers as he thought it was professional enough to do so. Around this time, the owners of a local funny book store were encouraging myself and a couple of other local talents to put out a comic book. So there went my Dragon story into that 72-page monster! The second issue I did by myself (all printed in my living room on a tabletop offset press) and we sent copies to everybody. The reviews poured in and they were darn good too! A couple of companies hired me to draw for them on the strength of Graphic Fantasy. . .”
The same Paul Dragon who appeared in Megaton Comics will, with a little reworking, appear as Savage Dragon from Image Comics in June.
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