Lt. Frank Darling

A Chicago police officer who became one of Savage Dragon's closest allies on the force, Lt. Frank Darling was instrumental in recruiting the amnesiac superpowered Dragon into the Chicago Police Department to help battle the city's rampant supervillain problem.

Few characters can claim they were there at the very beginning of one of Image Comics' most celebrated creator-owned universes — but Lt. Frank Darling has that distinction, debuting in Erik Larsen's The Savage Dragon #1 in 1992, right at the dawn of the Image era. A fixture of the Chicago-set world Larsen built, Darling has kept remarkable company over the decades, sharing pages with the likes of Dragon, Mighty Man, SuperPatriot, and Officer Alex Wilde across a publishing run that has stretched an impressive thirty-plus years. Two of his appearances carry key-issue weight with collectors, a testament to his foundational role in this corner of the Image universe. If you're diving into Savage Dragon from the ground floor, Lt. Frank Darling is exactly the kind of character who reminds you how rich and lived-in Larsen's world truly is.