Graphic Fantasy #2
Graphic Fantasy #2 is the second published appearance of Paul Dragon — the proto-Savage Dragon whom Erik Larsen would eventually refine into one of Image Comics' founding flagship characters. As a hand-numbered, self-published fanzine produced in a run of only 450 copies, it occupies a genuinely singular position in the prehistory of the independent comics movement: a teenager's backyard universe that, a decade later, would anchor a publisher that reshaped the entire industry. The issue also presents early versions of characters — SuperPatriot, Kill-Cat, Mako, Horridus, Zeek, Smasher, and several Society of Super-Heroes members — who would be substantially revised and carried forward into the professional Image era, making the book a snapshot of a creative mythology still forming in real time.
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Larsen was approximately 19 years old when he self-published Graphic Fantasy #2 in 1982 under his Ajax Comics imprint, continuing a fanzine series he had co-produced with collaborators Al Harris and Kevin Clark Keyes. The issue carries no specific publication month — only the year 1982 — a detail that has caused persistent database confusion, with some indexes incorrectly sorting it before Graphic Fantasy #1 (dated June 1982) and thereby misattributing to it the first appearance of The Dragon. Every copy was hand-signed and numbered by Larsen on the back cover, meaning that no graded copy can carry a universal label from a third-party grading service — the inscription is an inherent feature of the object itself. The fanzines caught the attention of editor Gary Carlson, which led directly to Larsen's first paid professional work in Megaton Comics.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Second appearance of Paul Dragon (the pre-Savage Dragon prototype), written, penciled, and covered by Erik Larsen — the first appearance belongs to Graphic Fantasy #1 (June 1982).
- Self-published by Erik Larsen under the Ajax Comics imprint in 1982 (no month specified); total print run hand-numbered to 450 copies on the back cover.
- In this incarnation, Paul Dragon is depicted as a widower and a retired member of a government-sponsored superhero team called the Society of Super-Heroes (S.O.S.), a characterization distinct from the amnesiac police-officer version Larsen later developed at Image.
- The issue features early versions of characters who would later become Image Comics mainstays: SuperPatriot, Kill-Cat, Mako, Horridus, Zeek, Smasher, Rock, Star, Poison Dart, Tiger, Sgt. Marvel, The Crusader, The Destroyer, and others — all part of Larsen's developing superhero universe.
- Kill-Cat was originally conceived by Larsen and a childhood friend, Aaron Katz, making the character's appearance here among his earliest documented outings.
- The issue has been reprinted by Image Comics in at least two formats: in black and white in The Dragon Archives #2, and in colorized form as a back-up story in Savage Dragon #250; a full facsimile edition (with color and faux-newsprint effects) was later published by Image as well.
- Graphic Fantasy #1 and #2 were both included in the 1995 Erik Larsen CD-ROM Comic Book Anthology alongside early professional Savage Dragon material, cementing their status as canonical origin documents for the character.
- Because the issue bears no publication month, some online databases default it to January 1982, placing it chronologically before issue #1 — a well-documented cataloging artifact that has led to repeated misattribution of the Dragon's first appearance to this issue rather than to #1.