Megaton #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMegaton #2 (October 1985) is a pivotal artifact of the American independent comics movement, housing one of Erik Larsen's earliest professional story-and-art contributions to the Vanguard strip — the same feature that introduced the world to his proto-Savage Dragon character, here referred to as Paul Dragon. The issue also marks the first published appearance of Mighty Man, a character who would later figure prominently in the Image Universe. Situated squarely at the intersection of the black-and-white independent boom and the creative ferment that eventually produced Image Comics, the anthology helped establish Gary Carlson's Megaton Comics as what Rob Liefeld later called 'the Grandfather of Image Comics' — a training ground where Larsen, Liefeld, and Jackson Guice all received some of their first professional assignments.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Gary Carlson launched the Megaton anthology in 1983 as the flagship title of his self-run Megaton Comics, editing all eight issues himself and providing a platform for emerging artists at a time when creator-owned black-and-white independents were proliferating. Issue #2 arrived in October 1985 — a nearly two-year gap after issue #1 — and brought together an eclectic roster of contributors including Erik Larsen (writing and drawing Vanguard), Frank Fosco (Ethrian), Don Simpson, S. Clarke Hawbaker, Butch Guice, and Ken Meyer Jr. Vanguard itself was co-created by Carlson and Larsen, and Larsen had reached Carlson through a self-published fanzine called Graphic Fantasy, which had already featured early Dragon appearances in a very limited print run before the character reached Megaton's slightly wider audience.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published October 1985 by Megaton Comics; edited by Gary Carlson; 64 pages, black-and-white.
- Front cover art by S. Clarke Hawbaker; back cover art by Erik Larsen.
- The Erik Larsen-written-and-drawn Vanguard story (titled 'Deadline' per Amazon listing) contains an appearance of Paul Dragon — the pre-Image prototype of Larsen's Savage Dragon character, making this one of the character's earliest appearances in a commercially distributed comic.
- Contains the first published appearance of Mighty Man, a character who would later be integrated into the Image Universe.
- Contributing writers and artists include Gary Carlson, Erik Larsen, Frank Fosco, Don Simpson, S. Clarke Hawbaker, Jackson Guice, Ken Meyer Jr., and Don Chin — several of whom were receiving some of their first professional comics assignments.
- Vanguard is co-credited as a co-creation of Gary Carlson and Erik Larsen.
- The issue is part of the Megaton run (eight issues, 1983–1987) later collected in its entirety in the Megaton Archives trade paperback (Image Comics/Simon & Schuster), scanned from original art and film negatives to commemorate the series' 40th anniversary.
- Berzerker, who appears in this issue under Gary Carlson's copyright, was later revived in Image's Vanguard continuity and tie-in stories.
Cast · 16 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Megaton Holiday Special #1 (1993), The Dragon Archives #3 (1998), The Dragon Archives #4 (1999), Savage Dragon #267 (2024)
Key issues in Megaton
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