It was Larsen's exposure to Dick Sprang's rendition of Batman that would later influence the earliest incarnations of his own creation, The Dragon, who drove a car copied from Speed Racer's Mach Five, and who turned into a superhero using a magic word to trigger his powers like Captain Marvel.

[5] About a decade after creating the Dragon, Larsen and two friends produced a fanzine called Graphic Fantasy, which featured this character.

[6] The original Dragon, inspired by elements from Captain Marvel, Batman, Speed Racer and later The Incredible Hulk, differs greatly from the modern incarnation.

[7] Savage Dragon was first featured in two issues of Graphic Fantasy, a self-published title with a small print run, published by Larsen and two friends.

Subsequently, the Dragon made another appearance in the third issue of Gary Carlson's Megaton anthology in its Vanguard strip, which Larsen had been drawing.

In these appearances, the character of the Dragon remained basically the same as it had been in Graphic Fantasy, with a few details modified (such as the inclusion of his wife, who was dead in his previous incarnation).

His art on Doom Patrol was negatively received by readers at first, something Larsen thought was due to his style being such a drastic departure from that of his predecessor on the series, Steve Lightle.

He then pitched to editor Terry Kavanaugh a story he would write and draw for Marvel Comics Presents featuring Nova, a character that Larsen adored.

It was initially approved, but when it was found that it did not fit with an impending storyline in New Warriors, a team book in which Nova was a member, Larsen's series was cancelled.

[7] Larsen instead drew an "Excalibur" arc for Marvel Comics Presents, despite lacking interest in that group, because he needed work.

[12] Larsen stopped working for Marvel in 1992 (see below) but has occasionally returned to write and illustrate, on titles such as Fantastic Four, The Defenders, Wolverine and Nova.

In 2019, he penciled and wrote Amazing Spider-man: Going Big, a one-shot for Marvel's 80th anniversary, along with Mark Bagley and Gerry Conway.

This version was a massively muscled green amnesiac, who joined the Chicago police department after being discovered in a burning field.