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Guest Swipe File: Erik Larsen Vs His Sub Conscious

By Mike McLarty of ComicKarma is helping out while Rich Johnston is in holday in Venice. Follow him here, email him here.

Love him or loath him, Erik Larsen is an outspoken comics creator who doesn't shy away from
conflict. If he has an opinion to share, you can rest assured that he's inclined to speak his mind.

Most recently, Larsen discussed a topic of concern through his Twitter account; homage covers.

ErikJLarsen
That trend of homage covers strikes me as especially lazy and uncreative. It's the
same only now they're zombies or gorillas guys from Tron.

12:15 PM Sep 24th via web

He went on to explain that he's never been a fan of 'swiping' because the feeling of déjà vu takes him out of the story.

Earlier in the day, Larsen broke with tradition and found a way to annoy more than just members of the comics community. This time he went so far as to upset himself.

ErikJLarsen
Nothing quite as annoying as subconsciously swiping something and then seeing the original and realizing it was better than what you did.

10:07 AM Sep 24th via web

On the Image Comics Message Boards, Larsen shared the cover for Savage Dragon #38 and Pitt #6. He says that he got a sick feeling after he saw how similar his cover was to its predecessor.

Over the course of the same message thread, another post regarding the same topic was added. This time Larsen's cover for Savage Dragon #168 was compared with Mark Bagley's cover design for Amazing Spider-Man #375.

Larsen replied:

I didn't consciously swipe it, no. If I had swiped the Spider-Man cover–it would have been a better cover, actually. Bagley's poses seem more natural to me. Mine's a bit stiff.

Well, shit.

In Swipe File we present two or more images that resemble each other to some degree. They
may be homages, parodies, ironic appropriations, coincidences or works of the lightbox. We
trust you, the reader, to make that judgment yourself. If you are unable to do so, please return your eyes to their maker before any further damage is done. The Swipe File doesn't judge, it's interested more in the process of creation, how work influences other work, how new work comes from old, and sometimes how the same ideas emerge simultaneously, as if their time has just come. The Swipe File was named after the advertising industry habit where writers and artist collect images and lines they admire to inspire them in their work. It was swiped from the Comic Journal who originally ran this column, as well as the now defunct Swipe Of The Week website.

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