Larkin began his career as an illustrator in 1969. His many credits include titles such as
Crazy Magazine,
Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu,
Marvel Preview,
Marvel Super Special,
Planet of the Apes,
Savage Sword of Conan, and
The Tomb of Dracula. Larkin painted covers for many of the
Marvel Fireside Books paperback collections, lending them a simple,
movie-poster feel. He did the same thing for the cover to the second major
intercompany crossover,
Superman and Spider-Man (1981). In addition, Marvel occasionally tapped Larkin to paint covers for premiere issues of such comic book titles as
Dazzler (March 1981) and
The Saga of Crystar (May 1983). A rare example of Larkin providing interior art is the three–page story "For the Next 60 Seconds" in
Epic Illustrated #1 (Spring 1980). Besides his work for Marvel, Larkin has painted covers for
Vampirella and
The Rook (
Warren Publishing),
The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man (
Peter Pan Records),
Lorelei: Building the Perfect Beast (StarWarp Concepts), and many others. Larkin provided covers to
Bantam Books reprints of
Doc Savage, as well as
World Wrestling Entertainment merchandise featuring
The Rock,
Stone Cold Steve Austin,
The Undertaker,
Kane, and
Chris Jericho. ==Personal life==