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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 22, 2019 1:00:34 GMT -5
One of those artists who came on the scene when I was really getting into comics. he went from "that guy, who did that cool issue of..." to George Perez, Superstar in a little more than overnight; but, did it brilliantly and consistently, and had longevity with it. By contrast, Byrne's line seemed to suffer and his creativity had more fallow periods. Perez always seemed to just get better and better; then was just the consumate superstar, for a couple of decades. I don't begrudge him retiring; just wish it was because he wanted to relax, not because of health issues.
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Post by brianf on Jan 22, 2019 5:49:56 GMT -5
I have loved GPs art for as long as I can remember, He was one of the earliest creators i wanted to know by name. I wish the man a peaceful rest of his life. As a comic fan I would love to see a Man Wolf / Star God collection.   |
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Post by Cei-U! on Jan 22, 2019 9:27:03 GMT -5
I'm sure I've told this story before but it bears repeating:
Back in 1984 when I was trying to break in to the comics industry, I brought a proposal package for a strip I'd created to the San Diego Con to shop around. The afternoon I was scheduled to show it to Dick Giordano, I realized I hadn't finished one of the pages. I began frantically looking around for a hunk of table space big enough for me to draw (since I draw holding the pencil in my teeth, my options were extremely limited). Not only did George Perez, who I'd gotten a sketch from the day befre, offer to share his space with me in Artists' Alley, he even chipped in and pencilled some of the background in MY style!!. It was an incredibly generous act of kindness from one of the industry's super-stars. Even if he weren't one of favorite artists of all time, I will adore George forever for that.
Cei-U!
Perez to the rescue!
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 22, 2019 9:37:41 GMT -5
Actually, the first superhero comic I ever bought was a Perez drawn Fantastic Four. No wonder I got hooked on comics!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2019 11:22:43 GMT -5
George Perez illustration from JLA/Avengers #3  Totally Unreal ...  |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Jan 27, 2019 0:30:37 GMT -5
I'm not actually a huge fan, but...
I think Perez was incredibly important to superhero comics. Like, I don't think superheroes would be as prominent in today's culture without Perez. He was one of the very first artists (along with John Byrne) who actually seemed to like drawing superheroes and would choose to draw superheroes, as opposed to Kirby, Adams, Buscema, Trimpe, Kane, et al... who either disliked supers, could take or leave 'em, or had other interests they would much rather pursue.
This was really important to a whole generation of fans. Having an artist who took superheroes seriously gave fans permission to take superheroes seriously.
And I think he was mostly responsible for turning "drawing superhero team books" from the job NOBODY wanted to a prestigious and important assignment.
Likewise he completely salvaged Wonder Woman as a character. Throughout the Silver and Bronze age (again) nobody wanted to work on Wonder Woman. (Excluding Mike Sekowsky, who didn't draw superhero Wonder Woman, so that doesn't quite count.) Roy Thomas said he would *sigh* script Wonder Woman as a bargaining chip so he would be allowed to work on characters he liked. I half-remember someone, somewhere (Marty Pasko?) talking about holding his nose while he scripted WW. Then came Perez, and everyone after him has considered Wondy a plum assignment, a really cool gig, even an honor. He completely changed the perception of the character in the professional community.
Plus he was one of the best page design artist ever, and maybe the best at using costumed superheroes as design elements within an entire page.
Although I'm not sure how influential he was as an artist, because most people who came after him were too damn lazy to copy his work ethic.
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Post by tolworthy on Feb 4, 2019 5:32:03 GMT -5
Actually, the first superhero comic I ever bought was a Perez drawn Fantastic Four. No wonder I got hooked on comics! Perez' Fantastic Four 171 is still my all time favourite regular* comic, the one that made me decide "I have to get EVERY ISSUE EVER PUBLISHED". And Perez has always been my favourite comic artist.** Of course, Perez credits Joe Sinnott for tidying up some of his early work, but oh! it was so beautiful. And not a single millimetre wasted. I also blame Perez for ruining comics for me. He set my expectations far too high. I saw the rawness of Kirby's 1960s work, then the detail and polish of Perez in the 1970s. So when I finally started buying new American Marvels in the 1980s I expected Byrne, JRjr and co. to continue that trajectory. In hindsight they are OK, but at the time they were a crashing disappointment. And then came the 1990s. I gave it one last shot in the 2000s, but mainstream comics were over for me. Kirby was the explosion, Perez was the resulting fireball, Byrne was the falling debris, and the 1990s was the dirty crater. To me, the 2000s and on are the homeless people trying to eke out a living from the wreckage. But it makes me happy to know that Perez has carried the flame for so long, and with such joy and love. *i.e. not including illustrated classic novels, perfect anthologies of nostalgia, etc.) **I think of Kirby more as a creator than an artist - If Kirby is Leonardo da Vinci, Perez is Michelangelo. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 4, 2019 14:15:50 GMT -5
Actually, the first superhero comic I ever bought was a Perez drawn Fantastic Four. No wonder I got hooked on comics! Perez' Fantastic Four 171 is still my all time favourite regular* comic, the one that made me decide "I have to get EVERY ISSUE EVER PUBLISHED". And Perez has always been my favourite comic artist.** Of course, Perez credits Joe Sinnott for tidying up some of his early work, but oh! it was so beautiful. And not a single millimetre wasted. I also blame Perez for ruining comics for me. He set my expectations far too high. I saw the rawness of Kirby's 1960s work, then the detail and polish of Perez in the 1970s. So when I finally started buying new American Marvels in the 1980s I expected Byrne, JRjr and co. to continue that trajectory. In hindsight they are OK, but at the time they were a crashing disappointment. And then came the 1990s. I gave it one last shot in the 2000s, but mainstream comics were over for me. Kirby was the explosion, Perez was the resulting fireball, Byrne was the falling debris, and the 1990s was the dirty crater. To me, the 2000s and on are the homeless people trying to eke out a living from the wreckage. But it makes me happy to know that Perez has carried the flame for so long, and with such joy and love. *i.e. not including illustrated classic novels, perfect anthologies of nostalgia, etc.) **I think of Kirby more as a creator than an artist - If Kirby is Leonardo da Vinci, Perez is Michelangelo. That's an excellent summation! |
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Post by earl on Feb 5, 2019 21:52:58 GMT -5
Add it up, George Perez drew a LOT of comics and so many good ones. I think him and John Byrne being so prolific in the late 70s and through the 80s was big, every month those guys had issues coming out and pretty much all of their titles became the most popular of the day.
You think of guys like Marshall Rogers and even Walt Simonson that were great of that same generation of artists, they were nowhere near as prolific. Simonson did Thor for a few years, but his total amount of comics that he drew is much, much less than Perez and Byrne. Rogers was amazing, but the detail in his style was such, he had to alter it later on to be able to do a monthly title.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Feb 6, 2019 18:40:07 GMT -5
Actually, the first superhero comic I ever bought was a Perez drawn Fantastic Four. No wonder I got hooked on comics! Perez' Fantastic Four 171 is still my all time favourite regular* comic, the one that made me decide "I have to get EVERY ISSUE EVER PUBLISHED". And Perez has always been my favourite comic artist.** Of course, Perez credits Joe Sinnott for tidying up some of his early work, but oh! it was so beautiful. And not a single millimetre wasted. I also blame Perez for ruining comics for me. He set my expectations far too high. I saw the rawness of Kirby's 1960s work, then the detail and polish of Perez in the 1970s. So when I finally started buying new American Marvels in the 1980s I expected Byrne, JRjr and co. to continue that trajectory. In hindsight they are OK, but at the time they were a crashing disappointment. And then came the 1990s. I gave it one last shot in the 2000s, but mainstream comics were over for me. Kirby was the explosion, Perez was the resulting fireball, Byrne was the falling debris, and the 1990s was the dirty crater. To me, the 2000s and on are the homeless people trying to eke out a living from the wreckage. But it makes me happy to know that Perez has carried the flame for so long, and with such joy and love. *i.e. not including illustrated classic novels, perfect anthologies of nostalgia, etc.) **I think of Kirby more as a creator than an artist - If Kirby is Leonardo da Vinci, Perez is Michelangelo. I have to disagree a bit with your assessment of Perez/Byrne. Personal taste aside, I think Byrne was the superior artist till around, say, 1984. Byrne seemed to hit his strike around 1977, and seemed a bit more advanced to my eye at a similar period in their respective careers. Perez is one of those artists who went from mediocre (his early work) to iconic. I sort of put Barry Widsor Smith in this same group. His clunky early Conan work is almost unrecognizable to his more recent, breathtaking draftsmanship. I don't think Perez evolved to that degree, but he consistently improved. However around 1984/85, I feel Perez surpassed Byrne, just kept getting better and better, while Byrne stagnated and even regressed. I think his art on The Brave and the Bold (written by Mark Waid) is some of the best stuff he's ever done. |
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Post by brutalis on Feb 7, 2019 8:34:27 GMT -5
Finding Perez or Byrne art popping up on covers or insides anytime was instant joy to me. This was my big time collecting phase as a teen during the late 70's and early 80's and both of them WERE the premiere big name talents you followed no matter what they were doing or which company they worked for. I agree that Byrne hit his artistic high point sooner than Perez. Byrne had a small start with Charlton (hard to find and see) but quickly grew to star status at Marvel but it was much more interesting in being able to watch the growth of Perez from his start with Marvel as Rich Buckler's assistant and then going solo with Sons of the Tiger and Man-Wolf and then to replacement of Buckler on Fantastic Four and becoming THE Avengers artist at the time.
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 7, 2019 9:19:55 GMT -5
As far back as the 90’s Perez has had health problems and I’m going to go out on a limb to say it was probably all tied to his excessive weight. It’s too bad but everything comes to an end. I enjoyed him While he was here. I think his crowning achievement was JLA/Avengers.
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Post by brutalis on Feb 7, 2019 9:57:35 GMT -5
As far back as the 90’s Perez has had health problems and I’m going to go out on a limb to say it was probably all tied to his excessive weight. It’s too bad but everything comes to an end. I enjoyed him While he was here. I think his crowning achievement was JLA/Avengers. Perez is a Diabetic, which affects ALL health aspects. So his weight while a part of the issues may not be THE problem. He also had Diabetic Retinopathy surgery (retina damage from diabetes usually leading to blindness) which may have prevented his going totally blind and leading to his retiring in preventing going blind and prolonging his current eyesight. And in 2017 he had a heart attack with a coronary stent placed to keep the arteries open (which is another Diabetes related issue) with blood flowing to the heart. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 7, 2019 11:40:31 GMT -5
Perez has always been overweight. It can lead to diabetes and many of the things you mentioned. The eyesight might be an occupational hazard.
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Post by brutalis on Feb 7, 2019 13:48:18 GMT -5
Perez has always been overweight. It can lead to diabetes and many of the things you mentioned. The eyesight might be an occupational hazard. I just don't want people to assume Perez's issues are just due from being overweight, especially when you consider that by medical terms/statistics that nearly 34.2 percent of Americans are overweight with 33.8 percent being obese and 5.7 percent are extremely obese. Everything I have read or heard about Perez and his Diabetes is that he has Diabetes Mellitus, which is called Type 1 Diabetes that is a juvenile genetic autoimmune condition where the body doesn't produce insulin and the person has to monitor and inject insulin regularly to survive from childhood until their death. Every Diabetic I have known and worked with who is insulin dependent has ongoing health issues including diet/weight problems and several died young (in late 20-early 30's) due to their body not being capable of handling the roller-coaster ride the disease puts their body through or it weakens the body so much that other issues (like heart attack, lung failure, kidney failure, etc) are the actual cause of death. To end on a lighter note in appreciation of George Perez: he has had a long life in comic books and is very much a part of my life growing up. I appreciate all of his artistic efforts from the start to his finale. I will miss seeing new Perez art but boy am I glad to having so much classic work of his available in so many formats. Thank you Mr. Perez for making my life filled to the brim with characters, details and such great backgrounds full of rubble and Kirby Krackle! |
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