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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2021 18:51:50 GMT -5
The news about George Perez today was a gut punch. My reaction to such things is to try to celebrate the things about the person that have brought me joy, share stories, etc. So much as I did with the Wrightson thread a few years back, I am creating a separate thread from the one where we can grieve and express our sorrow and heartache, this one where we can share what we love about George and his work, and share stories and talk about what he and his work meant to us. George Perez was my first favorite artist. I first discovered Perez artwork in late 1975/early 1976 in Avengers #144. I would have been 6 years old. I soon noticed his name in Fantastic four and in some other comics I owned. By 1977 I had decided I wanted to draw like George Perez. To that effect, I began to use tracing paper and copy pages from my favorite comics. The page I copies most often was this one-the splash page from Avengers #162...  My childhood copy of that page had been traced and copied so many times that you could see the pencil grooves worn into the page. I loved that page. I loved that issue. And because of that, I had grown to love comics. I never followed through on my continuing to develop my art, but Perez was and still is an inspiration to me. His art is representative of everything I love about super-hero comics. My tastes in comics have grown and changed over the years, but to this day, when I think super-hero comics, it is George Perez art that comes to mind. The other piece of Perez Avengers art that always comes to mind for me is not form a comic, but the cover to the issue of Fantaco Chronicles spotlighting the Avengers...  this zine was foundational for me when I was starting to collect comics and specifically collect Avengers and not just read comics. That cover represented all the Avengers history and lore I learned as I collected the series and that cover is forever married to my idea of Avengers, as much as that splash from #162. These are only a small piece of George's legacy, but they are ones that will forever be etched in my memories and my idea of "comics" as a whole. -M |
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Dec 7, 2021 19:21:39 GMT -5
I first became aware of Perez around 1977. Avengers #161 is a favorite issue that I always think of when his name comes up. I immediately fell in love with his art, and especially enjoyed it when he was inked by Pablo Marcos. He was definitely a name I got excited seeing in the credits and though my interest in superhero comics was waning by the time he started working on The New Teen Titans, I did collect that series for the first 15 issues or so, in large part because of him. I didn't follow anything he did after that (except for reading the first issue of Crisis). But he's always remained a sentimental favorite of mine.   |
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Post by brutalis on Dec 7, 2021 19:28:15 GMT -5
Found Gorgeous George Perez in black and white glory inside Deadly Hands of Kung Fu with the Sons of the Dragon stories. Great that he created the very 1st Puerto Rican hero in the White Tiger. Loved his Logan's Run adaption. His Man-Wolf run was purely amazing. His taking over Fantastic Four from Rich Buckler cemented my grabbing up ANY Perez artwork whenever and wherever I could find it.
But most awesome of all was Perez on my favorite team:AVENGERS! He turned into THE MOST MEMORABLE artist (no offense to the bro's Buscema) of the team. Creating a fandom which enabled his creative growth as artist, co-creator and eventually writer. And he only got better and better at DC. His name became a mark of guaranteed MUST BUY.
And on top of all that, the man is an honest, humble, caring, dedicated, funny and entertaining person. His devotion to comic books is astounding and others could learn much from him about what comics are all about. All of his fans will miss him and hold him close in our minds and hearts forever, cherishing EVERY page he has given us of art and writing.
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Post by majestic on Dec 7, 2021 19:39:16 GMT -5
 George Perez has done so much great work from Justice League, Superman. Wonder Woman, New Teen Titans at DC to Avengers, Hulk, Fantastic Four and others at Marvel. Plus work at Malibu on Ultraforce and the DC Crisis stories and Marvel Infinity Gauntlet. But for me his greatest accomplishment was being the artist on JLA/Avengers on the series that never happened in 1983. But when it finally happened in 2003 he was the artist chosen and it was a dream project for us fans. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 7, 2021 20:30:06 GMT -5
I know there were better stories and more popular projects but I consider JLA/Avengers to be Perez's crowning achievement.
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Post by tarkintino on Dec 7, 2021 21:01:57 GMT -5
While Perez's work on The New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths and History of the DC Universe are masterworks of the medium, for me, the moment he really came into his own to begin standing among the great artists was on his adaptation of Logan's Run:  Although he (and Klaus Jansen) did not have likeness rights of the actors, Perez's own take captured the essence of the characters and the world(s) they inhabited, while bringing his own dramatic edge to comic, so it was not one of those adaptations that simply appeared like copies of publicity photos:    ...and more gorgeous and powerful work from the adaptation:    ...and a concept sketch:  Easily in my top 4 of greatest comic book film adaptations. |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,871
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Post by shaxper on Dec 7, 2021 21:04:59 GMT -5
I didn't really have an appreciation for art when I first stumbled upon the New Teen Titans as a kid. I was there for the writing and the characters. But, even then, I was blown away by this:  |
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 7, 2021 22:33:55 GMT -5
I was there for his two-page "real origin of Deathlok" back in ASTONISHING TALES #25, which as I recall was his first mainstream comics job, and I paid a lot of notice throughout his green years doing things like LOGAN'S RUN through to his rise to the top ranks of his contemporaries. I met him once, under surprising circumstances, when he dropped in one Saturday at a local comics shop here in Huntsville, Alabama. He had accompanied his wife here so that she could shop at a local sewing store, which just happened to be in the same strip mall as Tattooed Lady Comics; I guess that sewing store was something special compared to those in his area (which I think was North Carolina?). It was a blast to have a superstar artist just drop in during my weekly comics run, not as part of a show but just to chat with the clientele while he was killing time!
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Post by berkley on Dec 7, 2021 23:08:40 GMT -5
My first Perez comic was Avengers #141, which was also my first Avengers issue since around #100, as I was just getting back into comics after having been away from them for a few years. The art in this issue was a bit more simplisitc and spare - possibly in part due to Vince Colletta's inks? - but there was something about it I liked and combined with the story by Englehart it didn't take me long to feel involved with thw Avenergs series once more. Perez's art seemed to grow by leaps and bounds in that first Avengers run of his with Englehart, and by the end of that multi-issue Roxxon/Squadron Supreme story he as already one of my favourite artists.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 7, 2021 23:57:19 GMT -5
Hard to say what I saw first, since I saw a lot of his work at the same time, thanks to my cousin's far larger comic collection. There was Fantastic Four, Avengers, the odd MTIO or MTU, Logan's Run just about everything except the Deadly Hands of kung Fu and Man-Wolf stuff (saw that later). New Teen Titans was where I followed him regularly, from the start. One of my favorite pieces he did was the Raven feature, in David Singer's unlicensed Wally Wood's THUNDER Agents, at Deluxe Comics. He mixed superheroes and James Bond, in a way that the Tower comics rarely did, and added a femme fatale dancer, based on his wife....  |
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Post by MDG on Dec 8, 2021 8:34:12 GMT -5
While never a huge fan, I always thought the drawing of Poison Ivy on the bottom of this page was one of the best portrayals of the character:  |
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Post by badwolf on Dec 8, 2021 10:52:48 GMT -5
I think my earliest encounter with George's work was in The Avengers circa #200. Taskmaster, Red Ronin, Ultron, that period. Also satellite era JLA, post-Dillin. For a long time he was my 2nd favorite artist, after John Byrne.
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Post by impulse on Dec 8, 2021 10:59:24 GMT -5
Oh, no, how sad. Clearly one of the GOATs.
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Post by Graphic Autist on Dec 8, 2021 15:21:54 GMT -5
So sorry to hear about Mr. Perez. Such a great artist.
Not exactly sure what my first George Perez comic was, but I do know it was no later than New Teen Titans #3. I would have been 9 at the time, and I have no idea how I got it, as the next issue I owned after that was issue #19. I specifically remember buying THAT issue because it featured Hawkman.
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Post by Ricky Jackson on Dec 8, 2021 15:25:27 GMT -5
One of my favorite times as a fan was the late 90s, not exactly remembered as a high point in comics history by many, but it was the first time I was flush with disposable income, so it was the peak of my fandom as far as total dollars spent per week goes. A lot of those dollars went to buying comics illustrated by George Perez. At the time I collected Avengers by Busiek and Perez as it was coming out and was also amassing a complete run of Wolfman and Perez's New Teen Titans. His run on Titans in particular is one of my all time faves. Just an amazing artist and creator. It is extremely sad to consider his life is in its last chapter
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