Friday, July 27, 2012

The Incredible George Perez

When I was a teenager, I started collecting comic books. One time in Moscow, Idaho in the late eighties, I walked into this  place called Safari Pearl. The lady that owned the comic book shop started to talk to me about George Perez. Up until this time, I mistakenly thought that all comic books were essentially created equal. Boy was I wrong.

The Incredible George Perez.
I bow to your greatness good sir.
There were actual artists behind these pulpy magazines. And what she pointed out about George Perez was absolutely correct. The guy was a modern day Michaelangelo, and he became my favorite comic book artist of all time. That has never changed even though there are many great comic book artists like Alex Ross and Todd McFarlane. I think George Perez brings a level of detail and dedication to any project that he does that is so good, it sets the bar for my enjoyment of a comic book.

So, with comic book movies being all the rage this summer (talked about on P.T. Dilloway's blog and many others), with "The Dark Knight Rises" destroying the box office that was left in tatters by "The Avengers" and with talk of Joseph Gordon Levitt possibly being cast as Nightwing for his own series (a classic Perez character), I wanted to tell you a little about the great George Perez because he's still alive. He's getting old, and I honestly don't know how much longer he'll be around. I have a goal to meet this guy and hopefully, my wish will come true someday at a comic book convention.

George Perez is a Puerto Rican-American born on June 9, 1954. Above and left, I've included a picture of him. He started illustrating Marvel's The Avengers. The first time that I really noticed his artwork (but didn't pay attention to who he was) was when I started reading "Crisis on the Infinite Earths". If you don't know what this series was, it was a landmark DC series that destroyed all of the various Earths that DC had created in one huge storyline to kind of get a hold of their plotlines which had gone in so many directions that they could no longer keep track.

Here is one cover from the series. I want you to pay special attention to this because it is CLASSIC George Perez. He has detailed a gazillion characters in this cover and each one is carefully drawn down to their eyeballs. I also want you to note the team of Wolfman and Perez. That to me is the sign of "excellence". Whenever I saw those two on a comic book, I knew it was going to be incredible.

This is the cover Perez did to reboot Wonder Woman. Yes, he drew and detailed
all of those warriors on Paradise Island standing behind Wonder Woman.
The very next time that I saw this combo was on the "Who is Wonder Girl" series on the reboot of the Teen Titans to the New Titans. So yeah, I bought into that. But Perez only stayed with it to reboot and then went to work on rebooting Wonder Woman so I followed him to that magazine. Wolfman and Perez owned Wonder Girl and Crisis on the Infinite Earths basically destroyed her origin because a crucial character that saves her as a child is no longer around to save her and DC just went for years after this event, never touching on the fact that Wonder Girl shouldn't be around. When Perez finally returned to the New Titans to redo Wonder Girl's origin, it was nothing less than spectacular.
The story of Wonder Girl's new origin was amazing. And the detail on each and every subsequent cover put out in this series just got better and better. That's Nightwing front and center carrying Wonder Girl. To the right is Starfire (a character that only Perez seems to be able to draw correctly because her costume is asymmetrical), and to the left is cyborg. Behind and rising above the others is Raven who returned in a white cloak after she went missing for many issues following the Trigon the Terrible plotline. Raven was my all-time favorite character in the DC universe. She basically had the powers of a demigod, and she takes on the ultimate bad guy in this series and it's one of the best combats I've ever seen drawn on paper.

Anyway, if you aren't convinced of George Perez's spectacular talent then I'm going to include some other pictures of his for your enjoyment. Again, I'd like you to just take a look at the level of detail that this guy goes to when he does his work. It blows me away every time. I'd love to have a couple of signed prints that I could frame just to hang in my house.
I think Perez has drawn every character in the DC universe here.
CLICK TO MAKE BIGGER
The Avengers as drawn by Perez
CLICK TO MAKE BIGGER
This is a poster of the Avengers that shows them in
 every single costume ever worn. It blows my mind at how
detailed George Perez gets with his artwork.
CLICK TO MAKE BIGGER
So what do you think of the great George Perez? If you didn't know about him, are you now a fan?

Have a great weekend.

33 comments:

  1. Most people don't appreciate the artwork that goes into comic books and graphic novels, but those are some of the best artists around.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What an incredible artist. They are so detailed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Older artists like him actually seemed to draw things somewhat realistically. Nowadays it seems a lot of comic book artists draw stuff more like manga or whatever.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've never really liked superhero cartoonists, I'm ore of a fan of the artists who draw epic cartoons, period set stories and similar, and those like late Frazetta and such....

    ReplyDelete
  5. @P.T.: I agree. Manga-style animation has really taken over because of the popularity of that form of animation with Pokemon and other similar Japanese influences exploding onto the scene. With respect to comic books, what I've noticed the most is the loss in quality. The newer artists never detail backgrounds on the panels anymore. Perez ALWAYS had so much detail in his backgrounds that you could spend hours just studying it. Additionally, comic books used to have twice to three times as much content per issue. Now, it's not unusual to see one panel per page (maybe two) with one character and no background...just a wash of blended colors. It's just so lazy and obviously a cost-saving measure because you can put out more issues this way and hire less talented people than Perez.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Dezmond: I never liked any of Frazetta's paintings. I don't really care for Boris Vallejo either. Give me Michael Whelan or Darrell K. Sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  7. George Perez's art work is what comes to mind when I think comic books. Classic and awesome. Alex Ross does some good stuff too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I agree with Alex J Cavanaugh. Those who aren't into comics don't recognise the artistic talent that is behind them. I love comic style art, and George Perez is fantastic. I admit, from an artist's point of view, I easily bore of drawing backgrounds. They can be tedious to do, so you have to give credit where it's due :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Michael, this is the most interesting post I've read on the web in a long time. I really enjoyed it and no, I'd never heard of Mr. Perez before, but I'm going to learn more. Thanks. Not often I come across someone who knows how to show appreciate in such a thoughtful way.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I suppose I shouldn't tell you that I've met Perez, then. And a friend of mine has an original Thor drawing by him that I watched him draw. Nice guy (as opposed to MacFarlane, whom I've also met and is a ____ (you can fill in the blank)).

    You can blame the loss of detail in backgrounds, etc on artists like Rob Liefeld and the whole Image thing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for sharing this Mike. I'm not into comic books, so I never thought much about the art, but now I appreciate it more.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You had me at "late eighties..." Good times... ;)

    And I enjoyed reading this---fun to learn about people and worlds I'm not too familiar with.

    ReplyDelete
  13. As an artist I can certainly appreciate his draftsmanship and design skills, but I'm not that familiar with this art genre so I'll rely on your word that he is one of the best. He seems to be highly successful.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow, he does an amazing job. I'm now a new fan! Thanks for sharing Michael.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Only now as an aging adult am I starting to recognize how talented a lot of comic book artists are. And now that I'm really getting into Modesty Blaise, I really regret not reading the books and graphic novels sooner. The author(Peter O'Donnell) had a couple artists to illustrate Modesty, and while they might be around (I'm not sure), I just learned recently that O'Donnell passed away. Wish so much I could have written to him and said thanks for the great Modesty Blaise.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I've always wanted to get into comic books. So I guess if I ever do, I'll definitely have to pick up some of his work! Thanks for sharing. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. George Perez has always been one of my favorite comic artists. It's incredible how he came up with such detailed artwork and still more or less keep to the grint-it-out schedule of comics back in the 1980s, 1990s, and even now.

    I've also been lucky enough to meet the dude in person, and he's as sweet (and as silly) as you might guess he is. Great guy and a great talent.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Wow, Michael,

    You are certainly spot on about the details. SO much is happening within the black outlines and magnificent splashes of color!

    As an illustrator myself, I can certainly appreciate Perez's endless talent.

    Hey, Michael,

    If you get a chance over the weekend drop by my blog, I posted my latest design job. Very contemporary. I think you'll really appreciate it, knowing your sense of style.

    Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I didn't know about him before, but that's amazing artwork. They're all very elaborate.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I admire anyone with that much imagination and talent.
    Michael ~ Thank you SO much for telling me about Cloud Atlas. It looks AMAZING. I can't wait to see this. I'll be mentioning this next week. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I love comics. Makes me wish I kept hold of the ones I had.

    Congrats, Michael! You won in my giveaway. Come claim your prize! :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Never heard of him, but I like what I see.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I am a big fan of George Perez. When I was heavily into comics, back in the 80's, he was one of my top 5. I used to follow the pencillers very closely (and inkers too, but not as much).

    I think the level of the craft is better now than it was then. But if I had to rate my favorites, limiting them to folks working in the 80's, it would be.

    1) John Buscema
    2) Neal Adams
    3) George Perez
    4) John Byrne
    5) Walt Simonson

    Wow. I just realized that I could have named off several more as well. Funny how that stuff sticks with you.

    Great stuff. I'm thrilled that you profile great artists when you do. Keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I am now a fan. The talent is beyond my comprehension. And hey, someone born in 1954 isn't THAT old. Hopefully he'll be around for years yet, you youngster.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Impressive artwork. Comic books are truly and art form.

    ReplyDelete
  26. There is so much going on in those pictures. I never really stopped to appreciate the artistry going into comic books, but the pictures you posted are impressive. Hope you're weekend is going splendidly!

    ReplyDelete
  27. What beautiful artwork. I LOVE that third-to-last image, so busy!

    This was a great tribute. And hey, born in 1954 ain't that old! My mum was born that year ;)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Amazing and detailed artwork. They are fantastic. I had no idea how much talent went into comic books.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Wow...I'm impressed... I didn't know about him, but I loved his artwork.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Awesome art. There's a Wonder Girl? The New Titans looks interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Wow...that's just incredible. I wish more people had an appreciation of the artistic prowess that goes into comic books.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I'm not really into comic books but this art is pretty amazing.

    ReplyDelete