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George Pérez (born June 9, 1954, New York City, New York) is a Puerto Rican-American illustrator and writer of comic books. Along with John Byrne, he was arguably the most popular and influential artist in American comic books in the 1980s. He primarily illustrates superhero comics, mainly published by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and is known for his clean, dynamic, yet ornate style, with a strong emphasis on group superhero action scenes.
Biography
Pérez's family moved from Puerto Rico in the 1940s. Like many of the immigrants from Puerto Rico, they were poor and settled in the Bronx, where there was and is a large Puerto Rican community (barrio). Pérez's parents became factory workers. Eventually, they moved to Flushing, Queens, New York. Pérez often visited a comic book store called "Mike's Comic Hut" there. He became fascinated with comic books and their illustrations. Pérez came to prominence when he started illustrating The Avengers for Marvel Comics, starting with vol. 1 #141. His early style seemed very much influenced by Jack Kirby, one of Marvel's leading creators from the 1960s, albeit with a stronger sense of anatomy and a penchant for making his worlds seem bright and beautiful. In the 1970s, Pérez illustrated several other Marvel books, including Fantastic Four, where he began working with Marv Wolfman.
Pérez soon moved over to work for DC Comics. Following a popular stint on Justice League of America, Pérez's career took off with the launch of The New Teen Titans, written by Wolfman. This incarnation of the Teen Titans was intended to be DC's answer to Marvel's increasingly-popular X-Men comic, and Wolfman and Pérez indeed struck gold. Moreover, Pérez's facility with layouts, details, and faces improved enormously during his four years on the book, making him one of the most popular artists in comics.
Wolfman and Pérez followed this with DC's 50th-anniversary event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, which purportedly featured every single character DC owned in a story which radically restructured the DC universe's continuity. Pérez was inked on the book by two of the best inkers in comics at the time: Dick Giordano and Jerry Ordway. Following Crisis, Pérez was responsible for relaunching Wonder Woman, tying her more closely to the Greek gods and jettisoning many of the extraneous elements of her history. Pérez at first worked with Len Wein on the stories, but eventually took over the full scripting chores. While not as popular as either Titans or Crisis, the book was a very successful relaunch of one of DC's flagship characters, and many fans agree that his run on Wonder Woman is one of the finest moments in his career.
In the 1990s, Pérez left the spotlight, although he worked on several popular projects, most notably Sachs and Violens and Hulk: Future Imperfect, both written by Peter David. Pérez finally returned to a major ongoing title for the third series of The Avengers, written by Kurt Busiek, where he remained for nearly three years, again receiving critical and fan acclaim for his polished and dynamic art. After leaving the book, he and Busiek worked to produce the long-awaited JLA/Avengers inter-company crossover, which saw print in late 2003. This provided closure for Pérez, since a JLA/Avengers crossover was originally supposed to be published in the 1980's, but differences between DC and Marvel forced the comic to be canceled. At this point, and as the artist on the story, he drew approximately 21 pages of the crossover, which had not be published until recently.
He is currently involved with various writing and drawing projects related to DC's Infinite Crisis and DC's The Brave and the Bold (2006). He is also currently co-chairman of the board of comic industry charity A Commitment To Our Roots.
Major works
- The Avengers vol 1, #141–162, 167–172, 194–196, 198–202; Annual #6, 8
- The Avengers vol 3, #1–15, 18–25, 27–34; Annual 1998
- Crimson Plague #1–2 (unfinished, published several times)
- Crisis on Infinite Earths #1–12
- Fantastic Four vol 1, #164–167, 170–172, 176–178, 184–188, 191–192
- History of the DC Universe #1–2
- Hulk: Future Imperfect #1–2
- Infinite Crisis #1-7 covers and partial interior
- Infinity Gauntlet #1–4
- JLA/Avengers #1–4
- Justice League of America #184–186, 192–197, 200
- The New Teen Titans vol 1, #1–4, 6–40; Annual #1–2
- The New Teen Titans vol 2, #1–5, 50–61
- Sachs and Violens #1–4
- Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
- Wonder Woman vol 2, #1–62; Annual #1–2
- Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, Annual #3
Awards
George Pérez has received a good deal of recognition in the industry for his work.His work (with that of Marv Wolfman and Romeo Tanghal), earned The New Teen Titans #50 a nomination for the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Single Issue.
His work (with that of Marv Wolfman) earned Crisis on Infinite Earths the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Finite Series.
Trivia
Pérez is noted for often using a technical pen when inking. Unlike standard ink-dipped pens, technical pens tend not to allow the variety of line widths typically expected in comic book inking. This gives Pérez-inked work an unusual look.
In 2005, an animated version of Pérez made a cameo appearance in the Teen Titans animated series episode called "Go", which was an adaptation of New Teen Titans #1.
See also
External links
- Interview with George Pérez
- George Pérez fan site
- Comic Book Awards Almanac
- Galacticast video interview with George Pérez
1954 births | Living people | People from the Bronx | American comics artists | American comics writers | Puerto Rican cartoonists | Puerto Rican writers | Spider-Man artists | X-Men writers | Wonder Woman writers | Wonder Woman artists
"George Pérez"