RIP George Perez

Well, this is a bummer, posting two obituaries in a row. Last week we lost comics artist George Perez, and while I can’t claim he had the same earth-shaking impact on my young life that Neal Adams did, he was certainly one of the most talented and consistently excellent artists in the business, plus by all accounts a sweetheart of a gentleman, to boot.

It’s likely I first encountered Perez’ art in Avengers #160. The Avengers were a team I always liked in principle because, like the Justice League, it assembled (ahem) all the A-list heroes in one book, which meant not only were the stakes usually higher in each story, but I could be a skinflint and squeeze more value out of my quarter. But “in principle” is different from “in practice,” and between a lot of so-so art and drawn-out, multi-part sagas I never wanted to dive into, it was a very rare thing for me to actually buy the adventures of “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”

That all ended when I saw this cover, with The Vision and Wonder Man menaced by some oddball character with a scythe for a hand. And of course being Marvel, it’s an atomically-charged scythe that can shoot bolts, for the same reason Dr Evil’s sharks need laser beams attached to their heads.

It didn’t matter much that I really didn’t know who Wonder Man was at this point, and that the other characters were, if I knew them, not what I’d have called A-listers like Captain America, Thor and Iron Man. When I thumbed through that issue, I knew I had to have it just for the art.

This “Perez” guy was obviously someone to watch, combining as he did the dynamism and energy of Jack Kirby with the polish and “prettiness” of Curt Swan in a style very much up my alley. Incidentally in that sequence above, we get one of Marvel’s more famous “bloopers” as the Grim Reaper, his severed left hand replaced by that bladed weapon, stops to pull on his mask with two good hands, only to have the scythe back in the very next panel.

As long as Perez was drawing the Avengers, I was on board, and the next few issues provided plenty of entertainment between a battle with Ultron, an appearance by Ant-Man and a few panels of the Wasp strapped to a lab table in a manner that any red-blooded 12-year-old boy couldn’t help but appreciate.

I followed Perez to a run on the Fantastic Four and I was delighted when he made his way over to DC. I still remember being pleasantly surprised to see him completing a Justice League/Justice Society crossover epic begun by artist Dick Dillin, whose long, long tenure on the JLA had driven me off the book in a tortuous demonstration of the Law of Diminishing Returns. I remember feeling particularly guilty when it turned out Perez had stepped in only because Mr Dillin passed away unexpectedly. Legend has it this was a very last-minute save on George’s part, but you’d never know it from the art, which looked anything but “rushed.”

As it turned out, he loved drawing large groups of people, unlike most artists. In fact he seemed to go out of his way to cram in as many figures as he could, and the great part was that every character had his or her own personality, based on body language and poses. For a short time, Perez took over as regular artist on the Justice League of America and just as I had with the Avengers, I stayed on for the duration.

In 1983 came what would arguably be Perez’ most celebrated work, on the New Teen Titans. Here was another group I’d always liked in principle, but which had never quite “clicked” in practice. Teamed with writer Marv Wolfman, Perez finally made it do more than “click”: it pretty much went off like an A-Bomb, putting DC Comics on the map at last with legions of Marvel-leaning fans who wouldn’t have given the company the time of day before. Putting Perez on a team book with an ever-expanding cast of supporting characters including some curvaceous young females seems, at least in retrospect, like the most logical plan ever, but at the time it was something of a roll of the dice to attempt a Titans book at all. Needless to say, it paid off.

Having had its first real taste of success at finally attracting Marvel fans, DC decided to double-down with a multi-part epic designed to streamline and simplify their expansive Multiverse and give more new readers a jumping-on point. Logically, the best team to chronicle this Crisis on Infinite Earths was the fan-favorite pairing of Wolfman and Perez, and now George had a chance to draw more characters than ever, indeed several universes worth of them. Along the way, he’d get to draw major milestones in DC history like the death of The Flash…

…and Supergirl.

And while I was then and remain today convinced the whole enterprise was a dumb idea that broke a lot more than it “fixed,” there was no denying the joy of seeing so many pages of excellent George Perez artwork, especially when inked by the great Jerry Ordway.

In the wake of the Crisis, heroes’ histories were rebooted and their origins retold. In some cases, that meant several reboots and several retellings as DC struggled to find an approach that worked, confirming once and for all that the “Crisis” was launched without a real game plan. One of the few reboots to really work in a major way was George Perez’ new take on Wonder Woman, which he wrote as well as drew, leaning hard into the Greek mythology that had been only tangentially touched upon the first time around and giving Diana a supporting cast more rounded and nuanced than most books could boast. And of course it all looked terrific.

After that came a return to The Avengers, Marvel’s epic (and movie-inspiring) Infinity Gauntlet mini-series, the sprawling crossover event JLA vs Avengers, a stint writing and drawing Superman’s adventures in Action Comics and other career highlights. In fact, even his less celebrated output would’ve qualified as a “highlight” in any other artist’s career; it’s all a matter of perspective.

In later years, Perez had to retire due to eye issues, came back in a limited way for a time and then retired again with a cancer diagnosis. His public announcement of his condition and the way he approached the end of his life with grace and courage proved he was every bit as heroic as the characters he drew. Online tributes abound if you want to know more about that part of the story, but this is just my celebration of all the great entertainment I enjoyed thanks to the man.

There have always been, in comics, the creators you feel are just “doing a job,” then there are the ones who exult in showing off their mad skills, but then there are those who you can sense, in everything they do, a love of the medium as great as the reader’s. That enthusiasm makes their work shine in a special way and connect with the audience like no others. George Perez was one of those guys, and as much I’ll miss seeing his art, I equally mourn the loss of a fellow fan.

RIP George, and thanks for sharing your talent with us.