Monday, May 9, 2022

RIP: George Perez

Three days ago, comic book artist George Perez died at age 67; it was an event the comics industry had braced itself for since he announced he was suffering from pancreatic cancer. There was a great outpouring of love from fans and professionals which I'm sure helped comfort him in his last days.

I wish I could say I was a bigger fan of Perez's work - I like his work, but I sensed long ago that I didn't rank him as high as many other comic book fans did. That became most apparent when he returned to the Avengers in 1998 - I thought the book was too nostalgic and backward-looking at the time (looking back, Perez's final Avengers story - the miserable "Nefaria Protocols" crossover - was not exiting on a peak).

For me, the high point of his work was Crisis on Infinite Earths, the 12-issue mini-series that represented (or, rather, was supposed to present) the demise of the original DC Universe and was such a landmark that the history of DC super-heroes is impossible to relate without saying "pre-Crisis" and "post-Crisis" somewhere.

I suppose what I loved was the level of detail he put into his work, especially the mobs of people he drew - not just when he packed the pages full of super heroes and super villains - even mobs of normal people put effort into supplying distinctive faces. But yes, those mobs of costumed characters were a highlight because he could render them appropriately - it didn't matter whether it was Batman or Ultra the Multi-Alien, if he drew it they looked "right" -- no matter how much space they occupied in the panel.

He drew some great Avengers stories in the David Michelinie years in the 70's, then came back for more in the 90's with Kurt Busiek (which does have highlights, even at the time I liked his art, excepting some costuming choices). His New Teen Titans casts a huge shadow over those characters as basically he and Wolfman's work is the only "definitive" Titans work, no matter how twisted their publishing history gets.

By every account he was a terrific guy; rest in peace, Mr. Perez.

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