Back Issue #147

the 20 th ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF… er Octob

2023

7 4 1 . o N 10.95 $

™

Wonder Woman TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

THE GEORGE PÉREZ YEARS

GEORGE PÉREZ’s 20 GREATEST HITS OF THE BACK ISSUE ERA

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Volume 1, Number 147 October 2023

The 20th Anniversary Edition of

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST George Pérez (Originally produced in 1990 and published in 2006 in the trade paperback Wonder Woman vol. 4: Destiny Calling. Art scan courtesy of Heritage Auctions.)

COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore

George Pérez Tribute Issue

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

SPECIAL THANKS Nick Barrucci Jarrod Buttery DC Comics Shelton Drum Jim Ford Glenn Greenberg George Gustines Tom Heintjes Ilke Hincer Heritage Auctions Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find Dan Johnson James Heath Lantz Christopher Lawrence Dave Lemieux Steve Lipsky Tony Lorenz Ed Lute Ralph Macchio Heidi MacDonald Andy Mangels Karla Marsh

Brian Martin Robert Menzies Ian Millsted Doug Moench Mindy Newell Eric NolenWeathington/ Modern Masters Joseph Norton Luigi Novi Patrick Daniel O’Neill Tom Powers Jason Roe San Diego ComicCon International Tom Sciacca Jason Shayer Jerry Smith Steve Trevor Mark Waid Steven Wilber Marv Wolfman Doug Zawisza Eddy Zeno

IN MEMORIAM: George Pérez by Marv Wolfman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 FLASHBACK: My Friend, George Pérez by Tom Sciacca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ART GALLERY: Young George Pérez. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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GEORGE PÉREZ’s 20 GREATEST HITS OF THE BACK ISSUE ERA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 ART GALLERY: Pérez Rarities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 BACKSTAGE PASS: Wonder Woman by George Pérez. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 INTERVIEW: Mindy Newell and Wonder Woman #46. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 BACK ISSUE™ issue 147, October 2023 (ISSN 1932-6904) is published monthly (except Jan., March, May, and Nov.) by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Back Issue, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614.

Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editorin-Chief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $97 Economy US, $147 International, $39 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover artwork by George Pérez. Wonder Woman TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2023 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

2010 George Pérez original art to the cover of the TPB Crisis on Multiple Earths vol. 5. Courtesy of Heritage. TM & © DC Comics.

PROOFREADER David Baldy

GEORGE

PÉREZ June 9, 1954–May 6, 2022

When I think of George Pérez, I think of two different people.

The first is the one everyone here knows. The artist. The amazing illustrator who could find a way to draw anything asked of him no matter how complex or impossible it seemed.

This is the George who not only drew beautiful pictures— and yes, his drawings were beautiful and magnificent and powerful and sensitive, and heartfelt, somehow all at the same time—but as an artist in comics he understood his job was to visually engage the reader and to tell a story that would reel them in and never let go, and he did that better than pretty much anyone.

He drew people you could believe were real. Every man, woman, child, or even alien species was unique. For years, comics treated female characters as pretty much identical except for hair color, and male characters all possessed the same set of 12-pack muscles, but everyone George drew had their own physique, facial structure, and a unique way or standing and moving.

Crisis on Infinite Earths was a comic that the two of us worked on together, me as co-plotter and writer, George as co-plotter and artist. The book literally had hundreds of characters that he had to draw, and George not only made everyone different, but they were all unique and fully in character. Superman of Earth-Two was not just an older version of the Superman from Earth-One, but was his own self.

Somehow George was still able to make both Supermans different, yet both definitely Superman. Forty-plus years later, I still don’t know how he did that.

George was a great storyteller. He could plus a scene by adding just the right human touch. One of the best scenes in The New Teen Titans was of a young boy in a park walking up to Cyborg, who was afraid that the boy would be scared by all of Vic’s robotic parts. Instead, the boy held up his own prosthetic hand, bringing them together, and showing they were more alike than different.

That was George taking a good scene and making it so much stronger.

One of the amazing things about George is that he was a self-taught artist. He decided he was going to draw comics and he taught himself how.

As Marvel editor-in-chief, I was given the opportunity to watch him learn in real time, and it was amazing.

Over the period of just a year or so, he grew from promising newbie to one of the very best artists in the business. He was absolutely determined that he was going to make it as a comic-book artist, and wow, did he ever.

2 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

The New Teen Titans was a relatively new, totally hot comic book in the summer of 1982 when Marv Wolfman (left) and George Pérez gathered— with other talented artists—as guests at the first-ever Heroes Convention, in Charlotte, NC. Photo courtesy of Shelton Drum and Karla Marsh.

[Editor’s note: This tribute was originally written for the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con International (SDCC) and appears here with the kind permission of SDCC and Marv.]

TM & © DC Comics.

But the thing about George was, even before his drawing ability matured, he was able to visually tell a story better than almost anyone. Looking at his early art, crude as it might have been, you saw his spot-on storytelling ability and you just knew he was going to keep getting better.

But the second George Pérez is much more important to me. Much more important than all our work together. I want to talk about the George Pérez who was my friend.

That’s a straightforward sentence that should not be surprising. Yes, we’d been friends for close to 50 years, and collaborators on so many wonderful projects, but the reason I say being George’s friend is not surprising is because if you ever met him, he very quickly became your friend, too.

I don’t mean friend just in name—you know, a “Hi, friend. How are you?” kind of friend—but someone who invited you 100% into his life and home. Someone who made you instantly feel not like a stranger, but more like a niece or nephew or cousin or aunt or uncle that you simply didn’t remember you had, and now can’t remember a time when your lives weren’t joined.

You needed something; he was there to help you. With whatever was required. Often putting his own needs aside in order to help his brand-new sister/brother from another mother.

You may have started out as a fan of his professional work, but you became a family member. He was one of those people who truly cared about you no matter how long he knew you.

I’ve done lots of cons and at pretty much all of them, someone will come by and, knowing George and I not only worked together but were friends, they’d tell me their story about how he became such an important part of their lives, and how he saved them from some difficulty or how they just loved being with him and his wonderful wife, Carol, because they were and are true, good people who also made you feel good about yourself.

I don’t know how George did it, but God, he had that ability.

He was the kind of person everyone just liked. A young kid in a homemade Teen Titans Go! costume would come up to him at a con, and George would not only sign their books, but he’d hop out of his chair and get someone to take photos of them and entertain the kid as they did. I think kids especially liked George because he was a big kid himself. They were essentially the same.

Just like that kid in the park with Cyborg.

And that’s just one of the thousands of reasons why George was so beloved, not only by the fans, but by his fellow professionals, too. Yes, they, too, loved his art, but they loved him, for being his unique and generous and caring self even more.

Now he’s gone. And far too young.

Love to you, Carol.

Love to you, George.

We will miss you forever.

Marv Wolfman May 17, 2022

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

Friendship is a strange thing. It could go on for a lifetime, or it could be fleeting, temporary. Sometimes if you have not seen a friend for years, a reunion seems like no time has passed. And if the friend is no longer on this plane of existence, the friendship lasts forever.

When I heard that George Pérez had passed away on May 6, 2022, my heart stopped. I was not just a fan of his, but had been a friend, best buds, for over 50 years. I was his first fan.

It was September 1968. I had just started high school— Cardinal Hayes Memorial High School, on the Grand Concourse, in the South Bronx. I had two classmates from St. Lucy’s, Frank Vignali and John Norris. Otherwise, it was all me. Here was a school with 3,000 students. Early on, I fell for the pool pass scam, buying from a senior a pass for a non-existent pool. I was pretty naive.

When I first read about the school, I learned they had an art program. When I got there, the program had been cancelled.

I was upset—What now? I blew it! Shoulda gone to Art and Design.

Then someone told me about the Poster Club, which met after class. This was a club where the aspiring artist could use his skill on posters to be displayed about the school, “exciting” things like basketball games, baseball games, football games… Hayes was a jock school. Artists were nerds.

So I walked into the classroom. A priest was the supervisor.

We had art supplies, left over from the now-dead art classes.

There was a tall, dark-haired fellow there, another freshman.

He was talkative, and started mentioning comic books. His name was George Pérez.

We hit it off immediately. I was the only other guy there that George had met who dug comic books.

Let me digress for a moment. Hayes was an ALL-BOYS SCHOOL. Lots of testosterone. No females, except for a nun here or there. So both of us not being sports guys, George and I bonded immediately.

George and I were in different homerooms. When we got together, it was at lunch. Hayes had a huge cafeteria, where we got in line military-style to get the food from the kitchen ladies.

Usual Catholic School prison food: Salisbury steaks, corned beef hash, mac and cheese—like I said… prison food.

It was in the cafe that George and I got together for our art sessions. Our tools: Flair pens, pencils, and 8x10 art paper pads bought from Woolworth’s (the Dollar Tree of that time).

George and I would draw our favorite heroes. I was strictly Marvel—Captain America, Fantastic Four. But George was a DC guy—Superman, Teen Titans, Justice League—an omen of things to come.

We often brought in comic books to use as reference, or to trade. There was a secondhand store on 149th Street and Third Avenue that we would walk to after school—we would get used comics there for five cents each! I scored an Amazing Spider-Man #1 there for a nickel—a beat-up copy, but hey!

One day, I brought in a book to lend George. I had been active in fandom for a few years, buying fanzines like Bill Wilson’s The Collector and Marty Greim’s The Comic Crusader. I dug the articles, and particularly the fan art and the fan comic strips, like Marty’s The Defender. But the one I liked the best was Star Studded Comics.

I had discovered this zine from a review in the late, lamented Castle of Frankenstein magazine.

The first issue I obtained, from Larry Hearndon, Buddy Saunders, and the Texas Trio was #9. It had a fantastic Dr. Weird cover with a demon threatening a scantily clad woman on a bed, with Dr. Weird in the background appearing in a puff of smoke.

Interior art was by Alan Weiss, whom I would get to know years later at DC Comics.

4 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

by T

om Sciacca

Battle On, Battalion!

Courtesy of Steve Lipsky, the cover to the unpublished fanzine Battalion #2 (1970), featuring pencils, inks, and colors by a young George Pérez. George and his school chum Tom Sciacca created the characters, which were also seen in Battalion #1—the only copy of which was destroyed by the dreaded “Dean of Discipline”! © Tom Sciacca and George Pérez.

Lending the book to George, it was a revelation that there were other comicbook fans out there, producing slick, offset books, with their own characters.

Next we thought, What can we do?

First idea I had was to use that Woolworth paper and do our own story.

We had no clue about printing, nor did we have money. So we just went and drew a story, stapled it together, and handed it out for our buddies to read.

Now, I want to mention that my artwork sucked. George already had it down pat. He drew stuff that looked like it was ready to be printed in the real books.

But I had an idea for a character: an Earth astronaut, on a deep-space mission.

His faster-than-light ship would collide in space with the ship of an alien “bionaut.” In the resulting nuclear explosion, the two would merge into one being—Astroman! I penciled and wrote the story and George inked it with the handy Flair pens. I must admit, George improved my crappy pencils. But the book, The Coming of Astroman, was a hit with our pals.

This was 1970. We decided to step up our one-copy fanzine business. We decided to do a team book, The Battalion, which George would write and draw.

We came up with some new characters: Astroman became Astron, Star Soldier (who will be coming soon as a graphic novel). George and I co-created Pars-Vir, a cyborg, part-human/part-android. George named him: Latin for “Half-Man.” George also had created more characters: Power-Girl, a superpowered female in a white uniform—years before the DC character—and Nighthawk, a Batman-like character that was an African-American NYC cop.

George wrote, drew, inked, and colored (with crayon) the 22-page epic— on that Woolworth paper and with Flair pens!

Again, another big hit! We passed it around the school. We were becoming celebrities at Cardinal Hayes—the comic-book guys.

Unfortunately, disaster struck.

We were in an English class, and The Battalion was being passed around.

As my fading memory recalls, the regular teacher was out, and the substitute teacher was the dreaded Dean of Discipline, Father McCormick. To know him was to fear him. He was a very tall Irish priest who had the demeanor of John Wayne—except meaner. His favorite thing to do was stand at the entrance of the school as we were running to get there on time—and usually, because of the #2 NYC subway, we were always late. So, in his booming voice, he would hand you a pink slip and say, “You have JUG [detention], son,” and we would have to stay after school in detention, standing at the desk… silently, reading a heavy textbook for up to two hours.

So while The Battalion was being passed around, McCormick spotted it.

He grabbed it and said something like, “What is this junk?” and proceeded to tear it in half and throw it in the trash.

We were stunned. The only copy… destroyed.

After class, I fished the book out of the trash, took it home, and glued it back together. Years later, when George and I were at Marvel, I returned it to him.

Forward to 1971. I had been attending Phil Seuling’s July 4th Comic Art

Young George (top left) High school senior George Pérez. (top center) A Pérez/Tom Sciacca yearbook illustration. (top right) The only surviving page from the first Astron story. Script and pencils by Tom Sciacca, inks (with Flair pens)

by George Pérez. (bottom) Astron lives on!

All, courtesy of Tom Sciacca.

Astron © Tom Sciacca.

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

The Original Power-Girl (left) Cover to the destroyed-butrestored Battalion #1 (1970). George’s Power-Girl predated DC’s junior Justice Society member Power Girl by several years. (middle and right) 1974 Pérez art on the front and back covers of the fanzine Conjure, issue #1. © Tom Sciacca and George Pérez.

Artistic Evolution By the time Pérez penciled this Battalion page in 1974 for an unpublished return of the characters, artistic hallmarks like crisp storytelling and densely rendered panels were in evidence. Inks by Bill Adams. Courtesy of Steve Lipsky. © Tom Sciacca and George Pérez.

6 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

Conventions since 1968. I had told George about these fan gatherings, which he had never gone to.

We decided to go. Except I would be George’s publicity manager. Hell, we could get him a gig at Marvel or DC. So what if we were only 16?! I felt his art was so good that I didn’t even attempt to show my pathetic stuff.

We took the #2 train to 34th Street, to the Statler Hilton (later the Hotel Pennsylvania), across from Madison Square Garden. George had his portfolio.

I had my mouth. I was not shy.

The first person I harassed was Neal Adams: “Hey, Neal, I want you to see my friend’s artwork.

He should work at DC!” Neal should have kicked us to the curb, but gave George a nice critique. He saw the talent, and suggested we go to these tables on the other side of the room.

At the tables were these two young guys selling their fanzines: Paul Levitz and Sal Quartucchio. They had The Comic Reader and Phase. George showed the art to them. They liked it but suggested we talk to another fanzine publisher.

We saw Jim Glenn and Pat O’Neill. They were doing a zine, Factors Unknown. They lived in Brooklyn, as Paul and Sal did. We visited them in Brooklyn, and went over to Paul’s house and helped him staple up the latest ish of The Comic Reader. George and I eventually did our first published story together in Factors Unknown #2, an EC-inspired sci-fi story called “Stranded.” (An astronaut crashes on a remote planet. He meets a beautiful siren-like female. She seduces him, then turns into a monster. Kills him.

The end. George penciled it. I inked it. Badly. But his art stood out. We were published!)

We kept our friendship with the boys. I’d go out to Jim’s house in Brooklyn and film 8mm superhero home movies.

Eventually, Jim and Pat did Factors Unknown #3.

I penciled a faux Thunderbirds story that George inked; and George wrote, penciled, and inked a magnum opus, Death Squad, a sort of Creature Commandos/Doom Patrol team, which was artfully drawn by a 16-year-old, and was a preview of what he would do with the Teen Titans and Avengers, et al.

We finally graduated high school in 1972. Our ceremony was at the vaulted St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC. After graduation, George got married to his girlfriend, Yvette. He got an apartment by Westchester Square and a job at a bank in Rockefeller Center, not far from the DC Comics HQ. Occasionally we would volunteer on Sundays at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, bringing patients in wheelchairs to Sunday Mass.

No Justice for This League Signed 1977 Death Squad promo art penciled by George and inked by Bob Layton for a planned-but-unrealized follow-up to George’s earlier Death Squad fanzine comic.

This previously appeared in the 1977 book, Pérez, Accent on the First E. Scan courtesy of Steve Lipsky. © The George Pérez Estate.

Yvette was trying to set me up with her girlfriends, to no avail.

Comics were my life.

At the time, I was attending Bronx Community College, where I was editing the school paper, reviewing films, and attending classes.

In one of my classes, I went to lunch often with one interesting guy. His name was David Berkowitz. But that’s another story.

Later, George became an assistant to Rich Buckler. At the time, Rich lived on the Grand Concourse. I had never met him before but was a huge fan, from the old Star Studded days. I became friends with Rich till he passed on.

George was assisting Rich on Deathlok, eventually getting his foot in the Marvel door with a one-page humorous Deathlok piece.

In the meantime, we came up with an idea to do our own fanzine, Conjure. It would be a sword-and-sorcery-themed book, as was popular at the time. George did the covers, and the first story, “The Legend Of Kazo Nal,” I penciled and wrote a Conan-esque story, “The Dark Tower,” which George partially inked. Got it printed at a local offset place. 500 copies, at a whopping 75 cents.

So around this time—my memory is a bit fuzzy—but George started doing the White Tiger, the first Puerto Rican superhero, for [Marvel editor] Archie Goodwin in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. About this time, I had heard that Archie was looking for writers for the black-and-white magazines. I went to the office with no appointment and handed Archie proposals for two articles, “Weapons of Bruce Lee” and “Special Effects of Planet of the Apes.” He bought them.

By some miracle, both of us were working for Marvel Comics.

Well, the rest you all know. George got Man-Wolf, and later The Avengers and Fantastic Four.

I continued college, did freelance work for Don McGregor, and did go-fer work for Stan Lee—one of the things I did was help him on the aborted Hulk movie to be produced by Amicus Films in the UK by Milton Subotsky. Later, Stan asked me to help organize and run the 1976 Marvel Con in NYC at the Hotel Commodore. I did programming, got films to show (the George Pal Doc Savage, the 1944 Captain America serial), edited the program book, and even appeared on the Channel 9 as Spider-Man after the actor did not show up and Stan threw me a costume to wear.

Meanwhile, I saw George less and less as his workload grew.

We saw each other at the office, went out occasionally to a movie like Earthquake, but we were both busy.

Later in 1976, Vince Colletta recruited me to be his assistant at DC Comics when he became art director. I got to see George when he came in to hand in his pages of JLA and Teen Titans.

But life gets busy, things change. I graduated college while working at DC. My dad died. I left DC to work on independent films and write for Variety and my own magazines, Starblazer and Heroic Fantasy.

Eventually, George got divorced, met the lovely Carol Flynn, got married, moved to Florida. I got married, and moved to Connecticut.

We stayed in touch, primarily at cons. But I kept track of George’s meteoric rise to legendary status with his work on Crisis on Infinite Earths, JLA/Avengers, Infinite Crisis, et al. I watched my high school pal become a legend.

I last saw George at the 2019 East Coast Comic Con, where he was signing free autographs for thousands of fans. After all the years, the accolades, the fame, George still remained the humble, friendly, nice person he always was. Fame did not corrupt him.

At that show I had a table with my Bronx Heroes partner, Ray Felix. I went to say hi to George and give him a poster for my book, Bronx Heroes in Trumpland, which featured our high school character, Astron. He gave me a big hug and proudly announced to the audience, “This is my friend Tom Sciacca.

I owe Tom my career.”

This was George. Later on we talked about him possibly doing a cover for me.

Then 2020 happened. Covid.

In the fall of 2021, I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.

Then in November I found out George was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, and he was no longer going to get treatment. I was doing radiation and chemo. But I worried about George. I knew what the endgame was… I—and the world—was going to lose a great man.

I got a message to him.

In May 2022, he was gone… …but he lives on, in my heart, and the hearts of millions.

I was his first fan, and proud to say I helped give him to this world.

Goodbye, George. Till we meet again…

Tom Sciacca

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 7

1977 pencil selfportrait. Previously published on page 16 of the 1977 book, George Pérez, Accent on the First E. Courtesy of Steve Lipsky.

(left) George’s 1973 take on the amazing Spider-Man, from the portfolio he was shopping around at Marvel and DC at the time. Courtesy of Steve Lipsky. (right) An undated early Pérez portrait of Dr. Strange. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com).

Spider-Man and Dr. Strange TM & © Marvel.

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(top left) Future JLA artist George Pérez was rejected by DC Comics in 1973 when he shared his portfolio containing this fight page. Seven years later, George became the artist of Justice League of America. (top right) Also from George’s ’73 portfolio: a page featuring the Creeper, Superman, and the Joker. According to Jason Roe, who submitted these top scans, Pérez previously remarked that he produced these pages after Neal Adams advised him to stop inking his own work. (bottom left) Circa 1980, a Batman/ Catwoman portrait. George wasn’t satisfied with the results and abandoned the drawing. (bottom right) The New Teen Titans’ Starfire blasts off in this 1982 convention sketch. Both, courtesy of Steve Lipsky.

Justice League of America, Superman, the Creeper, the Joker, Batman, Catwoman and Starfire TM & © DC Comics.

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 9

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George Pérez possessed the uncanny talent of taking almost any comic book he drew and turning it into something special—even during the infancy of his career. And thus, some might suggest it is a fool’s errand to limit a list of Pérez’s “greatest hits” to only 20.

Yet, this being the 20th anniversary edition of BACK ISSUE, ye ed and our pool of talented freelance writers, via a poll conducted among our merry group, have chosen 20 Pérez-drawn comic books from the Bronze Age that, for a variety of reasons, rise

above the pack. Your mileage may vary, but from our perspective, these issues are milestones. In some cases, they reflect career achievements for George as an artist. In others, their stories—deftly detailed by the pacesetting penciler—introduce important new characters or storylines with lasting resonance.

And in all cases, they represent the extraordinary craftsmanship and the buoyant enthusiasm of the artistry of the late, and sorely missed, George Pérez.

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 11

TM & © Marvel.

No. 1 Comic: The Inhumans #1 (Oct. 1975) Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover art: Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia Title: “Spawn of Alien Heat” Writer: Doug Moench Artists: George Pérez and Frank Chiaramonte

The Inhumans #1 (Oct. 1975) is the type of Marvel mid-1970s work that is quintessentially emblematic of that decade of comic-book storytelling with its fast-paced narrative and wildly imaginative ideas.

In other words, who would have thought that the Inhumans would become the stars of their own book and then get soundly trounced by another Fantastic Four (i.e., Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) creation, Negative Zone villain Blastarr, by the end of their first issue alone?! Notably, this FF spinoff also marks the first number-one issue for George Pérez, years before such landmark books as The New Teen Titans #1 (Nov. 1980), Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 (Apr. 1985), and Wonder Woman #1 (Feb. 1987).

Paired with writer Doug Moench, George was filled with youthful vigor and ambition as he penciled the first issue of this series. Wanting to know more about this collaboration, I called Doug and asked him about how he and George were assigned The Inhumans by Marvel. Moench tells BACK ISSUE, “George had the reputation, and that was more than a reputation—it was the truth—that he was the best guy for any comic that had 30 crazy characters in it: The Avengers, The Inhumans, Justice League, anything like that.

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I think he requested The Inhumans. He loved doing that.

I don’t know why, since it would have driven me insane if I were an artist. I remember that we were friendly in the Bullpen, and we’d talk, and I’d say, ‘We got to work together,’ but he was into costumes and superheroes, and I was not really, as I was the writer for Master of Kung Fu and the horror stuff.”

Upon hearing this, I immediately wondered how Doug managed to team up with George to depict the new solo adventures of Black Bolt, Medusa, Triton, Karnak, and Gorgon. “Finally, I got onto a book that was kind of like superheroes but not really superheroes,” Moench explains. “Yet the Inhumans always struck me as mythology, gods or something, and George loved these characters, and he was supposed to do the book as long as I was on it, which was one of the reasons I agreed to do it, saying, ‘Oh, George will draw it. Oh, okay.’ Then, George found out—as usual, this was a constant thing with him—that his eyes were bigger than his stomach, and he had already committed to whatever books he was doing, The Avengers or Fantastic Four maybe. But he had to do The Inhumans, and then I found out he couldn’t do the book, but he did a great job on that first issue.”

When describing what he particularly admired about George’s pencils on The Inhumans #1, Doug says, “I appreciated the fact that he could get so many characters into a panel, and they still

looked pretty good. I also thought George’s storytelling on that issue was good, as he did architecture and backgrounds. He was willing to draw small and put a lot of panels per page in the issue, which is another thing many artists cannot do. They all want to draw big pinups, or they did back then.” On this note of George’s intricate storytelling ability, I brought up page 10 of The Inhumans #1, which depicts an old woman, Iridia, submitting herself to the Inhumans’ Terrigen Mist in a desperate gamble to rid herself of what she calls her lifelong ugliness, which he relayed with an impressive 17 panels. “Yeah, I know,” Doug laughs. “He was a workaholic, and physical limitations didn’t seem to enter into his mind. He just wanted to do it so bad, and I remember saying to him, ‘George, we do have to sleep a few hours per night, you know.’”

With his final comments regarding his friend and collaborator, Doug touchingly reflects, “I think George was such a sweet guy.

He was so hardworking and always tried to do the best possible job. And he loved what he was doing, and you could tell. As I said, I didn’t like doing superhero books, but I remember being quite happy when George turned in his first batch of pages for The Inhumans #1, and I was like, ‘Oh, man, I’m going to have fun doing this.’”

Tom Powers

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 13

TM & © Marvel.

No. 2 Comic: Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #19 (Dec. 1975) Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover art: Bob Larkin Title: Sons of the Tiger in “An Ending!”

Writer: Bill Mantlo Artists: George Pérez and Jack Abel

During the 1970s, Marvel wanted to present more diversity in its comic-book superheroes.

African-American Sam Wilson became the co-headliner alongside Steve Rogers starting with Captain America and the Falcon #134 (Feb. 1971), and Luke Cage was the first Black superhero to headline his own book when Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972) hit newsstands the following year. Three years later, writer Bill Mantlo and artist George Pérez introduced the White Tiger in the pages of the black-and-white magazine Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #19 (Dec. 1975). Hector Ayala (White Tiger) was the first Puerto-Rican superhero, not just at Marvel but in mainstream American comics themselves.

In the story, Hector finds three tiger amulets that the martial artists the Sons of the Tiger had discarded when they decided to give up their superheroics. When Hector picks them up, he becomes the White Tiger and is imbued with enhanced strength, stamina, and other martial-arts skills.

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According to George Pérez himself, in an October 2019 Marvel.com article, “As best as I can remember, the idea of creating the White Tiger was initially brought up by my ‘Sons of the Tiger’ writer and collaborator Bill Mantlo during a weekend somewhere in Long Island, New York. Figuring that we had pretty much dredged the well of ideas for the Tiger Sons, we wanted to go in a different direction and, since he was working with a Puerto Rican artist from the Bronx, Bill suggested creating a character utilizing my experience and background. And, as simply as that, the White Tiger was born.”

Before moving to New York City, Hector Ayala was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. George Pérez’s parents were born in Puerto Rico, and met when both moved to New York City. “I did feel a special connection with Hector Ayala—whose name was one I chose based on some neighborhood friends—since it was a novelty for me to draw from my own life experiences to create Hector’s inner-city world, both visually and atmospherically,” recollected Pérez.

Longtime Marvel editor and writer Ralph Macchio recalls to BACK ISSUE that the “Sons of the Tiger” feature “is where [George] really started to develop and define his [artistic] look. I remember Jack Abel, who was inking him on ‘Sons of the Tiger,’ coming in looking at George’s pencils, going, ‘I gotta ink every brick in this building. This guy is a nut! What’s going on here?’ [laughs] Jack was a trooper and a professional, and did a wonderful job over George.”

While a simple design, White Tiger’s costume is quite striking.

According to Pérez, “For someone known for designing some pretty intricate costumes, the simple, streamlined look of the White Tiger was definitely a conscious decision to try something different, and one that emphasized the word ‘white.’ In hindsight, I probably should have added some stripes to the costume, but Bill seemed much more enamored with the sheer stark elegance of the white costume. And since it was a black-and-white magazine, it definitely worked for that format. The facial look for Hector Ayala was based on my brother David, while his mother was definitely inspired by my own.”

Diversity and representation in comics didn’t change overnight, and sometimes took years to reach levels where it needed to be. But the creation of the White Tiger showed that anyone could be a hero, no matter their ethnic background. And that included the artist of the story who became a hero to many people no matter what their nationality.

The final words on the White Tiger go to Pérez: “At the time I was actually drawing it, I really thought nothing about any special significance to the character. It’s only in the context of history and the comments and compliments that I continue to get from many Latino fans who cite the White Tiger as an important touchstone in their lives, and how inspirational it was for them to have a comic-book hero they could personally identify with, that makes me realize what an impact White Tiger actually had. The fact that the White Tiger was a Latino hero created by a Latino artist probably added to that feeling of inclusion.

“How can I not help but to feel a little proud of that?”

Ed Lute George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 15

TM & © Marvel.

No. 3 Comic: Fantastic Four #176 (Nov. 1976) Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover art: Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott Title: “Improbable As It May Seem—The Impossible Man Is Back in Town!”

Writer: Roy Thomas Artists: George Pérez and Joe Sinnott

Confidence is the key to understanding this comic.

The confidence of others in George Pérez and the confidence, possibly of youth, that Pérez clearly had in his own ability. Marvel Comics didn’t just put anyone on the pencils of Fantastic Four, still bearing the banner of “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine.” From Jack Kirby, through John Romita, John Buscema, and onwards, this was the title to which they generally allocated their top art guy.

So, Pérez was clearly seen as the next in line; the heir apparent. More specifically, Marvel writer and editor Roy Thomas had confidence that Pérez could handle the somewhat offbeat nature of this story, as we’ll explore below.

So why am I selecting this issue from Pérez’s run on Fantastic Four? After all, he had already drawn five issues and would continue to a good few more. Fantastic Four #176 revisits old characters and locations, but does it with so much fun and style that any reader will get pulled along. The comic was produced “Marvel style,” as confirmed in the text piece by Roy Thomas that took over the letters page for this issue. Thomas plotted, Pérez drew, and Thomas scripted—not to forget the always great inking by Joe Sinnott.

The comic itself is, actually, something of a transition issue following a Galactus story, and has four distinct

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phases. There is a brief epilogue, in the first three pages, to the Galactus story in which the Thing regains his full powers along with his rocky form. This is followed by four pages in which the Impossible Man “pops” into the spacecraft, loaned by the High Evolutionary, which the FF are using to return to Earth in something of a semi-managed crash. The third section, and the core of the comic, is the one that gives us our title. The Impossible Man has arrived in New York and he wants to have fun. Where better to have fun than in the Marvel Comics office? The Impossible Man gate-crashes a conference in which Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and George Pérez are facing an emergency due to the absence from the planet of the Fantastic Four, continuing the inside-joke conceit that in the Marvel Universe, the company produces comics detailing the “real-life” adventures of the superheroes. Pérez draws an instantly recognizable, relaxed Jack Kirby (who drew the cover for this issue), suggesting, “Why don’t you two lads just make up some stories?” “Nice try, Jack,” replies Stan, “but it just isn’t done.” At the appearance of the Impossible Man, Kirby starts sketching him for possible inclusion in The Eternals or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Lee, meanwhile, recalls readers didn’t like the previous Impossible Man appearance, way back in Fantastic Four #11, as the character looked too silly. This triggers a childish

tantrum from Impy, which rampages through the Marvel offices and features John Verpoorten (great four-panel sequence), Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Michele Wolfman’s feet, Archie Goodwin, Gerry Conway, and others. The FF arrives and the general destruction of the offices ramps up further until Stan Lee is “persuaded” by the Thing to produce an Impossible Man comic. There is a final gag, featuring Stan Lee, on the penultimate page that concludes this phase of the comic.

The final phase is the set up for the Frightful Four story in the following issue, which is also a doozy, and equally funny.

While the story concept came from Roy Thomas, it took confidence on George Pérez’s part to spoof most of his bosses in these pages—although who wouldn’t want to be featured as a character in a comic book by George Pérez? I don’t need to tell you how beautifully drawn it all is. You know that already.

However, I will end by picking out a seemingly small detail.

After all, it was the detail that Pérez included that helped cement his reputation. On the penultimate page, Impy turns himself into a flying tri-maran surfboard for the three non-flying members of the FF. Reed Richards looks like his mind is on other things, Ben Grimm appears to be unsteady (remarkable effect from a singlestill frame), while Sue Storm is striking a pose and having fun. Not all artists would have bothered putting that in. George did.

Ian Millsted

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 17

TM & © Marvel.

No. 4 Comic: The Avengers #162 (Aug. 1977) Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover art: George Pérez and Pablo Marcos Title: “The Bride of Ultron!”

Writer: Jim Shooter Artists: George Pérez and Pablo Marcos

If the good folks behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and especially the first couple of Avengers movies, haven’t read Avengers #162, I’ll be mighty surprised. This comic is packed with the kind of impact scenes that litter those films. Right from the splash page—with Thor arriving at Avengers Mansion even as the seeming corpses of Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, and the Beast are being removed by an ambulance—we understand that a big story is afoot. This is early on in the partnering of artist George Pérez with writer Jim Shooter, which proved to be a golden run in 1977–1978.

This is George Pérez drawing pure superhero comics. Every panel moves the story forward in a satisfying way. Every featured character is true to their previous development, and each gets their moment in the spotlight. Even poor Henry Pym, mentally unbalanced and in his Ant-Man costume, is a man deeply in love with the woman who has partnered him since before the Avengers even formed.

I’m not sure why Janet Pym (the Wasp) needed to be naked (with strategically placed metal bands) in order to transfer her life force to the robot Jocasta, but possibly it adds to the sense of creepiness of the

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villain, Ultron. For my money, Ultron is the Avengers’ top nemesis. Unlike, say, Kang the Conqueror, Ultron has his entire existence and motivation deeply rooted in the saga of the Avengers. And he is, essentially, more powerful than them. In the previous issue, Ultron defeated the whole team as easily as a hot knife cuts through butter. Even with the addition of Thor to the surviving heavy hitters Iron Man and Wonder Man, along with the Black Panther, the inevitable slugfest looks a mismatch.

This is classic super-team stuff, but so much more as well. There is a delightful one-page interlude with Two-Gun Kid and Hawkeye that makes one wish that Pérez could have found the time to draw a full Marvel Western comic.

The Pérez trademark use of more panels per page than was the norm at the time is evident throughout. There are closeups on page 8 of Janet Pym’s face as her life ebbs from her to, in the next panel, the newly conscious robot bride Ultron plans for himself. Page 9 focuses on Thor becoming an older brother type figure for the uncertain Wonder Man. From then on, the iconic panels build and build. Page 10 sees the

four surviving Avengers fly to challenge Ultron. This is followed by set-piece grand entrances as each announces their presence to the villain—Black Panther entering by stealth, Thor launching his hammer through the wall, Iron Man blasting a whole wall (and given he owns the building in question, he must have good insurance), and finally, Wonder Man dropping in from the roof to take his place—as if for the first time as an equal among legends. The fight scene oozes power, but note too the nuances of character as shown in Shooter’s scripting.

The climax raises a moral dilemma usually avoided in Bronze Age comics.

Pérez’s skill with the tiny details comes to the fore again. Look at the way he shows Tony Stark’s eyes behind the Iron Man mask on the penultimate page. Similarly, the eyes of T’Challa are shown of the final page as islands of perception surrounded by the blankness of the Panther costume as we find out the true hero of the story.

If you know kids who love the MCU movies but have not read the comics, or not read any Bronze Age stuff, give them this.

Ian Millsted

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 19

TM & © Marvel.

No. 5 Comic: Marvel Two-in-One #58 (Dec. 1979) Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover art: George Pérez and Pablo Marcos Title: “The Pegasus Project, Part Six: To the Nth Power!”

Writers: Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artists: George Pérez and Gene Day

With the expectation of a different guest-star every issue, team-up books are not generally known for continuity or extended storylines.

But writers Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio had big ideas. Macchio introduced the energy-research facility Project Pegasus (Potential Energy Group/Alternate Sources/ United States) in Marvel Two-in-One #42 (Aug. 1978), behind a stylish George Pérez cover. (In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a briefly glimpsed sign in the first Avengers film shows that Project Pegasus was the research base where Doctor Erik Selvig was studying the Tesseract.)

Ben Grimm (the Thing), the star of Marvel Twoin-One, returns to Project Pegasus in issue #53 (July 1979) for the start of an unprecedented— for a team-up book—six-issue story co-written

by Gruenwald and Macchio. John Byrne penciled the first three Pegasus issues, but then moved onto penciling Fantastic Four. George Pérez penciled the final three Pegasus issues—inked by Gene Day—including the thrilling conclusion, “To the Nth Power,” in Marvel Two-in-One #58 (Dec. 1979).

A >ahem< competitor—keen to sabotage Project Pegasus—has a dimensional projector smuggled into the facility. The traitorous Dr.

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Thomas Lightner uses the projector on himself and becomes the Nth Man: “a living space warp… a sentient singularity, drawing matter and energy into the nigh-infinite dimensions of my own form!”

As Ben describes it: “It’s a hole in the air… in the shape of a man!”

And that’s what George Pérez gives us (page 5).

George was the master of drawing both technology and rubble—opposite ends of the spectrum— and here we see the futuristic facility, curving spectacularly as it is drawn into the humanoid space warp. “The art jumped off the page” is often used as a compliment, but Pérez makes us feel as though we’re falling into the comic.

Giant-Man (Bill Foster) plunges into the holein-the-shape-of-a-man, hoping to grow large enough therein to disrupt the Nth Man, but fails.

At the end of a living chain, the Aquarian (Wundarr) follows Foster, and George illustrates a chaotic interdimensional realm—its kaleidoscopic properties emphasised by non-traditional panels (page 15).

As a living space warp, the Nth Man threatens to swallow the entire planet—and more! Like a black hole, the more he absorbs, the more he grows—and thus the more he absorbs… It is only the Aquarian’s energy-negating “Null-Field” that saves the day— collapsing the Nth Man in upon himself (page 17).

Amidst the catastrophe, Pérez finds room for more. He shows us the defeat of the villainous Klaw as he is absorbed into his own weapon (page 2). We are treated to flashback panels within a splash page detailing how we reached this crisis on Earth-616 (page 6). The despair of supporting characters is not forgotten (page 16), and—finally—George provides a shadowy, epilogical revelation of the true mastermind (page 18). Within these 18 pages, George draws 120 panels (at an average of 6.66 panels per page) and effortlessly maintains pace, clarity, and excitement.

George Pérez is rightly known for his work on A-list books, prestige titles, and special events. But this issue of BACK ISSUE reminds us that George contributed to hidden gems across a wide range of comics. If art is limited only by imagination, then George’s abilities truly had no boundaries. His talent was indeed to the Nth power.

Jarrod Buttery George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 21

TM & © Marvel.

No. 6 Comic: X-Men Annual #3 (1979) Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover art: Frank Miller and Terry Austin Title: “A Fire in the Sky!” Writer: Chris Claremont Artists: George Pérez and Terry Austin

The late 1970s, the early 1980s. George Pérez. The X-Men. You really could not get any hotter than those two. Yet, except for a couple of covers, never the twain should meet.

With one notable exception.

X-Men Annual #3 (1979) features Pérez’s only full-pencil chores on the beloved mutants in the BI era. But, man, what a comic! Even though Pérez, noted as a cover genius his entire career, did not draw the cover. The insides more than made up for it, though.

The regular mutant writer and inker, Chris Claremont and Terry Austin respectively, were the other two main creators of the issue and spectacularly complemented Pérez. The Annual’s villain, the extra-dimensional character Arkon, had been in the Marvel Universe since Avengers #75 (Apr. 1970) and had always had issues with the energy ring that provides his planet with light.

Previously, Thor had assisted him in saving his world.

In this story, Arkon cannot find the Thunder God, so he enlists his next choice, Storm. This is a superhero comic, so of course Arkon cannot just ask nicely. This sets up the main conflict in the tale and tells you all you need to know plot-wise.

Now, let’s examine the reason we’re all here.

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George Pérez was a master of the dramatic panel, and this issue is no exception. The figure of Arkon on page 2 is a perfect introduction to the character, while the use of the upshot gives him the regal bearing that must be established for the story to be effective.

The trademarked Pérez backgrounds serve as wonderful eye candy.

Similarly, on pages 6–7 we are introduced to the protagonists in the drama in the most effective way possible. The X-Men are engaged in a typical Danger Room session, but we see everyone, and the picture is clear and uncluttered. Extremely effective again.

Illustrations on pages 27, 34, 38, and 46 further demonstrate how deftly Pérez is able to give you all the information you need to picture the scene, show an incredible amount of detail, and never give you the feeling there was anything extraneous included.

Then there is the patented Pérez storytelling. You can always follow a Pérez story without having to read the words.

Pages 3 and 5 (page 4 is an ad) show Arkon arriving at Avengers mansion and accosting Jarvis. In the space of a couple of panels, we go from Jarvis’ calm domesticity as he retrieves the morning paper to his abject fear as Arkon threatens his very life.

Page 14 magnificently chronicles the merry mutants trying to survive a runaway Danger Room. As Pérez maneuvers us around the page, there is some movement in most every panel. The amazing part is that you can almost feel the swoops and tumbles of the characters as if you were there.

The kinetic energy displayed in the X-Men’s battle with Arkon on pages 18–25 is again a tour de force where every panel captures the perfect instant to tell the story in the best possible way. In this sequence, you almost experience some of the impacts!

Mr. Pérez is equally legendary for depicting quiet moments. Cyclops’ change from his visor to his ruby quartz glasses on page 14 is almost cinematic in its visual progression. Not only does George’s rendering of Cyclops carry this off, but we are also able to feel the emotions Storm goes through in just four panels.

Knowing the Marvel method, writer Claremont also deserves a hand for matching the words to the visuals.

Across the bottom of page 34 and for all of 35, we are treated to Nightcrawler tracking the missing Storm by following Arkon’s vizier. Each panel is from the best possible vantage point and offers the most dramatic staging of that particular moment without ever feeling crammed or overwhelmed by all of the elegant detail.

Whether you are an X-Men fan or a fan of George Pérez, or if you have never experienced this gem, run, don’t walk, to the nearest resource for reading X-Men Annual #3. You’ll be glad you did.

Brian Martin

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TM & © Marvel.

No. 7 Comic: Fantastic Four Annual #14 (1979) Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover art: Joe Sinnott Title: “Cat’s-Paw!” Writers: George Pérez (plot) and Marv Wolfman (co-plot, script) Artists: George Pérez and Pablo Marcos

Comics history is filled with classic creators, writers and artists who have built the industry we love from the bottom up, creators whose art will stand the test of time. Dynamic partnerships that transcend the genre are exceedingly rare, though. Siegel & Shuster and Lee & Kirby stand as monolithic creative teams. But in this writer’s opinion, outside of those seminal partnerships only one other creative team has the same gravity, looming so large over the Bronze Age that two of their unforgettable and influential works, DC’s The New Teen Titians and Crisis on Infinite Earth, still resonate and are indelible to the modern comics reader and pop culture itself: Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.

Both were established comics creators well into their careers by the time their professional paths crossed in 1979, Wolfman being Marvel’s editor-in-chief and having successful runs on Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, among other series, and Pérez having established himself with his own Fantastic Four stint and a well-regarded run on Avengers.

Reflecting on their partnership in a 2018 Nerdist interview, Pérez stated, “Without a story, there’s nothing to draw. Without the art, it’s not a comic. You can’t separate them.” That belief is critical to the years of classic work these two collectively produced.

Bonds of family and friendship mixed with exciting and energetic combat are the hallmarks of their New Teen Titans work, and the Fantastic Four title was the first to display that type of storytelling, long before the Wolfman/Pérez team fully coalesced. Fantastic Four was the right venue for these creators’ skills, and

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Fantastic Four Annual #14 (1979) is a dry run of the masterwork of their later triumphs, with many of the classic beats the duo perfected in Titans and Crisis on display in this tale.

An example of the brilliance of Pérez’s storytelling is the cold opening of the FF fighting the Sandman. Pérez’s fight scenes always present a clear narrative, and the FF’s defeat of the shapeshifting villain in eight panels establishes Pérez’s understanding of the art form. There is a panel of the defeated Sandman made into a crystal statue, a common enough end for a comic villain, but in Pérez’s pencils you see the fear and anguish of the Sandman captured by the artist. George was always able to add an emotional beat to his work that even a less-talented inker or problematic printing process could not remove.

This annual is actually a showcase for the supporting character of Franklin Richards’ nanny Agatha Harkness (of later Marvel Cinematic Universe fame) as her son Nicholas Scratch attempts to return from interdimensional exile. The FF are quickly dispatched by the Salem’s Seven, a generic supervillain team Pérez had drawn before in FF #186 (Sept. 1977), so we rely on the storytelling talents of Marv and George to keep us involved. Few storytellers would bench their heroes for a babysitting witch and elementary school kid, but even then, Wolfman and Pérez had enough faith in their abilities that you do not even miss the first family of Marvel.

FF Annual #14 also has all the seeds of Pérez’s other classic works. We see the Avengers and Spider-Man powerless against Scratch as concentric waves of energy and destruction radiate from the Baxter Building. We see a full page with the Manhattan population bathing in cosmic energy as Agatha harnesses her eldritch energies to “Let all memory of this day to be erased from humankind.” We see the love of the characters so beautifully portrayed in Sue Richards’ fear for her child. We see the potential destruction of Manhattan so clearly mapped out by a master. The madness and chaos are never confusing because of Pérez’s solid storytelling ability.

These scenes would not be out of place in Wolfman/Pérez’s Titans or their iconic Crisis.

It is impossible to understate the effect that Wolfman and Pérez’s work had on the Bronze Age and beyond. What we saw in Fantastic Four Annual #14, while not a tryout, was certainly proof of the strength of their partnership. Or, as Marv Wolfman put it, “George isn’t just the artist on anything we’ve done, he’s the co-creator on every level...”

It is hard to imagine this industry without George Pérez.

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TM & © Marvel.

No. 8 Comic: The Avengers #196 (June 1980) Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover art: George Pérez and Joe Rubinstein Title: “The Terrible Toll of the Taskmaster” Writer: David Michelinie Artists: George Pérez and Jack Abel

Back in the days of the spinner rack, it was the cover that sold the comic book. That certainly was true with The Avengers #196’s (June 1980) premiere of the Taskmaster. Draped in cowl and cape, the skullfaced villain stands alone on this cover by George Pérez and inker Josef Rubinstein. Though no Avengers adorn the cover, intriguingly Taskmaster has stolen their weapons for his own. In his right hand, he holds aloft a sword, the weapon of one-time Avenger Swordsman. In his left hand, he holds a bow, the weapon of Hawkeye, and above that on his left arm, an ersatz Captain America shield. On his right thigh he carries billy clubs, favored by Avengers ally Daredevil. To this, Taskmaster adds a pistol sidearm, a utility belt, and a lasso for good measure.

Pérez wonderfully executes the Taskmaster character design based on the plot description provided by writer David Michelinie. The Taskmaster’s first actual appearance was in the final panel of The Avengers #195 (May 1980). As Michelinie describes in his plot outline for that issue, “…Taskmaster is basically a mean-looking motherfugger whose shtick is that he has photographic reflexes. That is, he can see something once and then be able to do it.

This includes all fighting and acrobatic skills, from Captain America to Spider-Man to Daredevil, etc. He is also a weapon-master who carries, and knows how to use, any weapon he’s ever seen used before.”

Michelinie tells BACK ISSUE, “George came up with the Taskmaster visual design from that.”

Michelinie and Pérez worked “Marvel Style” (plotfirst) during their brief time together on Avengers.

“So there was actually no direct one-on-one collaboration,” explains Michelinie. “George was sent my plots once the editor had approved them, and he generated his magic pictures from those.

“And George used to throw me the occasional curve by adding an extra panel here and there,” Michelinie recalls. “I remember one issue of Avengers where I had two characters talking, to give the reader specific information. When the conversation was over, we’d cut to another location, to another 26 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

aspect of the story. Well, the talk ended, but then there was another panel after the key words in the last balloon. So I was like, ‘Okay, what now?!’

That would keep me on my toes, and usually resulted in words that were amusing or in some other way added to the characters.”

As the story opens, Taskmaster boasts to captive heroes Ant-Man, Yellowjacket, and the Wasp, “Anything the Avengers can do, I can do better!” In quick action across two pages, Pérez demonstrates his command of anatomy-in-motion and understanding of relative space as the Taskmaster demonstrates his martial skills in mock combat. Pérez was a master of perspective, using a bird’s-eye view of the battle to very specifically place his characters in reference to each other. In this action scene, Pérez even shows his perspective grid as tiles drawn out on the floor.

In a memorable visual bit, Iron Man is consumed by ants. Michelinie describes what would become page 8 in his original plot: “We move to Iron Man, standing solemnly looking into the background at the Institute. We have a shot through his eyes, looking through his eye slits, and then another with the edges of the eye slits getting fuzzy. A third panel of the eye slits as Iron Man changes his plane of focus to see that the slits are getting fuzzy because ants are crawling into them! Back to an exterior shot as Iron Man cries out, and we see that ants are covering his face mask...” The ants lead our heroes to the villain’s lair, where the inevitable battle ensues.

Pérez was incomparable in his ability to draw as many characters in an action scene as possible, and he makes it look easy as six Avengers crowd into two-thirds of page 11 with twice as many goons. The Beast bounds across the panel, off one goon onto another, as Captain America kicks a goon with his left and deflects a blast with his shield. Iron Man and the Vision each blast away. Ms. Marvel swoops through the air for an uppercut, and Wonder Man hoists a goon overhead as he takes one in the chest. A static image, ink-on-paper, is vibrant in motion. Pérez was brilliant in conveying the passage of time and the breadth of an entire battle in a single panel.

Our heroes rescued, the Taskmaster must flee, but not before he proves himself by deftly taking down both Captain America and Iron Man. While unprepared for the robot Jocasta, and seemingly surrounded by the entire team, Taskmaster escapes to fight another day with dramatic villainous flair.

The incredible George Pérez character design for the Taskmaster sold this comic book. The artistic wizardry within, with its tale of the Mighty Avengers, was just a bonus.

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TM & © DC Comics.

No. 9 Comic: DC Comics Presents #26 (Oct. 1980) Publisher: DC Comics Cover art (Titans preview): George Pérez and Dick Giordano Title: The New Teen Titans preview: “Where Nightmares Begin!”

Writers: George Pérez (co-plot) and Marv Wolfman (co-plot, script) Artists: George Pérez and Dick Giordano

From the first page. The first panel. The first word balloon... this was different. Especially for DC Comics.

Formerly the home of your grandfather’s comic books and endless attempts by gasping women to uncover Superman’s secret identity, DC Comics had come a long way since the 1950s. With milestones such as the O’Neil/ Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Englehart and Rogers’ Detective Comics, DC was creating comics for more sophisticated audiences. Yet they were not quite there.

Wolfman and Pérez’s The New Teen Titans helped DC’s transition to the Modern Age of Comics.

The original Teen Titans, featuring the young sidekicks of major DC heroes, had been an enduring title for DC from the mid-1960s to 1972, then revived from 1976 through 1977, for a total of 53 issues. Against many DC management opinions, Marv Wolfman wanted to update the concept and bring some “Marvel style” storytelling to DC. Introduced as a backup story in the Superman team-up book DC Comics Presents #26 (Oct. 1980), the New Teen Titans debuted to the world in an action-packed 14page backup tale (the main story was a Superman/Green Lantern team-up). As our story begins, Robin, the Teen Wonder intercepts a police distress call and stops to see if he can help. It’s who he is. A young man in a red vest, yellow cape, and green trunks should look ridiculous.

But... he doesn’t. The way Robin is drawn by George Pérez makes up for the oddity of an almost-grown man in a child’s uniform. Robin is tall and athletic, and that golden cape flows like liquid angels’ wings as he leaps from one

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panel to the next. George made teenage Robin cool.

Wolfman and Pérez had labored for years as far-aboveaverage creators, but something about Titans brought out the world’s finest in both of them, crafting something totally new.

Writer Wolfman packs a lot of plot into these exquisite 14 pages. Maestro Pérez easily defines the action and gives each actor, especially the debut characters, a dramatic entry into the narrative.

This first story introduces both recognizable and brandnew characters. Wonder Girl and Kid Flash had been around for decades, but here are written as adults with distinct personalities and traits, rarely been done before. Beast Boy, now called Changeling, is a kid hiding grief caused by the death of his loved ones behind a layer of immature bravado. Pérez makes our veterans look effortlessly heroic.

The newcomers are each given panels to shine. First, we meet Cyborg, more machine than man and crackling with energy, in a wonderful design that has never been improved.

Raven is next, literally cloaked in mist and secrets as she foreshadows the trouble in store for the team. She exhibits a perfect outfit—hooded, mysterious and exuding an air of… malevolence?

And finally there is Starfire, oozing strength and sexuality in that trademarked Pérez fashion. Like Jack Kirby, Pérez creates beautiful,

practical character designs that stand the test of time.

As the dream-like tale progresses, readers glimpse the near future for the team, including a Titans headquarters, better established character personalities, and the chemistry between the teen heroes. All the ingredients are there to build a blockbuster comic title, which it deservedly became.

People who were not regular DC readers at the time may not be able to conceive of what Wolfman and Pérez had achieved with the debut of The New Teen Titans. DC was making progress from the plot-driven, button-down stories of the past, but they were still considered somewhat stiff and formal, even boring, making comics for children in a market that had grown some years beyond their early childhood. Modern audiences wanted forward movement, authentic characterization, and plots that did not solely revolve around talking gorillas and secret-identity gimmicks.

Then, when Titans did talking gorillas and secret-identity stories, George Pérez helped do them with a creative spin that thrilled modern readers and provided a winking nod to the past, without being the dull story presented a thousand times before.

The New Teen Titans became a monster hit for DC Comics. It turned both Marv Wolfman and George Pérez into fan-favorite superstars and gifted them popularity that has lasted until present day. The book created a storytelling snowball of great comics that five years later evolved into Crisis on Infinite Earths—by the same creative team of Pérez and Wolfman—that both updated and changed the DC Universe forever. One may argue that Wolfman’s scripts were the engine behind this great transformation, and they would be correct. However, he could not have done it without the masterful strokes of one of the greatest comic-book artists of all time, Mr. George Pérez.

Jerry Smith

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TM & © DC Comics.

No. 10 Comic: Justice League of America #184 (Nov. 1980) Publisher: DC Comics Cover art: George Pérez and Dick Giordano Title: “Crisis Between Two Earths, or Apokolips Now” Writer: Gerry Conway Artists: George Pérez and Frank McLaughlin

Every comic-book fan familiar with the name and the work of George Pérez will gleefully tell you of Pérez’s knack to pack pages full of detail. They’ll also go on about how Pérez could—and did over his illustrious career!— draw anyone and everyone, anywhere, any time, or any place. They’ll even go on about how Pérez drawing a comic gave the buyer their money’s worth on the cover price and then some. All of that, and so very much more, are what makes the November 1980 cover-dated Justice League of America #184 the greatest introduction to Gorgeous George that a DC Comics fan could ever want.

On the racks at the exact same time as a few other prestigiously Pérez-penciled paper products (Avengers #201, New Teen Titans #1, and Flash #291), Justice League of America #184 boasts 25 action-packed pages starring the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes! Further, there is a cover starburst declaring, “It’s the greatest heroes of three worlds versus history’s greatest villain!” as 12 characters encircle the villainous visage of Darkseid.

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A 50¢ comic book in 1980, the cover alone is worth the pair of quarters, but flipping the book open unleashes an amazing tale packed from start to finish. Following the unfortunate passing of previous Justice League of America artist, Dick Dillin, George Pérez picks up with part two of a three-part Justice League of America and Justice Society of America crossover.

A celebration of an annual event, this story brings in the Jack Kirby–created New Gods, making it a true celebration of the DC multiverse and harbinger of Pérez stories to come.

From page one, Pérez draws up everything he is known for: realisticlooking, heroically proportioned people soaked in surreally intense detail; panels crowded (but never cramped) with characters; solid storytelling and acting; and plenty of energy.

The only Pérez trademark missing in that first page? Rubble.

Over the course of the promised 25 pages, Pérez draws 117 panels (including three splash pages) and plenty of the aforementioned rubble.

The rubble is a natural for Apokolips, the setting for the tale that features the Silver Age JLA trope of splitting into smaller teams to tell bigger stories, giving us the groups of: Firestorm, Orion, and Power Girl; Big Barda, Wonder Woman (of Earth-Two), and Superman; Doctor Fate, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), and Oberon; and Batman, Huntress, and Mister Miracle. This single issue covers everything from a concrete avatar of Darkseid summoning the Injustice Society of Earth-Two to the fire pits of Apokolips.

One panel in particular is exemplary of Pérez’s work and all the accolades poured on his penchant for detail, multiple figures, and even more detail. Measuring less than three inches tall or wide, the panel features Orion in the foreground rocketing into action while in the middle distance, Firestorm and Power Girl process what they’re seeing and where they are, which is among a starfield

background with no less than four rubble-rousing asteroids, a handful of planetoids, and room for letterer Ben Oda to comfortably add a word balloon.

Among the residents of Apokolips introduced in JLA #184 is Playto, a multi-cog (or multi-cognitive) whose powers of precognition and telepathy can be leveraged to see “past, present, and future beyond anything we can imagine.” Playto seems to serve as a sort of surrogate for the power of Pérez himself as JLA #184 gives us homage to Jack Kirby, tribute to Dick Dillin, celebration of Pérez’s talent and abilities, and a preview of the comic-book art legend Pérez would become in his future works.

The story could be viewed as a hands-on assessment or audition for Crisis on Infinite Earths, arguably Pérez’s most well-known, jam-packed artistic endeavor. It could also be cited as inspiration for the legendary 1984 Super Powers toy line, and is undoubtedly a comic many other comic professionals point to as inspiration, seeing as Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and Oberon would one day find themselves as characters closely affiliated with the Justice League, maybe even moreso than their own original organization of the New Gods.

The legend for how Pérez came to work on Justice League of America, according to Pérez himself in the pages of Modern Masters vol. 2: George Pérez, is, “the Justice League came as a bargaining chip originally. I agreed to do the Teen Titans with Marv [Wolfman] and Len [Wein, editor]—I didn’t have any particular desire to do that series—only if I could get a crack at one or two issues of Justice League. That was the book I really wanted to do.” Pérez’s Titans run is undeniable and often overshadows his JLA work, but JLA is where Gorgeous George really got to know the DC Universe and to be our guide through the infinite worlds with limitless possibilities.

Doug Zawisza

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TM & © DC Comics.

No. 11 Comic: The New Teen Titans #8 (June 1981) Publisher: DC Comics Cover art: George Pérez Title: “A Day in the Lives…”

Writers: George Pérez (plot) and Marv Wolfman (co-plot, script) Artists: George Pérez and Romeo Tanghal

While we all instantly recognize George Pérez’s dynamic action scenes and his breathtaking assemblies of heroes, he could also capture the small details of ordinary life. The New Teen Titans #8 (June 1981) stands as a textbook example of Pérez’s versatility and his mastery of the comic-book art form.

Coming off the Titans’ climatic battles against Trigon and the Fearsome Five, Wolfman and Pérez slow down the pace and deliver an insightful and heartwarming tale that explored the Titans’ everyday lives. Pérez’s cover design draws you into each section, eliciting different emotions. That multifaceted image is perfect for this issue’s contents, which tell several individual stories.

The issue’s splash page is a fun, glamorous pin-up shot as Starfire flies through the cityscape. This pinup image does more than just accentuate Starfire’s features, it propels us into the story and into Donna Troy’s

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life as an advertising photographer. Pérez cleverly plays with the panel layout and composition on page 2, using photo snapshots to frame Donna in action behind the lens. The scene progresses into a dialogue-heavy interaction where it could have easily deteriorated into talking heads; instead, Pérez alternates between close shots, panning back and forth, and above and below perspective to create a lively and active sequence. Pérez doesn’t skimp on the background details in his wide shots, but he also knows when to simplify the panel, focusing on a person and their gestures and posture.

Pérez’s art moves your eyes across the page and fluidly through the story. There’s no better example of that skill than in the Raven sequence, where she uses her soul-self to foil a terrorist plot. The tension rises as the story flips back and forth between the timer, Raven, and her soul-self. With the diminishing time limit of her soul-self existing outside of her body, the reader feels like you are in a race against time alongside her.

The panel compositions on pages 7 and 8 are a visual treat. At first glance, all the narration, dialogue, and small panels seem too much for the page, but it works, well with the timer pushing you from panel to panel. You feel Raven’s despair and fear, the strain and stress evident in her features. That last panel is perfect, capturing Raven’s haunted face as she realizes her soul-self time limit has expired. This image is revisited and expanded on page 15, bridging the story thread in dramatic fashion.

Page 16 stands out as a beautifully composed shot of Raven desperately navigating her soul-self back to her body. Pérez’s depiction of alien dimensions, each of which deserved its own full page, is clearly inspired

by Ditko, Starlin, and Colan.

Switching to Cyborg’s story, Pérez expertly uses small panels to convey emotions amid the crowding of dialogue balloons. Cyborg hasn’t yet settled into his new life after the accident that had partially transformed him into a machine. Rejected by his love interest due to his appearance, Cyborg’s body language as he saunters through the park captures his isolation and heartbreak.

After meeting with a group of kids with disabilities, his demeanor and posture visibly shift as he sees himself for what he really is… not a monster or a machine, but as someone they look up to—a hero.

Another story thread focuses on Kid Flash, and although only two pages in length, Pérez captures Wally West’s troubled mind through his body posture. His emotional connection with his family is easily visible and effortless to follow through their heart-to-heart discussion on his future as a Titan. Pérez’s use of portrait and landscape shots are well balanced, as is his use of zooming in and out to convey the appropriate emotional distance. We feel the connection between Wally and his family and the genuine love and support his parents have for him.

Pérez’s panel layouts and compositions across these jam-packed 25 pages showcase his talent and creativity. His visual storytelling eases the complexity and the effort required to follow this multi-threaded story. Character expressions and body language are the first things we see before we read the dialogue. His work complements Wolfman’s dialogue and creates an empathetic layer that helps us absorb the story’s emotions and themes.

Pérez’s art is a gateway that takes us deeper into the human heart, elevating the story’s words and visually grounding them in our minds.

Jason Shayer

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TM & © DC Comics.

No. 12 Comic: Justice League of America #200 (Mar. 1982) Publisher: DC Comics Cover art: George Pérez Title: “A League Divided” Writer: Gerry Conway Artists: George Pérez and Brett Breeding, plus other superstar artists

By the time the venerable super-team celebrated its bicentennial edition with Justice League of America #200, George Pérez had ascended to the pantheon of DC Comics artist “gods.” This double-sized anniversary comic, which from my perspective lords supreme as the single most spectacular JLA issue ever, gathers those gods together.

Imagine: Pat Broderick and Terry Austin, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino and Frank Giacoia, hot new British import Brian Bolland, and Joe Kubert, each illustrating an installment of this ten-chapter, 72-page epic whose story conceit pits the original seven JLAers against later additions to the team.

But amid this brilliance, and its lively script by Gerry Conway that salutes the JLA’s past milestones while propelling the characters forward to an incredible climax, it is George Pérez who “quietly” establishes himself as the king of these gods, simply by doing what he did so naturally: drawing comic books like no one else.

Actually, there’s nothing quiet about Pérez’s art for the comic’s wraparound cover. George could have saluted the traditional “when super-teams clash” cover layout that had become an industry trope (JLA #56, Fantastic Four #73, Avengers #53 and 70, et al.). Instead, Pérez plops us in the midst of the melee, a street-level brawl with the JLAers tearing into each other, from the Flash punching the Elongated Man’s block off to Aquaman’s chokehold on the Red Tornado.

Pérez’s staging is flawless: each hero-versus-hero clash carries its own weight yet complements the other struggles that surround it. Behind the quarreling heroes are vertical panels representing the story’s exotic locales; through the use of color holds (a printing process popular during the time that trapped black-line art in a single hue), these images “fade” into the background until the reader’s eye is ready to soak in their impeccable attention to detail.

This anniversary edition starts with Conway’s retelling of the origin of the Justice League, while cleverly sowing seeds for the story that is about to unfold. Nicely delineated by inker Brett Breeding, Pérez’s energetic storytelling brightens this segment. In another artist’s hands this might have become a by-the-book exercise in nostalgia, but not here.

One can almost picture George, back in ’81, smiling ear to ear as he penciled his take on the JLA’s origin, which 34 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

culminates in a money shot of the team’s original seven members (including Pérez’s rendition of the Silver Age Wonder Woman).

Kudos go to the all-stars assembled for the battle chapters. Each is not only up to the task of contributing to this milestone issue, they deliver some of their best work in their segment. In the vein of the full-page fight scenes in Conway’s big hit from a few years earlier, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, each battle chapter in Justice League of America #200 includes a splash page depicting its spotlighted JLAers slugging it out.

Yet Pérez emerges as the MVP of this stellar lineup of talent. By this point in his career, George had honed his ability to draw an acute attention to detail (to the occasional chagrin of the inker). Want a Pérez rubble shot? Look no further than page 12, where a group of JLAers survey the damage left behind in the JLA satellite after the opening salvo, the Firestorm vs. Martian Manhunter smackdown. Are you a fan of Pérez’s cityscapes? Page 68 is a mind-blower, with JLAers converging upon giant monsters crushing their way through the skyscrapers of Manhattan… with George drawing perfectly ruled windows in high-rises and bricks in rooftop chimneys. No detail is ever omitted—and in true Pérez style, no panel ever feels overcrowded.

Conway’s script features cameos by departed JLAers, and Pérez draws them with panache. The Phantom Stranger lurks mysteriously, the Amazons of Paradise Island (with whom the artist would soon become intimate) had never before looked both so formidable and beautiful, and a vignette with Adam Strange and his wife Alanna brings their faraway world of Rann to vivid life. Even a drop-in by honorary member Snapper Carr, which could have been an eye-roller for the reader of 1981 wishing to forget this beatnik relic, becomes endearing in Pérez’s hands. From an aerial battle that includes the Batplane and Invisible Jet to a breathtaking assemblage of 15 (!) charging Justice Leaguers rallying into action (pages 60–61), the pacesetting artist elevates this double-sized anniversary issue to new heights. With Justice League of America #200, George Pérez proves not only that he is worthy of his position in the big leagues, but he raises the bar for his peers to follow.

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TM & © Marvel.

No. 13 Comic: Marvel Fanfare #10 (Aug. 1983) Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover art: George Pérez Title: Black Widow in “Widow” Writers: George Pérez (co-plot) and Ralph Macchio (co-plot, script) Artists: George Pérez and Brett Breeding

When fans think of the most iconic Black Widow covers, Amazing Spider-Man #86 (July 1970) or Uncanny X-Men #268 (Sept. 1990), both great choices, may come to mind. But most probably think of Marvel Fanfare #10 (Aug. 1983), and for good reason. Not only is it an iconic cover, but the design work the artist put into it is fantastic.

Readers can tell that this isn’t the Natasha Romanova they were used to seeing.

While John Romita, Sr. had previously given Black Widow her new look in the Amazing Spider-Man story and other artists had depicted her in her short Amazing Adventures run, it was George Pérez’s rendition of Natasha in Marvel Feature that set her on the path to greatness.

Ralph Macchio, who wrote and co-plotted the book with Pérez, admits, “That’s a knockout cover!”

But the cover is only the beginning. This fastpaced tale gets readers’ hearts racing and leaves them breathless from the first page until the end. This issue sets the groundwork for many of the Black Widow stories that followed and established her new status quo in the Marvel Universe more so than any tale before or after.

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“There was that one sequence at the beginning that I really loved,” Macchio relates. “What George and I discussed was, Natasha was a spy, unlike Spider-Man and Captain America.

If you really get in her way, she will kill you. [Like] when we did that sequence where she gets attacked in her penthouse as she’s taking a bath, and she does a number of these guys in, blasting [them] in the face with her widow’s bite. There’s a full-page shot that George did that’s just suitable for framing where she comes out and she’s still wet. She’s got on her outfit, but her hair’s still wet. She’s holding this guy in one hand, and you can see the smoke coming out of [his] mask, and you just knew that she blasted him in the face. She says something like, ‘The Black Widow doesn’t like having her bath interrupted.’

I just loved it!”

With a beginning like that, you might think the rest of the issue couldn’t hold up—but with a one-two punch from Macchio and Pérez on the issue’s Chapter I and artists Bob Layton and Luke McDonnell on Chapter II, you would be wrong. The story moves along a brisk pace but never loses sight of the character development Marvel is known for. “The complex flashback stuff in there is outstanding,” Macchio recalls. “I’ve always loved working on the Black Widow in any capacity.

We also got Ivan in there. We wanted to show Natasha’s connection to him and how he was a father figure to her.”

Macchio tells BACK ISSUE, “George and I came into comics around the same time in the mid-’70s. I remember him coming up to Marvel with samples, trying to get work at Marvel. We became very good friends.

“George and I had always talked about working on a project together, and the idea for doing the Black Widow came up. George was a full co-plotter on that with me. It wouldn’t have been nearly as good as had I not had George working with me as a co-plotter. Also, I think many of the things that George did, he was far more than just the penciler, even if the credits didn’t indicate it. I know that he contributed a lot storytelling-wise to almost anything that he worked on. George was a triple-threat guy: he could write, he could draw, and he could ink.”

Marvel Fanfare #10’s storyline continued, coming to a slam-bang conclusion in issue #14. “We really had a good time on that four-issue run,” Macchio says. “It was just sort of a match made in Heaven.”

Ed Lute

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TM & © DC Comics.

No. 14 Comic: DC Comics Presents #61 (Sept. 1983) Publisher: DC Comics Cover art: George Pérez Title: Superman and OMAC in “The Once-and-Future-War!” Writer: Len Wein Artists: George Pérez and Pablo Marcos

Sorry, James Cameron, but George Pérez cocreated the Terminator—twice.

The first time occurred in 1980 in New Teen Titans #2, which introduced the mercenary Deathstroke the Terminator, a construct of collaborators Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.

A few years later, George, illustrating a Len Wein script teaming Superman and Jack Kirby’s OMAC, One Man Army Corps, introduced Murdermek, a robotic executioner from the future—“The World That’s Coming,” as Kirby called it in his short-lived 1970s OMAC series.

In DC Comics Presents (DCCP) #61, Murdermek is dispatched by criminal scientists from the repressive Intercorp into the past (Superman’s present) to assassinate a relative nobody named Norman Blank. By killing Blank, the ancestor of Buddy Blank, the man destined to become OMAC, Intercorp will essentially keep their enemy from being born in the first place.

Sound familiar?

On page 13 of Wein and Pérez’s DCCP #61, a frenetically paced 15-panel page that doesn’t feel the least bit cluttered, Murdermek bio-scans commuters at a Metropolis subway terminal until zeroing in on an average schmuck with briefcase in tow. “Declaration: You-Are-MyTarget-Norman-Blank—” warns Murdermek in a

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staccato-speak robotic balloon. “—And-It-IsTime-For-You-To-Die!” “Is that thing talking to me?” mutters the poor, quivering human target, just before Murdermek discharges a salvo of rockets at his intended victim. Fortunately, a dashing Man of Tomorrow, clad in blue and red, bursts in to save the poor guy’s bacon. And the battle rages on!

This page brings to mind one of the most famous scenes in Cameron’s movie, where Arnold Schwarzenegger as the android assassin the Terminator, sent from a dystopian, machine-ruled future Earth to the viewer’s present (1984), first confronts his victim: Linda Hamilton as a hapless young woman named Sarah Connor, destined to give birth to a child who would grow up to become a human freedom fighter and sworn foe of the ruling machines. Making the dramatic rescue in The Terminator is a different Man of Tomorrow—Michael Biehn as a soldier from the future—and the battle rages on!

Today, it’s impossible to read the thrilling DC Comics Presents #61 without thinking of Cameron’s cult-favorite franchise launcher, since both tales essentially share the same plot. DCCP #61 went on sale May 10, 1983 (although some sources cite June 2 as the on-sale date), while The Terminator was released into theaters well over a year later, on October 26, 1984. DC’s version of this story was already in the back-issue bins of your neighborhood comic shop by the time Cameron’s began finding its audience at your local mall’s multiplex. It’s uncertain if one of the writers caught wind of the other’s project before producing his. But sci-fi legend Harlan Ellison beat them both to the punch by introducing chronal combatants in two 1964 episodes of TV’s The Outer Limits: “Soldier” and “Demon with a Glass Hand.” Cameron purportedly once admitted in an interview that he cribbed his Terminator idea from The Outer Limits, and Ellison sued the filmmaker over the matter. Was a young Len Wein also imprinted by those 1964

Outer Limits episodes by Harlan Ellison? Does it matter?

By the time he penciled “The Oncea n d - F u t u r e - Wa r ! , ” George Pérez had comfortably ensconced himself into the DC Universe, with Justice League of America behind him and a few years of The New Teen Titans under his belt.

He was no stranger to drawing Superman in JLA, but DCCP #61 afforded Pérez the chance to draw his first actual Superman story (albeit in a team-up comic).

Pérez’s Man of Tomorrow is powerful and no-nonsense. From a breathtaking aerial shot on page 6 of Superman soaring over Metropolis, a background panoramic cityscape making the panel even more impressive, to several action scenes featuring Superman battling Murdermek—as well as an obligatory Superman vs.

OMAC clash—the artist’s facility for cinematic staging and rapid pacing energizes the Man of Steel, whose normally gimmickladen adventures were, in the late Bronze Age, growing stale under editor Julie Schwartz’s watch. Writer Wein favored Superman villains that the hero “could hit” (such as Len’s co-creations, the Galactic Golem and Mongul), and boy, there’s enough “hitting” in this explosive story to fill a couple of issues of a Marvel title (as well as some great uses of Superman’s heat vision that would make the X-Men’s Cyclops blink with jealousy). Pérez’s patented attention to detail is also in view throughout, as well as his ability to convey emotion in his characters. As Superman barrels into Murdermek for a final confrontation, the Man of Steel triumphantly proclaims, “You’re fighting an ideal—and an ideal can never be destroyed!”

Neither can an ideal artist’s legacy. George Pérez may have left this world, but in leaving behind remarkable comic books like DC Comics Presents #61, the talented artist will forever remain with us.

Michael Eury

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TM & © DC Comics.

No. 15 Comic: The New Teen Titans #39 (Feb. 1984) Publisher: DC Comics Cover art: George Pérez Title: “Crossroads” Writers: George Pérez (co-plot) and Marv Wolfman (co-plot, script) Artist: George Pérez

It was late 1983 when The New Teen Titans #39 (Feb. 1984) hit the stands, sporting a striking cover—Dick (Robin) Grayson and Wally (Kid Flash) West, their backs facing the reader, abandoning their costumes and walking toward an empty, all-white background.

But perhaps even more striking is the first page of the issue. Right away, it is obvious that something is… different. There is a texture, an intricacy, a level of detail to the artwork that had not been seen before in any of the previous issues of the series. Turning to the double-page spread that immediately follows, which features an elaborate, power-packed battle scene involving the Titans and the minions of the evil cult leader, Brother Blood, the answer presents itself in the credits box: George Pérez had not only penciled the issue, but for the first time since the start of the series, which George had co-created with writer Marv Wolfman, he had also inked it. Talk about striking.

It was fairly commonplace to see George as both penciler and inker on covers, even on issues for which he provided no interior artwork—and a cover by George was always eye-catching and a major selling point for any comic book on which it appeared. But an entire issue in which Pérez was responsible for every line of the published artwork? That was rare at the time. And it made

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an already-important issue of The New Teen Titans that much more special. The other inkers who had worked over George on the series, most frequently Romeo Tanghal, had consistently turned in impressive work that captured George’s overall style effectively—but like John Buscema, George tended to be his own best inker, and The New Teen Titans #39 is one of the prime examples of this. One can’t help but stop and stare—and marvel—at the amount of effort that he puts into every panel, giving depth and dimension to everything from characters’ uniforms to falling rubble to crackling energy to the high-tech machinery at Titans Tower to simple vehicle tracks in the Alaskan snow.

But there is more to that particular issue that makes it momentous. At the time it was produced, George and Marv were in the midst of shaking up the series, adjusting the Titans’ membership lineup and putting its leader, Robin, through a long process of evolution. In issue #39, Terra has just officially become a new member (though she would eventually betray the team in one of the most shocking, controversial, and influential storylines ever to appear in mainstream comics); Wally concludes that with both his speed powers and his interest in being a superhero waning, it is time for him to leave the Titans; and team leader Dick finally accepts

that he had outgrown his role as Batman’s sidekick and thus needs to give up being Robin and create a new identity for himself.

The effects of this one issue are still being felt today. While most comic-book characters who give up their superhero identities can always be counted on to reclaim them at some point, neither Dick nor Wally ever did.

NTT #39 marks the last appearance of Dick Grayson as Robin. It leads to him becoming Nightwing, for whom George would design a sleek new outfit that, unsurprisingly, he drew better than anyone else. And when Wally eventually returns to active superhero duty, he does so as the Flash, taking on the mantle of his then-fallen mentor.

Had George stopped right then and there in late 1983, his legacy would have been secured, as he would have already played a key role in several historic, generally beloved changes to the status quo of the DC Universe that have remained in place for 40 years.

And he would have done it having produced artwork that blew readers away and inspired both his contemporaries and future generations of illustrators alike. But in many ways, and to the delight of comic-book fans far and wide, he was just getting started.

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TM & © DC Comics.

No. 16 Comic: Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July 1984) Publisher: DC Comics Cover art: George Pérez Title: “The Judas Contract, Book 3: There Shall Come a Titan!”

Writers: George Pérez (co-plot) and Marv Wolfman (co-plot, script) Artists: George Pérez and Dick Giordano/Mike DeCarlo

Few BACK ISSUE–era DC Comics creative teams had a more profound impact upon readers than The New Teen Titans writer Marv Wolfman and artist/ co-plotter George Pérez. While often compared to Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s X-Men run, there is a sense of innocence and discovery that, while present in X-Men, seems more prominent in New Teen Titans and its spinoff title Tales of the Teen Titans. As Wolfman himself has pointed out, Marv and George were after the same goal: creating great comics without letting egos get in the way.

Wolfman and Pérez’s overall Titans saga is a coming-of-age story for the team and its individual members. Each previously seen Titan—Donna Troy, Wally West, and Dick Grayson, plus former Doom Patroller Garfield Logan—emerge from the shadows of their respective adult mentors, while new team members Rachel Roth, Koriand’r, Victor Stone, and later, Joseph Wilson prove to be incredible allies while learning about themselves and their place in the DC Universe. Perhaps the Wolfman/Pérez comic that best proves that point is Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July 1984).

Like many of the collaborators’ tales, “There Shall Come a Titan!” is a multilayered classic that provides readers in one 25-page story with what most modern comics would do in half a year. The origin and past of Deathstroke the Terminator—then only known as the Terminator in this pre–Arnold Schwarzenegger time—is

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revealed, including the incident in which the Jackal cuts his son Joseph Wilson’s throat, rendering the boy mute. As the book progresses, we see Joseph and Titan Dick Grayson mature beyond what their paternal figures Bruce Wayne and Slade Wilson have become. Dick is no longer a Teen Wonder and dons the identity of Nightwing, while the empathetic Joseph uses the codename Jericho.

While influenced by the fashions of the day, Pérez’s designs for the costumes of Nightwing and Jericho are timeless.

Pérez doesn’t just excel with character designs, though. One look at Slade Wilson’s military career, his romance with Adeline, and the Jackal’s attacking Joseph Wilson demonstrate Pérez’s excellence at sequential storytelling. The artist not only gives vibrant detail to the Wilson family’s past, he adds depth to Joseph and Dick’s journeys into adulthood.

George’s use of facial expressions, perspective, and movement in the static medium of comics gives life to every page and panel.

Pérez’s art delves into to the psyches of every character featured in Tales of the Teen Titans #44. This is particularly true of the Wilson family’s trauma and how Slade’s secret life as Deathstroke put everything in a downward spiral. Had he not taken on the mantle of the enhanced mercenary, perhaps Slade’s wife Adeline would not want revenge on him for what his double life had done to her and their sons Grant and Joseph.

Joseph Wilson and Dick Grayson’s struggles for identity and independence become “real” before the reader’s eyes thanks to Pérez’s immense talent. Both Jericho and Nightwing grow and evolve beyond their parental figures without following their dark paths at this point of the Titans comics run. Each line from George’s pencil conveys emotion, as well as the intent of the story without the need for dialogue, thought balloons, and narration. Tales of the Teen Titans #44 is a casebook example of how well Pérez and Wolfman worked together, and why George Pérez is considered a true master of the comics medium.

James Heath Lantz

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No. 17 Comic: Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 (Nov. 1984) Publisher: Deluxe Comics Cover art: George Pérez Title: “[Codename: The Raven]” Writer: Dann Thomas Artists: George Pérez and Dave Cockrum

I always thought that George Pérez’s greatest gift as a superhero artist was that the man knew how to draw team books. Pérez had the ability to fill every panel on a page with as many characters as possible, but never to the point where they were too cluttered. He also knew how to pose heroes. They could be in a fight for their lives or just sitting around a conference table, and each one had just the right pose for their personality and they always looked heroic. It was no wonder this was the man the Big Two wanted on team books like Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Justice League of America, and The New Teen Titans.

While DC and Marvel kept Pérez busy in the early and mid-’80s, he did find time to work for some Indie publishers that were coming into their own thanks to the direct sales market. Two of his best indie stories are “Ride the Blue Bus” from Alien Worlds #7 (Apr. 1984) and “The Trains Belong to Us” from Vanguard Illustrated #6 (June 1984). Both were published by Pacific Comics and are recommended, as they are so atypical of George’s

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superhero work. There is another contribution he made to the indie scene, where his talent for drawing teams really shined: Deluxe Comics’ Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.

When Wally Wood created the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. (The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves) Agents in 1965 for Tower Comics, he brought together some of the best artists in the business to breathe life into his superpowered secret agents. In the spirit of the original series, when executive editor David M. Singer launched this book in 1984, he recruited the best talent in the business at the time to bring characters like Dynamo, NoMan, and Raven to a whole new generation.

To that end, he succeeded in producing one of the best-illustrated comics of the decade.

Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents ran for five issues, and each was packed with artwork by the likes of Jerry Ordway, Keith Giffen, Dave Cockrum, Steve Ditko, Pat Broderick, Rich Buckler, and Murphy Anderson, to name just a few. But no doubt about it, the standouts of the first four issues—and the thing that certainly caught my eye when I saw them—are the covers drawn by George Pérez.

The cover for the first issue is a terrific example of Pérez’s gift for presenting super-teams at its finest. Each hero is posed in such a manner that suggests what they are all about, even if you have never seen them before. This introductory cover features all the members of the then-current T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents: super-speedster Lightning,

aquatic hero Undersea Agent, mentalist Menthor, team leader Dynamo, android super-agent NoMan, and the fearless members of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad. Above Dynamo is the high-flying Raven, important to this comic since Pérez also penciled his solo adventures.

Pérez drew three stories featuring Raven, published in issues #1 (Nov. 1984), 2 (Jan. 1985), and 4 (Feb. 1986), and all of the Raven stories were the leads for these issues. The stories are written by Dann Thomas, and Pérez’s pencils are inked by Dave Cockrum, Bill Wray, and Dan Adkins, respectively. Given how good Pérez was at drawing super-teams, it seems an odd choice to have him draw the solo adventures of just one member. Nonetheless, Pérez’s work on this series is outstanding.

Deluxe Comics’ take on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents had the kind of superb talent Wood himself would have recruited had he been around to lead this revival, so it made sense to have Pérez front and center. Having Pérez do the covers was like a shout-out to readers, “This is the book you must read! This is the book that is delivering the goods you will not get anywhere else!”

They say you should always put your best foot forward, and Pérez’s covers on Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents are more than a step in the right direction, a mark of excellence. For what was the finest superhero team in Indie comics, it made sense that George Pérez was the only artist worthy of giving these agents cover.

Dan Johnson

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TM & © DC Comics.

No. 18 Comic: Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 (Oct. 1985) Publisher: DC Comics Cover art: George Pérez Title: “Beyond the Silent Night” Writer: Marv Wolfman Artists: George Pérez, Jerry Ordway, and Dick Giordano

The 12-issue Crisis on Infinite Earths promised to DC readers to implement radical changes to its Multiverse.

Yes, the first six issues of this maxiseries indeed delivered on this ambitious remit, with the Multiverse being shockingly reduced to just five parallel Earths by the beginning of issue #7 (Oct. 1985).

In terms of world building in the midst of endless multiple worlds so catastrophically ending, writer/editor Marv Wolfman and penciller George Pérez, along with inkers Jerry Ordway and Dick Giordano, deliver the narrative goods in the first half of this issue, on pages 7–16, in which Pérez lavishly illustrates the birth of the Multiverse, the ages-old Monitor-Anti-Monitor conflict, and Pariah’s origin. Commenting on this astounding history of the DC Universe, Wolfman tells BACK ISSUE, “Those pages were the most difficult to portray. Almost 40 years later, I don’t remember specifically how we approached them, but they had to convey so much interrogation, yet it all had to be portrayed interestingly and not with just one fact followed by another fact followed by still more facts.

George and I had to really work hard to make sure every bit for information that was needed was shown clearly so that readers could understand all the incredibly complex events, but it had to be done with excitement

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and drama. The more exposition one has to deal with, the more you have to work hard to make it not only interesting, but gripping.”

On the art end of this incredible collaboration, Ordway comments on Pérez’s complicated pencils. “I remember thinking then, as now, that George is the only person who could convey so much story content in so few pages. It’s a little crazy to think this would easily be a full issue in comics nowadays. As to specifics, the amount of detail involved in doing finishes on those pages was tiring. Back then, I had to get a brush and white paint to add starfields to backgrounds, which, of course, took extra time. Now, we can use a white gel pen or add them in Photoshop.”

This layered history lesson of multiple Earths being born in a storyline delineating their inevitable demise, however, only serves as an overture to a plot point foreshadowed by Pérez’s cover for Crisis issue #7—which powerfully homages Michelangelo’s Pietà—the heart-wrenching narrative that unfolds on pages 33–42, depicting Supergirl’s last heroic stand against the Anti-Monitor to save Superman, her tragic death, and poignant memorial service. When asked what the death of Supergirl meant to Pérez and him, Wolfman reveals, “Supergirl’s death couldn’t be casual, and it had to really show an aspect of her that we hadn’t played to before.

And it also had to build; we couldn’t just kill her and be done with it. We even set it up several issues earlier with a scene featuring only Supergirl and Batgirl talking about what it means to be a hero and facing your worst fears, even if it means you will die.

Supergirl’s death was important and meaningful, and we created it to be so. I think we succeeded. People still remember it today, and they tell me at cons how important that scene was to them.”

In terms of the finishes of Pérez’s pencils for this sequence, in which Giordano inked 33–40, Ordway, who embellished

pages 41–42, tells BACK ISSUE, “When I saw the pages, though, I knew the issue would have a big impact on readers because Supergirl’s death was done in such a dynamic and, of course, heroic way. When I did the last two pages, it only intensified my feelings about the impact it’d have on fans, especially with Barry Allen’s fate being decided in the next issue. Barry’s death was kind of more of a shock, since readers wouldn’t think we’d do it again! With Supergirl, it played on many of the fan base’s ambivalence to the character. Not many people were buying Supergirl comics, yet suddenly everyone seemed mad or crushed by the character’s death.

We experienced the same on the Death of Superman a few years later. The idea is that you take for granted that these iconic characters will always be around, and then someone takes them away from you!”

Ultimately, both Wolfman and Ordway are correct in assessing the impact of Supergirl’s death upon fandom, for it still resonates in their hearts and minds to this day despite her eventual return in the post-Crisis continuity.

Put simply, Crisis #7 is the ultimate Ragnarök of the old DC Universe, where worlds are born and a true Silver Age hero can indeed die, all sublimely rendered in the iconic, genius George Pérez style.

Tom Powers

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TM & © DC Comics.

No. 19 Comics: The Flash #293 (Jan. 1981) and Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 (Nov. 1985) Publisher: DC Comics Cover art: George Pérez Title: Flash #293: “The Deadliest Man Alive!”; Crisis #8: “A Flash of the Lightning!”

Writer: Flash #293: Gerry Conway; Crisis #8: Marv Wolfman Artists: Flash #293: George Pérez and Rodin Rodriguez; Crisis #8: George Pérez and Jerry Ordway

I have long believed that Barry Allen’s Flash was one of the most important characters at DC Comics throughout the Silver and Bronze Age. His introduction in the landmark Showcase #4 ushered in a new era that saw DC giving other superheroes like Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Atom more quasi-science reboots, and in the process brought about new and exciting characters that still drive the industry to this day. Plus, Barry Allen discovered the path to Earth-Two, where the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick, resided with the other members of the Justice Society of America. His first adventure on Earth-Two, in the classic “Flash of Two Worlds” from The Flash #123 (Sept. 1963),

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gave us the Multiverse. This is a concept that is still being explored, not only in comic books, but in television shows and movies inspired by them.

Given Barry Allen’s importance to comics, it is surprising that George Pérez only did one cover for the character’s solo comic book, for The Flash #293 (Jan. 1981). This issue features a team-up with Flash and Firestorm as they take on the Atomic Skull. It’s a nice treat for readers as Firestorm was the star of the backup feature in The Flash at the time, and Firestorm’s feature was also drawn by Pérez.

What I love about the cover for Flash #293 is how Pérez captures the flavor of the Flash comics of the Silver Age. His Flash is racing toward the reader, proclaiming, “Keep away from me, people! I’ve become radioactive!” Firestorm is flying in to save his fellow Justice Leaguer as the Atomic Skull looks on. In your mind’s eye, replace Firestorm with Green Lantern or the Elongated Man, and the Atomic Skull with Captain Cold or the Mirror Master, and this could have been a cover to a Silver Age Flash story by John Broome and Carmine Infantino.

For me as a lifelong Flash fan, this cover embodies everything that was fun about the character: his outrageous Rogues’ Gallery, his frequent team-ups with other superheroes, and some storylines that maybe stretched the limits of credibility (but still were so much fun). This cover also happens to come between two tumultuous periods for the Flash.

The first was “The Death of Iris Allen” story arc, and the second was the storyline that the series ended with, the long-running serial “The Trial of Barry Allen.” I always appreciated the lighthearted issues that came between these two storms. They were the calm a character like Barry Allen deserved.

Pérez would also go on to draw another important cover featuring the Flash, spotlighting the Fastest Man Alive in his final hour in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 (Nov. 1985).

While the death of the Flash in this issue hit me hard when I read it as a teenager, in hindsight, Barry Allen’s death makes sense. As the character that introduced the Multiverse, there is symmetry in his sacrifice that ends up saving so many untold realities.

It is worth noting that Pérez’s cover for Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 is very different than the one that preceded it.

Crisis #7’s cover shows the deceased Supergirl cradled in Superman’s arms as the entire DC pantheon stands in the background in mourning for the fallen Girl of Steel. When it is Flash’s time to meet his maker, he is shown alone against the Anti-Monitor, with a beaten Psycho Pirate at his feet. When I first saw this cover, I knew Barry Allen was about to run his last race.

And yet, there is the Crimson Comet, ready to go down fighting.

His determination to do whatever is needed shows on his face.

Even in the darkness, Pérez gives Flash fans a last ray of light—or in this case, a final flash of lightning.

Both of these Pérez covers encapsulate what made the Flash great. In two covers, we have two strikingly different moments in the life of one character: one at his most fun, and the other just before his final act as a hero. Very few artists could capture both moods so perfectly, yet Pérez did it with such ease. And that to me is what defines the brilliance of the late George Pérez.

Dan Johnson

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TM & © DC Comics.

No. 20 Comic: Superman #423 (Sept. 1986) Publisher: DC Comics Cover art: Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson Title: “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”

Writer: Alan Moore Artists: Curt Swan and George Pérez

The storyline spanning Superman #423 and Action Comics #583 (both cover-dated Sept. 1986) is an alltime classic. Editor Julius “Julie” Schwartz assembled a legendary artist/writer team to wrap up Superman’s exploits to that point (while the next group of creative stars awaited their turn). Alan Moore was the writer of “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” Curt Swan penciled the covers and interiors. George Pérez embellished Curt’s panel work in Superman #423. Kurt Schaffenberger did the same for Action Comics #583, and Murphy Anderson inked the outer wraps for both issues.

Though Pérez never knew exactly why Schwartz chose him for the job, his artistic pairing with Swan on Superman #423 was meant to be. In the book Curt Swan: A Life in Comics (Vanguard, 2002), writer Marv Wolfman recalled an early ’80s conversation with his friend and longtime collaborator: “I said to George Pérez, ‘You know that your artwork reminds me of a very exciting Curt Swan.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘How did you know he was my favorite

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artist when I was growing up?’ Because he shared that human quality that Curt had. He took it in a completely different area, but he really did share a lot of the same sort of stuff.”

In Comics Scene #7 (Jan. 1982), editor/writer Robert Greenberger relayed that when George was a child, “Curt Swan’s style caught Pérez’s attention and became his first major influence...”

Unlike Curt, however, George desired to ink his own pencils along with the graphite of others.

Pérez told Greenberger: “My entire career has been based on hit and miss, since I’ve never been trained at anything. I’m learning as I go along.

When I started inking, I was using marker and now I’ve gotten into quills and rapidographs which I’m comfortable with because my hand is too unsteady with a brush.”

In the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro, just before the student became the master, there was a moment when mentor Anthony Hopkins and pupil Antonio Banderas were equals in swordplay. Swan was born in 1920 and Pérez in 1954. Their partnering on Superman #423 was a magical instant when neither generation had to concede anything. Curt could still call forth the skills he had at the height of his powers, while George had amassed proficiency as an inker since his earlier comments. For the younger man it was a rite of passage.

On Saturday, June 18, 1988 at the annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois (commemorating the Man of Tomorrow’s 50th anniversary), Pérez and Swan were on a panel titled “Living with Legends 1: Superman.”

Mark Waid, Jerry Ordway, Kerry Gammill, Mike Carlin, and Roger Stern also participated.

Emotion filled the room as George proclaimed to Curt that serving as his inker on Superman #423 was his favorite art job to date.

Fifteen years later, Pérez reiterated to Eric Nolen-Weathington

(in TwoMorrows’ Modern Masters vol. 2) that it remained one of his best-loved assignments. Added to the joy of working with Swan, having writer Alan Moore and letterer Todd Klein aboard made it “pretty much a class act all the way.”

George Pérez was originally slated to ink both issues of “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”

However, he was slammed with other assignments before reluctantly handing his pen and quills to Kurt Schaffenberger. Perhaps it is good that Pérez embellished only Superman #423 and not the story’s conclusion in Action #583, allowing George time in the last panel on page 3 to brush Lois Lane’s hair with stardust. Combined with Swan’s penchant for showing emotion, the inker provides a further glimpse into Lois’ soul.

Whether or not he remained leery of using a brush, Pérez became masterful at spotting blacks.

For example, during funeral scenes on page 11 he embellished roiling clouds to match Pete Ross’ ebony-streaked coffin. Mourners’ suits of India ink and women’s black hats did their part, too.

The mood could hardly be more somber; his inks could not be crisper.

George called himself an artist of “detail” (as did we all!). He told Eric Nolen-Weathington: “I was concerned—because I was doing a little extra shading and stippling and things—that Curt might have thought I was going a bit overboard. Julie did think in a couple of places I went a little overboard, but when Curt Swan met me while I was inking it, he shook my hand. He was overjoyed with what I was doing over his pencils. I could have gotten no greater compliment.”

Eddy Zeno

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George Pérez’s 20 Greatest Hits Contributors Despite living in Western Australia, JARROD BUTTERY is honored to have met George Pérez twice and to have been able to contribute to this issue. He has penned over twodozen articles for BACK ISSUE.

During his days as a DC Comics editor, BACK ISSUE editor MICHAEL EURY was fortunate to work with George Pérez on Who’s Who in the DC Universe. Portions of his DC Comics Presents #61 essay appeared in his 2022 TwoMorrows book, The Team-Up Companion, and were edited for presentation in BI.

The Avengers #196 introduced JIM FORD to the amazing artistry of George Pérez, and for that he owes the Taskmaster his due.

Jim is married and has two great boys, one of whom wants to be Superman when he grows up.

GLENN GREENBERG is an award-winning editor/writer whose work has appeared in books, comic books, websites, and lifestyle and news magazines, published by top companies such as Time Inc., Simon and Schuster, NBCUniversal, Scholastic Inc., Marvel Comics, DC Comics, A360, Time Out New York, and TwoMorrows Publishing.

As an editor at Marvel, Glenn worked with George Pérez on numerous occasions.

A longtime contributor to BACK ISSUE, DAN JOHNSON is a comics writer and pop-culture historian. He is a co-founder, editor, and writer for Empire Comics Lab (empirecomicslab.com) and Old School Comics. Dan has written for Antarctic Press, Campfire Graphic Novels, Golden Kid Comics, InDELLible Comics, and ACP Comics, and is a writer for the Dennis the Menace comic strip.

JAMES HEATH LANTZ is a freelance writer whose stories, essays, and reviews can be found online and in print at Sequart.org, Superman Homepage, his blog, and such publications as his self-published Trilogy of Tales and PS Artbooks’ Roy Thomas Presents Sheena vol. 2. James currently lives in Italy with his wife Laura and their family of cats, dogs, and humans from Italy, Japan, and the United States.

ED LUTE loves diversity in comics and was glad to reread the White Tiger’s origin story to share with BI readers. He was also thrilled to contribute to this issue on George Pérez, who was a huge part of his childhood (and adulthood, for that matter).

BRIAN MARTIN lives in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

He considers George Pérez one of his favorite artists, and the Claremont/ Byrne/Austin X-Men one of the best superhero series ever.

Not really surprising that he loves X-Men Annual #3, is it? Nor did he forget that John Byrne inked one page of that amazing story.

IAN MILLSTED is a writer and teacher based in Bristol, England. He is a frequent contributor to BACK ISSUE and occasionally pens the rotating department “Retro Brit” for our sister publication, RetroFan.

Occasional BI contributor JOSEPH NORTON remembers being a nine-year-old boy and picking up Avengers #160 from the local stationery store, based on the intensity of the cover alone. He thanks George Pérez for his contribution to the medium he loves.

TOM POWERS teaches English at Montgomery County Community College, which is located in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

He is also the author of Gender and the Quest in British Science Fiction Television: An Analysis of Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, Red Dwarf and Torchwood (McFarland, 2016).

JASON SHAYER’s addiction to comic books and his 12-year-old mindframe have caused more than a few people to raise an eyebrow. When he’s not writing or reading, he’s teaching his daughter the finer points of comic-book collecting.

JERRY SMITH is a sales rep and freelance writer living in northern Kentucky. Follow his blog about comics and pop culture at https:// jerryshumbleopinions.blogspot.com.

DOUG ZAWISZA is a huge fan of George Pérez and is grateful for having met Gorgeous George in person on a number of occasions, including C2E2 2012.

Superman historian EDDY ZENO is the author of the must-have book Curt Swan: A Life in Comics (Vanguard Productions, 2002).

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From the book George Pérez, Accent on the First E, a 1977 Logan’s Run montage originally published by the Omnibus Publishing Company.

George penciled the adaptation of the nowclassic sci-fi film for the first five issues of Marvel’s Logan’s Run comic book.

Courtesy of Dave Lemieux.

Logan’s Run © MGM.

54 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

Look into the count’s eyes—if you dare! This mesmerizing portrait of the King of the Vampires, Dracula, was illustrated by George in 1980 as a gift to his beloved wife, Carol.

Courtesy of Steve Lipsky. © The George Perez Estate.

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 55

We couldn’t let this Pérez tribute edition pass without a glimpse at the woefully unpublished 1983 Justice League/ Avengers crossover, explored in our first issue two decades ago. On this penciled page, George depicts the Avengers, Kang, the JLA satellite, and the Elongated Man. Avengers and related characters TM & © Marvel.

Justice League of America and related characters TM & © DC Comics.

56 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

Here’s one you may have missed back in the day: Fantagraphics’ Anything Goes! #4 (May 1987).

Anything Goes! was a six-issue benefit comic produced as a fundraiser for The Comics Journal’s defense in its Michael Fleisher lawsuit. George’s original cover art is courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Anything Goes © Fantagraphics.

Art © The George Perez Estate.

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 57

BRITMANIA

by MARK VOGER

Remember when long-haired British rock ’n’ rollers made teenage girls swoon — and their parents go crazy?

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From Woodstock, “The Banana Splits,” and “Sgt. Pepper” to “H.R. Pufnstuf,” Altamont, and “The Partridge Family,” GROOVY is a far-out trip to the era of lava lamps and love beads. This profusely illustrated hardcover book, in psychedelic color, features interviews with icons of grooviness such as PETER MAX, BRIAN WILSON, PETER FONDA, MELANIE, DAVID CASSIDY, members of the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, CREAM, THE DOORS, THE COWSILLS and VANILLA FUDGE; and cast members of groovy TV shows like “The Monkees,” “Laugh-In” and “The Brady Bunch.” Revisit the era’s rock festivals, movies, art, comics and cartoons in this color-saturated pop-culture history!

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George Pérez’s

An Oral History

by A n d y

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Mangels

It is hard to separate the strands of my career over the last four decades from the career of George Pérez. He was 12 years older than me, and I first saw his work at Marvel, on the cover of Fantastic Four #184 (July 1977), with the heroes fallen in a pile of rubble. I was ten, and it was the first time that I began looking at who an artist was in the comics I got. Intense attraction to Pérez’s artwork led me, over the next seven years, to attempt to collect anything by him, and/or about him. When New Teen Titans #1 came out in November 1980, even Superman could not have held me back. Not only was my idol drawing the book, but it was a revamping of my favorite childhood team! In 1984, I decided it was time to finally meet George, and did so at the San Diego Comic-Con. I was 17, and he was polite and friendly to this young fanboy. The following year I contributed my first published work to Fantagraphics’ Focus on George Pérez book (Aug. 1985), and soon after was writing for Amazing Heroes magazine, sharing space with writers Mark Waid (now a comics luminary) and Michael Eury (the editor of this very magazine).

As often as I was allowed to, I covered Pérez in the press, which, it turned out, was often. In addition to his success on New Teen Titans, he worked with writer Marv Wolfman on the universe-shattering Crisis on Infinite Earths maxiseries. That 1985–1986 series redefined and streamlined DC’s multiverses, killing or erasing from existence many long-term heroes, and radically revamping others. One of the heroes “erased” was Wonder Woman, who was the most famous superheroine in the world, having enjoyed a near unbroken line of publishing since her debut in All Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941), before headlining her own series, Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942) and Wonder Woman #1 (June 1942). Wonder Woman had long been seen as a feminist icon, appearing on the front cover of Ms. Magazine #1 (July 1972) and in a popular live-action television series on ABC and CBS from 1975–1979, where her star-spangled tights were admirably filled

Strength and Beauty Wonder Woman breaks free in this art from History of the DC Universe #2 (Feb. 1987), with pencils by George Pérez, inks by Karl Kesel, and colors by Tom Ziuko.

TM & © DC Comics.

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 59

by actress Lynda Carter [see BACK ISSUE #5—ed.]. But Wonder Woman’s comic-book adventures by the 1980s had lost much of their sales, and DC Comics decided that something must be done. Thus, in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 (Mar. 1986), Wonder Woman dissolved into the magical clay from which she had been sculpted by her mother.

DC was planning a revamp of Superman—which would be taken on by fan-favorite Marvel creator John Byrne—and a new version of Wonder Woman began to be developed, by writer Greg Potter and editor Janice Race. Eventually, George Pérez was brought onboard to draw, then co-plot, then co-write, then write and draw the second series to bear the title of Wonder Woman. The series debuted in February 1987, and Pérez stayed with it (though only as writer from #25 forward) until issue #62 (Feb. 1992).

During his time on the book, Pérez significantly played up mythological aspects of the series, established a broad supporting cast that was mostly female, and created some timeless stories for the “Amazing Amazon” that are referenced not only by every creator who has worked on Wonder Woman since, but also by the Warner Bros. animation projects and the two Wonder Woman feature films.

Rather than just give a history lesson in the remembrance of Pérez’s Wonder Woman, I decided to structure this as an Oral History, interweaving quotes from not only my extensive interviews with George, but also (with permission) from others who had interviewed George over the decades since. In this manner, you’ll be able to revisit some of George’s thoughts as he was creating the project, as well as how he felt after it was released to history. Some introductory notes will be bullet-pointed, and George’s quotes will be in italics.

• Even before Crisis, Pérez had planned to take on Wonder Woman for a brief run, first on a miniseries with Steve Gerber, and later as six issues of the first Wonder Woman series. He got an idea for a “Trial of the Gods” storyline after drawing Mount Olympus and the Greek Gods in New Teen Titans #11.

It probably went back to the Titans story where we introduced the titans of myth, and Marv got me into Greek mythology and the look of Paradise Island and everything else. The look and design of the Wonder Woman mythos I found fascinating and I had thought of a story for Wonder Woman which would have had her go through a very Ray Harryhausen–like adventure—a gauntlet, a contest that the gods would put her through, similar to what the gods did in Jason and the Argonauts. So Ray Harryhausen and Marv Wolfman were two of the biggest influences I had in doing Wonder Woman.1 My original idea was to put a Wonder Woman miniseries within the regular series itself, so it would have to be coordinated with the current writer and Alan Gold, the editor. If I do the Wonder Woman comic book, I want it to be something that will help the Wonder Woman monthly comic, and not just an individual miniseries with the benefit of a number one issue. That may or may not help the Wonder Woman series itself.

This is not in place of the proposed and abandoned Wonder Woman miniseries that I had planned with Steve Gerber a few years ago, which fell through. I want… to see if I can help Wonder Woman the way Walt Simonson helped Thor, although at one point Wonder Woman did have phenomenally good sales.

I hope I’m not wrong. I shudder to think that I do spend that time on Wonder Woman and not have it sell well. DC has given me a vote of confidence. But one reason I was not going to do it was because DC had some plans to change the character. However, they told me that their plans would not change the essence of the character, and therefore would not change my plans. My storyline would take place on Paradise Island. The Paradise Island locale would still, for me, be the basic premise of Wonder Woman any day.2 • Crisis on Infinite Earths created some unfortunate continuity questions, even as it was attempting to solve them.

It was that same unfortunate confusion at the end of the series—the company having to decide what we could do, what we could not do, what wouldn’t be done, what would be done—that made some of the problems that existed later.

Wonder Woman Debuts This full-page house ad touted the post-Crisis Wonder Woman series from George Pérez and friends.

TM & © DC Comics.

Like, if there’s only one Wonder Woman, who is this Wonder Woman who ended up on Olympus? If Superman isn’t totally revamped, how does that explain Superman’s existence at the end of Crisis? And all the other things that have caused confusion. The decision on Superman had not been made at the time of Crisis; originally, when Wonder Woman devolved, Superman was also supposed to go through a similar type thing—but they decided, no, we don’t want to take a chance. At the time, they had no definite plans—John Byrne had not come over—so they had absolutely no idea what to do with Superman.

1 2

60 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

Modern Masters Comics Journal #100

So Superman ended up staying intact and when John Byrne came, then they had to deal with the fact that now they did have a new Superman being done, which could have been done in Crisis, as far as setting it up. But it was too late at that point.

• Due to licensing deals with the ownership of Wonder Woman, DC had to publish a certain amount of Wonder Woman content each year, so a new series was inevitable. Janice Race was to be the new editor, and she took pitches.

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC didn’t seem to have a direction for Wonder Woman that they were happy with. They had to get it printed because of licensing and everything else. Basically, they were just going to fill up pages to maintain the rights to the Wonder Woman. 3 The problem was, however, that while the company wanted a new Wonder Woman, it wasn’t quite set on what exactly “new” meant. Several creators had come in with concepts that retained little but the Wonder Woman name. Some of these were actually good ideas, worthy of treatment and development—but they just weren’t Wonder Woman. DC may have wanted a new Wonder Woman, but it still wanted to keep its iconic character recognizable.4 Almost no woman in the DC offices liked what was being done with Wonder Woman. They had a nice, classic bridge that Kurt Busiek and Trina Robbins did, but for the main title they were trying to find a direction. It was like they had given up—Marv Wolfman had volunteered, but they considered his changes too drastic, and others had brought in failed proposals—and they settled on a script by Greg Potter that no one seemed especially happy with, but it was something they could at least work with with some hands-on editing.

The artist—who I won’t name—that they ended up getting, they all knew was going to be a big, big mistake.5 Greg’s proposal stuck to the basic Wonder Woman origin with certain touchstones to Paradise Island, Steve Trevor, and the contest to determine which Amazon would go to “Man’s World” still in place, albeit in altered forms. It was Greg who conceived of the Amazons being reincarnations of women murdered through pre-history and that Ares would be the first major threat that prompted Diana to go to Man’s World—specifically Greg’s home town of Boston, Massachusetts—to save it from the machinations of the God of War. However, beyond that, there were several aspects to Greg’s treatment that didn’t sit right with the DC staffers, especially the female employees. 6 They didn’t like the way the story was going to go; they didn’t like the artist involved. They were just going to put it out there, settle for what they could get. 7 • DC editor Barbara Kesel was reportedly one of the editors who objected to Potter’s planned version of Wonder Woman, saying that, “His Wonder Woman was a nasty uber-bitch, rather than a hero. To me, it was an embarrassing version of the character.” 8 George couldn’t have entered back into the tale at a more opportune time.

So I walked into the offices one day and Janice Race, who was the editor of Wonder Woman at the time—she and I were already friends—was bemoaning that it was going to be something they were not going to be proud of. So I thought of that Wonder Woman story I had wanted to do and said I’d like to do a mythological Wonder Woman—a similar approach to what Walt Simonson did on Thor. I said, “If you give me time to develop it, I’ll gladly work on the first six issues.” That meant I would be working with Greg Potter, taking what he had done and compromising in a bit of what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to throw away everything he had—he was the writer. Janice was so happy she kissed me—and when [editorial director] Dick Giordano found out about it, he nearly kissed me, too. 9 Out of all the books I could have chosen, I chose one of the books no one really had hope for… I saw the groundwork that was there and I chose what I thought worked 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Pacesetter #17 Pérez intro in Wonder Woman TPB Modern Masters Pérez intro in Wonder Woman TPB Storyteller Storyteller Modern Masters

The God of War Pérez redesigned Ares, the God of War, making his armored form both menacing and mysterious. From Who’s Who in the DC Universe Update ’87 #1 (Aug. 1987). Art by Pérez, colors by Anthony Tollin.

TM & © DC Comics.

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 61

Wonder Woman Born and Reborn Pérez depicted the beloved clay birth of Diana, with hints to her origin in the background. From Who’s Who in the DC Universe #26 (Apr. 1987). (inset) A smiling Pérez sketched Diana for a fan.

and discarded what I didn’t think would work for the character. I was given the chance to do what no other creator of Wonder Woman had: I was able to start with a clean slate if I chose. 10 I didn’t want to just use her name and throw everything away.

She would not have existed as long as she existed if there wasn’t something intrinsically attractive about her to readers, even if the readership had gotten smaller. I think a lot of that is because her visionary creator died not that long after he created the character.

He was already middle-aged at the time and nobody either knew how to handle Wonder Woman or cared about Wonder Woman. I did both. I cared about it.

She was a book that no one volunteered for. Everyone was assigned to it. I volunteered to do it.11 • George discusses why he liked the character so much that he took on the series, and how he dealt with a feminine character as a man (albeit one who consulted on scripts with his wife, Carol, DC publisher Jenette Kahn, and even Gloria Steinem).

When I got into the book, I said the one thing I cannot help is my own sex. I know the disadvantages of writing about [the opposite] sex. So I keep my mind open. Besides the fact that I’m a feminist, because I’m limited to what my sex is, I hear from a varying group of people, male and female, with opinions on this book. If nothing else, this book is going to pay attention to what makes it unique, the female superhero and the mythology. This gives me a chance to see if I can—without wearing it as a suit of armor—give it a feminist viewpoint and make it an entertaining book for the masses, as well. 12 She’s iconic. She is probably the most well-known superheroine in comics. And that’s where I believe many of her problems over the years have stemmed. Many people thought of her only as a super10 11 12

Pacesetter #17 Pacesetter #17 Amazing Heroes #106

TM & © DC Comics.

heroine... a female Superman, if you will. I always felt that she was more of a fantasy figure. Her roots were in a combination of Greek and Roman mythology with science fiction thrown into the blender.

Having seen how Walt Simonson used an extra emphasis on Thor’s Norse mythology background to further emphasize that the guy was a god and not just your standard superhero, I thought that approach could work with Diana.

I had a blast going through books of on Greek myths as I researched stuff I would incorporate into the new Wonder Woman.13 When you look through Greek mythology there’s so many creatures and gods and locales that are exotic, they just scream out for, you know, rock ’em-sock ’em visuals.

She is the premier female superhero. There’s a certain responsibility in handling her, in making her as much a role model to a female readership as Superman and his like are to male readers. And the women do need someone that they can look up to, and not just a woman who’s there basically for a sex appeal look.

There’s no denying she’s an attractive woman, as Superman is an idealized man. As are all superheroes. I’ve definitely taken a feminist slant without being overbearing about it—more a humanist slant, ‘cause I am a feminist—building that into her makeup more, but showing that extremists are the thing that actually kill any kind of movement. The Amazons are not perfect, and man is not perfect, but there is good in both. Diana, being the innocent who has not lived with the Amazons all these centuries—she’s fairly new to everything—is much more open-minded than the Amazons are. And that makes her very important in 13

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Pacesetter #6

showing the state of relations between man and woman. It becomes a nice little morality play as well as a great chance for some visuals.

• Pérez was given a ten-month start on Wonder Woman, to reconcile his vision with Potter’s, and to get started on the detailed visuals. Writer Greg Potter left the scripting duties on the series after issue #2, and was replaced for the next several issues by veteran writer Len Wein. Editor Janice Race left unexpectedly as well.

A week after I came on to Wonder Woman, Janice quit comic books.

She went on to book publishing, I believe, so I lost the editor before I even had a chance to put down a single line. Thankfully, at my request—and I’m sure DC wouldn’t have agreed unless they knew how good she was—Karen Berger was brought in as the editor because I felt very strongly that I needed a female editor on that book. I needed someone who could give me a female sensibility. 14 The end of issue #1 was only about 2/3 into where the plot was supposed to end in Greg’s original plot. I added so much that all of his original plot couldn’t fit. Diana became Wonder Woman at the very end of the story instead of 2/3 of the way through the book… As of issue #2, more and more of my influences were showing through and it was quite obvious to Greg that they were approving my work over his. Even though I was trying to get both of us in there, there was just some stuff I disagreed with, including when Wonder Woman first comes to man’s world and has a priest—a male figure as her mentor, and the fact that she’s almost raped.

I thought it was a little misogynistic. But with the changes I was making, I think Greg decided that maybe it wasn’t for him and he bowed out after issue #2. 15

concept before I got onto it. And it’s becoming more apparent that, one of these days, I will be scripting the book on my own. It’s not any reflection on Len Wein’s contribution because I would have a hard act to follow with such an experienced writer.

• In the early days of Wonder Woman, before Pérez took over scripting duties, he had to work with the writer more closely when doing his art.

In the case of Wonder Woman, where the book is being plotted as we go along, I lay out the book first, so notes can be written down for the plot, so that it can go to the scripter and the letterer.

So the book has been totally laid out before the drawing has been done and then, once lettered, the actual drawing goes on, so I won’t end up throwing too much intricate stuff into areas a word balloon is going to cover… A page of Wonder Woman was already lettered; a panel was already lettered; and I decided a visual I had used in a prior panel made the second panel too dull, so I altered the entire look of the panel. The word balloon’s still in the same place, but I totally altered the angle of the panel. And that’s the type of thing you do in order to keep it exciting.

• George discusses Wonder Woman #8 (Sept. 1987), called ‘‘Time Passages,” much of which was George’s own writing.

It’s four series of letters or diaries showing four different women’s viewpoints on Wonder Woman, and their reactions to her. That also marks the first issue of Wonder Woman that I have written on my own because it’s not being done as a comic book. There are no word [balloons]! It’s like a cross between a comic book and History of the DC Universe.

The diaries or letters are written on the side of the artwork, and the artwork, in panel progression, is separately. It’s a first person point of view by four different people.

Unlike Len or anyone, Greg was not a fulltime writer. In fact, I think he had a full-time job; he worked, I believe, in advertising. And Amazonian Premiere partially because of my own schedule, the The three-P team of Potter, Pérez, book kept constantly being delayed, even She meets the superheroes in issue #8, after we had done a first plot, which we and Patterson present… Wonder which is my belated Legends tie-in. Why totally redid anyway. The first issue was fully Woman #1 (Feb. 1987). Cover by is Wonder Woman important in a man’s scripted, and we ended up not using most world? What makes her unique and not just of it. So after issue #2, which was taking Pérez, colors by Tatjana Wood. another superhero—or superheroine? She him longer to do because his job was also TM & © DC Comics. finds out she’s not the only one on Earth. In requiring more work from him—he seems to Legends, she met Black Canary. So I do play be doing quite well in advertising—he had to that up in issue #8. She does meet a woman finally call up and say he couldn’t handle it. He had the extra constraints of having to deal with deadlines crimefighter, and she will have knowledge of others. which unfairly were tossed to him because of me. He originally had all the time in the world, but it took me so long to get to the • Editor Karen Berger played a huge role in Pérez’s run on series, that by the time the book started going, he was already Wonder Woman. behind schedule.

Karen Berger, not having grown up in comics, gave me a slightly Len Wein, among other writers, had expressed interest in doing the different point of view, but was never afraid or intimidated by my series, and considering I couldn’t write the series, I didn’t have the reputation as George Pérez, to tell me when I was wrong. I mean, time... I welcomed Len Wein aboard, with the proviso that I be the if I’m wrong, the editor’s job is to point that out to me. If I write full plotter of the book, not the co-plotter. The book would be solely something that she can’t understand, do you think a reader will plotted by me, with editorializing by Karen Berger. Issues #1 through understand? When I wrote my first ten pages of my first issue of #6 were tying up the origin of Wonder Woman as originally set up Wonder Woman as a scripter, she had me rewrite all ten because

by Greg and myself. Now, I wanted to go on to tangents that were she decided that I just did a disservice to George Pérez, the artist, by totally different than the original view that Greg had; I mean, the being redundant, over-writing, explaining stuff that I drew. Suddenly, Wonder Woman I’m doing now bears no resemblance to the original I totally forgot who I was writing for. And she said, “No, this doesn’t read right to me. Try it again.” Not, “No, it’s bad,” but “Try it again,” 14 Modern Masters and gave me specifics in order to make it better, from her point of 15 Modern Masters George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 63

view. And what joy, and what accomplishment I had in writing Wonder Woman, I thank a damn good editor for.

• One of the things Berger questioned George about was the use of Heracles, whose actions in the past were problematic for the Amazons.

Heracles—I knew he was the catalyst for the Amazons moving to Themyscira and was responsible for the capture of Hippolyte’s girdle in Greek mythology. Heracles was pivotal in the Wonder Woman storyline in that he was the first man to step foot on Themyscira. As a demi-god, he counts as a man as opposed to a god. That came from a question that Karen Berger asked me when we were trying to stay true to some of the old tenets that Moulton established for Wonder Woman—one of them being that man cannot step foot on Paradise Island. She asked, “Why? If these people are preaching equality doesn’t that make them elitist? It’s very easy for them to say, ‘Yes, we want equality, when they’re safe on their own island no one else can come on.’” I thought of Heracles only because he’s the one who did them dirt. He’s the one who needed to apologize for what he did because if it wasn’t for him they wouldn’t be there. If it hadn’t been for Karen’s observation, I may not have put that into the story. 16 • George planned a huge mythological storyline starting with issue #10 (Nov. 1987), in a five-part story titled “Challenge of the Gods.”

I’m planning a storyline starting from issue #10, dealing with Diana having to prove why she is necessary to man’s world—and why the Amazons are necessary for man’s survival, now that the threat of Ares is gone. The working title is ‘‘A Trial of the Gods,”’ but that will not be the title. It’ll resolve all the last bits of the origin of Wonder Woman: going into who is Diana, the one who she’s named after; why does she wear a costume patterned after the American flag; and with all the superheroes hanging around… she has to prove to the gods the importance of being both an Amazon and of being Wonder Woman...

Visually it’s gonna be a striking storyline because she’ll be going into the bowels of Paradise Island—into that pit which I’ve been referring 16

Modern Masters

to since issue #1—where she will meet the creatures of Olympic myth.

According to the myths they were killed, but death is not the same for these Olympic monsters as it would be to us. Many of them have been relegated to this Pandora’s box existence, which Diana herself will be thrown into as a gauntlet that she must persevere through.

We have the Chimera, that’s part lion, part bird, part goat; we have the Gorgon, which Medusa has already been established as her shell, that they ripped her heart from to create Decay… There are a number of creatures from mythology that will be used, and as a promotional thing that DC’s planning, the cover of issue #10 will be a gatefold cover to outdo the cover of issue #1. It will not only wrap around, but will wrap into itself—you’ll have to open up the front cover and then fold it out to get this three-panel effect that will spread out to three covers, basically. That panorama will only be in the direct sales market. The newsstands will only receive the front part of that cover—actually, the middle. They will not get the gatefold, and the back cover will be a regular ad.

That particular cover will be reproduced as a poster at the end of the “Gods” storyline, which is tentatively issue #13. At that point, Wonder Woman will be fully, clearly defined; her mission on Earth will be defined. And not only her origins, but a lot of things having to do with other characters who already have been introduced in the series, plus one character who was introduced in issue #7. The storylines dealing with them will be clarified and, in one case—a tie-in with DC’s new crossover series Millennium by Steve Englehart, one of the characters in the trial sequence will also be a spinoff to Millennium.

The Challenge of the Gods Begins!

The retail poster released after Wonder Woman #10 (Nov. 1987), with art by Pérez. While the gatefold cover had tighter trim on the sides and colors by Tatjana Wood, this poster was wider, and recolored by Tom Ziuko.

TM & © DC Comics.

64 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

• George utilized mythology and real history about Amazons to be the series’ foundation, and made his Greek Gods visually different than the Gods he had previously drawn for New Teen Titans and Crisis. He also made Mount Olympus into a visual-warping place born out of a drawing by M. C. Escher.

I had to get books on mythology. Some were provided for me—people provided me with a lot of theses and reports on mythology, in many cases relating to comic books. One person wrote a thesis—a guy named John Palmer, who I thanked in the first issue—‘‘Wonder Woman from an Amazon Mythology Perspective,” in which he actually related how some of the mythology could be angled to work in Wonder Woman. Much of that was used; particularly, it gave me the idea which worked best for me of how to avoid too many conflicts with the Amazon mythology as written by the writers of that time. Taking the contradictions from several writers—where Antiope and Hippolyte are referred to as sisters, sometimes as two separate people not related, or sometimes as the same person. I took that basic confusion and said, ‘All right, they will be two separate people.’ I did make them sisters, that way everything that happens to Heracles’ relationship with Antiope and Hippolyte after the rape and capture of the Amazons can be justified by having those two women separate into two separate Amazon factions.

Everything that mythology wrote about Hippolyte and Antiope is what happened to Antiope—it freed me to use Hippolyte on Paradise Island without having to contradict the legends as written many years before I ever got around to it. So the research really helped a lot in actually devising a clear way of keeping the Amazons true to their mythological roots, yet individual. They are DC’s Amazons, with mythological roots based on the stories written by Hesiod and other writers, yet still free enough that I can use them without being tied down to those myths.

I redesigned the gods because we wanted the book to look different. I decided to do the gods new because I wanted them to be uniquely Wonder Woman’s gods, as opposed to my Titans gods. I didn’t want even a Titans crossover. These—they were unique unto themselves.

There are certain things that are unique about the gods, as opposed to the Amazons.

The gods, even though they still have all the accouterments of ancient Greece, that’s by choice. If they were to come to man’s world, they’ve seen man’s world progress; it wouldn’t be alien to them, unlike the Amazons, unlike Diana. They know if they go into a city, they know exactly what everything in the city is. It wouldn’t be strange to them. And using that as a jumping off point, it makes for a different point of view for the gods... they’re not strangers in a strange land, they’re superior beings in a strange land—not much different from the superheroes.

It was an author named Raymond Feist who made an offhand comment that physical laws shouldn’t apply to the gods and they probably live in a world like an M. C. Escher painting. Suddenly that clicked in my head and I redrew the panel where Ares is in front of the court of Zeus. I redrew the entire floor so that it looked like it was going every which way and proceeded to follow through with that in the designs of Mt. Olympus. 17 The Escher thing became much more apparent in issue #7, where I decided these were Gods, they don’t have to work under the same rules men do... so they can walk on an Escher drawing, basically, with absolutely no problem whatsoever. When Olympus is reborn in issue #7, it’s much more visually chaotic than it has been heretofore because with the M.C. Escher ideas almost secondary, I’ve gone more berserk, to visually separate Olympus from Paradise Island.

The mythology is now pure Greek as opposed to the amalgam [of Greek and Roman names] that [creator] Moulton and all the people that followed him used. 18 Prior to her changeover, we had all these contradictory mythologies existing in her life, with her named after a Roman god yet supposedly a disciple of Greek gods, and even her constantly yelling ‘Merciful Minerva!,’ who was a Roman god. 19 Moreover, there’ll be no technology on Paradise Island. That was something Greg came up with, that it would be a pure society where modern technology hasn’t been created because they have everything they need as far as being able to heal, to master the beasts of the field and so forth. No purple ray, no robot plane.

17 18 19

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A Wonderful Queen Pérez did a new rendition of Hippolyta for the series, adding many Grecian details. From Who’s Who in the DC Universe Update ’87 #3 (Oct. 1987). Art by Pérez, colors by Anthony Tollin.

TM & © DC Comics.

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The Amazons themselves are immortal there, but Diana—being a clay statue and all—is not when she comes to man’s world, she will be somewhere from 22 to 24 Earth-years old, and the only Amazon not to have spent centuries on Paradise Island. Unlike all the other Amazons—who came to the island from Europe thousands of years ago—she is the only who has never seen a man.20 • George reimagined longtime supporting characters Steve Trevor and Etta Candy.

When Greg Potter was writing the book, he did have Steve Trevor come in and he was now a United States Air Force colonel, so I kept that. I didn’t particularly care for Steve Trevor... but aging him was something I decided to do. And, in future storylines, one of the things I resolve to do is probably resign Steve Trevor’s commission; he will leave the United States Air Force to get rid of his military standing.

Etta Candy was totally introduced, reintroduced by me; there was no Etta Candy listed in Greg Potter’s entire overview of Wonder Woman.

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AHPS #3 – Mark Waid

Etta was brought in as a nostalgia piece because I wanted someone who did not look like a standard comic book female. Someone who would not be a source of ridicule, either, which is the way the original Etta Candy was—a young fat girl, who was there for comic relief.

Etta Candy, my version, is not comical relief. She has wit, she has soul, she is not there strictly to act as a buffoon. And her being made into the military attaché, I took that straight out of the original TV series of Wonder Woman based on Beatrice Colen playing the role of Etta Candy, where she was General Blankenship’s attaché. I wasn’t tied down with past continuity as I thought I might be; with Wonder Woman, I’ve had a lot more freedom than probably others have had with their character’s revitalization.

• Because there was a real-life Diana, Princess of Wales in England, Pérez had a bit of a tricky time with his decision not to have a secret identity for Wonder Woman, who in previous continuity had been named Diana Prince.

As of issue #7, Diana is Princess Diana, there is no Diana Prince; there is no reference to her as Diana Prince, other than her press agent trying to establish that maybe we should give her a different name so that she isn’t confused with another Princess Diana... And Diana says there’s no reason why she should hide under a mask. So Diana Prince does not exist in the new Wonder Woman legend.

• In previous continuities, Paradise Island was the hidden home of the Amazons. Under Pérez, the island was renamed Themyscira, and its existence was eventually revealed to the world.

Diana tells about it. I also establish that she uses the winged sandals of Hermes to get from the island to man’s world; only that way can she get there. You cannot fly over it, except in the case of Steve Trevor who was mystically done, because he got there through Ares. But no one can just fly to Paradise Island. And no one can fly out of Paradise Island. Diana is the only one who can do that, other than the gods. I’ve given her—again taken from the mythology—the winged sandals are Hermes’ gift to her so she can now travel without him from one place to another.

I didn’t map Themyscira out rigidly because I like the idea of a certain amount of freedom. I did do an establishing shot looking down so we knew where the main buildings were, but I didn’t show the entire island—not only to free myself, but to free anyone else who ended up taking over the series afterwards. You saw the one side that had all the buildings, but you never saw the other side. When I wanted a scene with a field and there’s no room with all the buildings on top of each other, it was on the other side of the island. That’s where they always went on Gilligan’s Island—the other side of the island. [laughter] It left things open. In my mind I had certain set places I knew I would always go back to—the infirmary, the oracle’s chamber, the queen’s palace, and the hallway of fallen heroes. There had to be an “other side of the island” because that’s the only way to explain the cave where the demons were. 21 • Pérez chose to make Diana’s age a mystery, partially to avoid romantic entanglements with Steve Trevor, whom he based physically on actor Ed Harris.

An Unused Rarity!

This piece from 1990 was intended as promotional art for War of the Gods, in its originally conceived form. It was never published by DC, although some elements of the background were changed and reused on the cover to War of the Gods #4 (Dec. 1991).

TM & © DC Comics.

I would figure she’s somewhere in her early twenties. Initially they had definitely nailed her down to something like 24. In fact, I believe in the preview insert that they had of Wonder Woman inside Man of Steel #6, they did state her age as 24. I had that caption deleted in the final printed book because I did not want a definite age to be pointed out. She could be anywhere from her twenties or she might be a woman who has managed to keep... who does have some immortality. I like the idea of her being in her twenties ’cause it frees me for another bit of plot contrivance that’s being handled in the 21

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special “God’s Trial” storyline that would not be available to me if she were much older than, say, 24 years old. Also, I did want to firmly establish she is an infant by Amazon standards, and that she is even chronologically much younger than Steve Trevor.

There is no romantic link between Steve Trevor and Diana at this time. It’s like, he is a male supporting character; I’m not going to make him a strong male supporting character and I seem to be succeeding. But he’s not going to be a Lois Lane character for his distaff Wonder Woman type. And also, Steve has become a strong enough character that he can stand on his own… Cary Bates is using Steve Trevor in a Captain Atom story.

• Pérez established Diana’s home base as Boston, and gave her a much older female mentor with Julia Kapatelis, and someone to worship her with daughter Vanessa Kapatelis. This allowed Pérez to play with three ages of women in the stories.

Julia and Vanessa will be continuing characters. Originally when I suggested a female character, again in Greg Potter’s original version—Greg had a male character find Wonder Woman, in fact it was a priest—and it didn’t fit well with me... I really wanted a female role model for Diana on man’s world. So Julia was brought in.

And initially before I brought her out, when she was just a character in discussion, Karen had suggested that we need someone to kill off in a grand scale during the battle with Ares, that the character Julia was going to be killed. But after the first issue, introducing the character and with the way I brought her in, the way I discover her, and the way Len fleshed her out with the dialog, Karen and everyone who read the character fell in love with Julia Kapatelis and there was no way she was going to be slaughtered any time soon. She is going to be around for an extended period of time, as a major supporting character. She acts initially as Wonder Woman’s guide to man’s world. Beyond that, there’s not... there are certain things that will be dealt with, including that psychedelic, deja vu sequence that she went through in issue #3, her introduction, which touched a talisman, that will be further explained in the series.

In the case of Vanessa, I definitely want a young girl’s perspective on Wonder Woman. Someone who would be seeing her strictly from a young girl’s eyes. And Vanessa becomes a valuable perspective there. She’s a typical teenager about 14 years old, into rock stars, into fashion. Her first reaction to Wonder Woman, when [Vanessa sees she’s] going to be staying with her and her mother for a while, is that she doesn’t want her boyfriend to see Wonder Woman! When a woman looks like Wonder Woman it makes a young girl feel a little less secure, particularly at 14. Vanessa’s really discovering guys, she’s a little gawky, her feet are a little big, she’s not exactly amply endowed. All the little things that bother a growing child. 22 • Without Julia to kill, another new character had to play the victim: Matthew Michaelis, and it enabled Pérez to explore concepts that comics don’t usually touch upon.

Michaelis is the sacrificial lamb; Michaelis will be the one killed. I did not want him to die—which he does at the end of issue #6— and not have ramifications. He was a friend of Steve Trevor’s. I do have a shot in issue #7 where Steve is reading about services for Michaelis and he is very wounded by the death of his friend. Death is not something which someone takes lightly. I also want Diana to explain what the feeling of “loss” is—this is an idea that came from my wife. So there is a meeting with Mrs. Michaelis and with Diana, with Julia acting as... not as interpreter; Mrs. Michaelis would also speak Greek anyway, but just basically there as moral support, since she was also there.

22

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Mother and Daughter Julia Kapatelis and her daughter Vanessa Kapatelis became Wonder Woman’s sisters in Boston. From Who’s Who in the DC Universe Update ’88 #4 (Nov. 1988), art by Pérez, colors by Tollin.

TM & © DC Comics.

It’s the first time that Diana, up front, has ever experienced loss, has ever seen someone experience loss. During her lifetime no Amazon has died. So she has never experienced a personal loss; now she can understand what her mother was afraid of if she had died. She’s never experienced that before. And she will cry because she’s never seen anyone go through that. It will make Julia start to reminisce because she is a widow... and also it will establish a knowledge of something that Diana is unfamiliar with, and that is the bonds of marriage. She sees… she made the comment about the ring in issue #5, I think, about the wedding ring that she saw Michaelis wear, that she also noticed Julia wore a similar type of band. Marriage is something she’s unfamiliar with firsthand. Again, she might have been taught some of this, because of teachers, obviously knew about a form of marriage according to the Greeks, ancient Greece. But these are all new things to her.

At a point in issue #8 where she’s going to go to the military so she can prove that all the things they said about her are true… she can deflect bullets, she can lift a tank—although not clear over her head the way Superman can, she can lift a tank and tilt it over, but I don’t want to make her too strong… Before she does the military thing, she prays. Prayer is obviously something very important to her—it’s part of her... her makeup, and she prays to the gods. Like she would if she were going to the beginning of a contest… Religion is very strong for this character.

• Using Boston meant Pérez had to build up a reference file on the city; in the pre-internet days, artists either had to visit a city to take photographs, or find reference in books and magazines.

One of the reasons Wonder Woman was set in Boston was because the original writer, Greg Potter, was from that area. He wanted Wonder Woman there because he knew the area. But when I took over the writing, there was no reason for her to be in Boston now.

Except for the fact that it gave me a challenge. I had to draw a real city! It meant going to references; making sure that I got at least the

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feeling of Boston in there. And thus, I thought I became a better artist for doing that and the series developed a sense of verisimilitude it might have lacked otherwise.

I try to make the buildings look like real buildings. I use photo references—if a scene takes place in New York, I try to use real places in New York. In Wonder Woman, once we said she was based in Boston, I couldn’t make it just an anonymous city—it had to be Boston or else why put it there? That kind of dedication to research and reference has made my work more complex, more real—-and a hell of a lot slower.23 • The God Ares was the first villain in Pérez’s run (not unlike the first Wonder Woman feature film), but Pérez decided to use him sparingly.

I have no future plans at this point for Ares. Again, he’s like Trigon and the way Galactus actually should have been initially, is that he’s a little all-too-powerful. Ares went berserk in this series. And that gets taken care of in issue #6. Beyond that, I don’t want to play with Ares as a major character too much because he is just way too powerful. In issue #6 Wonder Woman does not beat him; he beats the living crap out of Wonder Woman. And Wonder Woman realizes she could never beat him in a hand-to-hand confrontation. So she 23

beats him in the only other way that’s been given to her—her wisdom, her knowledge, her savvy. She’s not Superman, she doesn’t fight with her fists, ’cause fists first is not the way she was trained. She prefers not to fight if she can avoid it. And her wisdom, the use of her lasso, is what wins the day for her.

She beats Ares not by really beating him, but by showing him that he’s nuts if he continues on the path he’s going. If he allows man to destroy himself, all his worshippers are gone. If he gets such an enormous high from the ultimate destruction, then he has absolutely nowhere to go from there. Suddenly he will no longer exist, ’cause there’s nothing to keep his existence anymore.

And she convinces him of this, and that’s what makes her unique in the story. I did not build up a gigantic fight, although she herself initially does try it—she initially thinks that she has been given this power by the gods so she can defeat Ares, and the gods could never give her that much power without making her a god.

So, she does not beat Ares in a one-on-one fight. She cannot. And that was the one thing that made that ending unique, and I was proud of and the reaction was very favorable is that it kept a very strong internal logic to Wonder Woman. I did not grab powers out of a hat, I did not suddenly concentrate so much on making her look good that it jeopardized the actual essence of what I wanted to do with the character.

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In her defeat was the actual victory. She learned from that—might does not necessarily make right—and that’s something she’ll always be professing. It is the reason why she’s not and will never be a member of the Justice League. In Legends she was asked and she turned it down—as explained in issue #8, she cannot join an organization that seems to be there solely because they want to fight crime. They’re looking for crime. She’s out there trying to prevent crime from ever happening… trying to teach love, trying to teach respect for each other... being a member of the Justice League is not her idea of what her mission is on this planet.

• Pérez made Wonder Woman’s mission of peace and love integral to the series as he moved forward. His “one year” on the series was stretched as he committed to another year…

She is there to teach the good of the Amazons to man and to learn and teach the good of man to the Amazons.

The Amazons are obviously very narrow-minded and prejudiced against man because of what had happened to them many centuries ago. But Diana, having never experienced that, is the ideal person to be openminded.

So she’s there as an ambassador, more than anything else. She’s not there as a crimefighter, and that’s the main essence of Wonder Woman.

When she does fight, it will be because she has to. She [may be] confronted by weird yo-yos, but she herself will not go out and be deputized to fight crime. She’s there to prove to men and women the pureness of her cause, the Amazon cause, which is equality, the inherent good in all

Early Amazon Portrait Pérez produced this gorgeous inside-cover pinup for Wonder Woman #300 (Feb. 1983), years before he would take on the adventures of the Amazing Amazon!

TM & © DC Comics.

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man. She is not there to fight crime, she’s there to be positive role model. She’s a teacher, and she’s a student. She teaches equality, fairness, beauty, love, wisdom. She is there to teach man what he was fated to be. She’s there to enhance man. Batman has his own reason to fight—he’s basically self-centered. He’s a driven man. Superman has a touch of a messianic complex. She is there to fulfill Man. She’s not there as a projector, not there as a holierthan-thou person.24 One thing I’m having a good time with is, again considering the name of the series, introducing a large army of interesting female characters and making them definitely individualistic. Julia has gotten a lot of good comments; I’m very proud of that. Vanessa, they like to see, does come off sounding like a regular young girl, pre-teen. And there’s a new character, Myndi Mayer, who is Diana’s publicist; she needs someone to spread the news... Diana can’t be everywhere.

money trying to trademark that. So, fine, I played with that, but unfortunately changing the [character’s] name took away the inside joke aspect. It doesn’t look exactly like her; I didn’t use a photograph or anything, but the short hairstyle, the brown hair, it was definitely meant to be a Jenette Kahn type.

• Pérez created a different look for Diana than she had previously had, and had her speaking Greek in many of the early issues! He also made clear attempts to have diversity in the looks, ages, and races of the Amazons.

I was convinced that I wanted Princess Diana to look like she was not an American woman. She was a Greek! And I wanted to make at least some attempt at making her look a little ethnic. Wonder

It’s a good feeling. I like working with characters as characters. And of course Etta Candy, I can’t forget her. That’s the thing I’m proudest of—making interesting female characters in the book.

• In addition to her regular costume, Pérez would introduce alternate costumes, including callbacks to earlier continuity, and armor… predating the gold armor in the movie Wonder Woman 1984 by over three decades. He also made a decision about her boots.

Part of her armor is the costume she wears; she has to wear that.

Full armor she would wear only on occasions when she’s going into major battles. She’s wearing that initially for the ‘‘God’s Trial’’ sequence. I also, in issue #7, had introduced a casual outfit which she wears, which basically looks like what the original Wonder Girl costume was, with a loose tunic and a golden eagle on it.

And, instead of the star-spangled trunks, she actually wears a skirt similar to the original skirt that Wonder Woman wore when she was introduced. With lace sandals. So she does have a variation on her costume. She has three versions of her costume: the standard costume, the armor that goes over that, and the casualwear she wears on Paradise Island.

I definitely thought that, well, for her character, she wouldn’t wear high heels, it doesn’t make any sense for the character. But privately, hey, I’d prefer Diana in stilettos six inches high any day!

• A scene in Wonder Woman #4 (May 1987) sees another character, newspaper editor Carole Bennett, give Wonder Woman her name, based on what she thinks the design on her chest means.

When Len wrote the script he changed the name I wanted to put in there. He changed it to Carole Bennett, which might or might not have been a takeoff on Carol Burnett’s name. But that’s not the name I put in. Originally, it was Janet Kane, or something similar to that... it was an inside joke on Jenette Kahn who came up with the idea of the double-W design instead of the bird. Now I’ll have to explain the double-W design because Diana could not have spoken English since she’d just gotten there, so why is she wearing that? And this character is the one who decides that that is a double-W as opposed to a stylized bird—which is what it actually is, with different origins— but that will all be explained in the storyline starting in issue #10.

Originally, it was just an inside joke.

We’re stuck with the double-W. It was an unpopular decision when it was originally done... everyone likes the bird, the eagle on the breastplate, so none of us liked it. And the double-W, when not drawn correctly tends to flatten the character out. That’s one of the things I couldn’t change in Wonder Woman’s costume; they’d spent too much 24

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An Anniversary Salute For the 10th Anniversary of Wonder Woman vol. 2, Pérez returned to draw the cover to Wonder Woman #120 (Apr. 1997). Colors by Trish Mulvihill.

TM & © DC Comics.

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Woman’s hair I made into waves and curls instead of her rather straight hair she had before. I thought it made her look more Greek and it was a lot more fun to draw. A lot more fun for me, a pain in the butt for other people. 25 And I had an island filled with women that I had to try to make sure did not look like I was drawing the same face over and over again.

Hey, it’s like a beauty pageant. A lot of these women look alike, but you could tell they are different women. And that’s what I always have to pay attention to. I took even greater liberties in the case of the Wonder Woman cast, creating an ethnic mix within a Greek island; figuring that some of the women they managed to recruit from other places on their raids, although I never quite said that.

A woman could have a slightly more aquiline nose, or her cheekbones might be a little too roundish, but they’ll still be attractive because the Amazons are described as beautiful women. But just because they’re beautiful women, they don’t all have to look like Barbie.26 Having a female editor, having a wife who will give me an opinion when I ask for it—and sometimes when I don’t—and with a female publisher, I felt, “Okay, I’m in the perfect atmosphere. If I’m going to do Wonder Woman right, as long as I’m willing to—for the lack of anything but a horrible cliché—’explore my feminine side,’ I can get this book right for the audience I intend to lure.)

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• DC sold the Wonder Woman series based on Pérez’s name and popularity with fans. Luckily, sales on the series spiked.

I have a very, very big stake in the book, not because of the financial consideration of whether it sells or not. But it’s one of the few times where I’ve gotten onto a book where my name is being used as a major selling point of the product. It’s not a book that will sell itself, or where the concept will sell itself. So I have to do my best work on it, even if it means putting my fingers in a lot of pies. 27 Sales are better than anyone thought the book ever had a right to. Sales are doing well—not comparable to Superman; in fact, last I heard, it was maybe a little less than half the sales of Superman—but when you consider we are talking about Wonder Woman compared to a John Byrne version of the Man of Steel, we are talking about a phenomenal rise in its sales figures.

I believe one issue of Wonder Woman now probably outsells four or five issues of Wonder Woman in its original run. The book is doing very well. It’s outselling so many other books, particularly DC’s own line. It outsells the Titans, it outsells quite a number of books now. It is one of DC’s better sellers and, thankfully, the company has a lot of better sellers now.

• At a time when comic companies were under fire for whether they should have ratings or labels on their books, George made the decision that his series might deal with real-world issues, but always in an all-ages manner. Even with this, Pérez told stories that dealt with teen suicide, revealed that there were lesbian Amazons (duh), and featured religious discussions.

I would not put anything into a book of Wonder Woman that I don’t feel a child could read. “Mature” is a very subjective case; there are children who are more mature than other children. In the case of Wonder Woman, I think I would have to put, for the sake of responsibility, some kind of message… not necessarily a label, but for the dealers to know that this is going to be a special case, and that they themselves should exercise caution.

I guess in handling Wonder Woman there’s been some scenes that I’ve done which, because of the nature of the book that I’m doing— the fact that I’m doing a standard comic book with a well-established superheroine—I’ve done certain bits of my own censoring. I showed a decapitation, yet I showed it totally in shadow, because I’m aware of where I am.

• Before he took over writing the book completely, Pérez was already discussing the idea with his editor and Len Wein. Issues #15 and 16 (Apr. and May 1988), which introduced a new version of villainess Silver Swan, would be Wein’s last.

Karen talked about having me write Wonder Woman when the time starts getting a little better for it, particularly if I go to breakdowns on the book instead of full pencils because I can’t maintain that schedule anymore. And Len has other projects, he plans to be moving on; Len basically came in to help out with the knowledge that, since I do have the writing bug, eventually I’ll want to write the series myself.

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Claws of the Cat The Cheetah leaps into Wonder Woman #9 (Oct. 1987).

Signed original Pérez cover artwork courtesy of Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com).

TM & © DC Comics.

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All Tied Up

Len’s doing a hell of a job to keep the thing going. He’s also very good at putting my intent on paper; he’s a good wordsmith, and that’s something I have to work on, which is the reason I need time and Len doesn’t—Len has a more instinctive handle on this. But yes, I want to do some more writing as well, but primarily I want to draw more complete work. I want to do more inking on my own, or on other people, because I like the finished look.

Pérez offered a wink at Wonder Woman’s history of bondage with his cover art to issue #19 (Aug. 1988), featuring Circe. Courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © DC Comics.

• Issues #17 and 18 (June and July 1988) introduced mythological witch Circe into the series, giving a chance for both mythical creatures and Pérez to do his first bondage cover for a series that had a past association with bondage and “loving submission.”

Issue #18 will represent Diana’s first actual defeat at the hands of an adversary. She has always managed to grasp victory, if even at the last moment, but here she is defeated. The battle with the Cheetah ended in a draw.

I know I made enemies among the fetish crowd when I made Diana no longer subject to bondage as a means of losing her powers. I got a good gay audience on Wonder Woman, however, which I was very proud of. Because Wonder Woman has been as much a gay icon as feminine icon, and I say, “Hey, I haven’t alienated them either.”

Good! I must be doing something right on this series!

• Issue #19 (Aug. 1988) jolted readers. Titled “Who Killed Myndi Mayer?,” it not only featured a murder mystery of a regular cast member but the introduction of the first gay male character seen in the series. George’s wife, Carol Flynn, helped with the plot.

Lord knows I watched L.A. Law and those types of programs which show the hucksters who manipulate either the law or business practices in order to get their way. I just wanted to do a story that was a straight mystery. The fact that it was done through the character of Indelicato and the book he was writing was just a good storytelling device.

I was also heavily influenced by Alan Moore’s approach to writing by this point and all these unusual approaches to writing and points-ofview. It’s also one of the rare times we see Wonder Woman kicking butt. It was just a nice change of pace and dealt heavily with “nothing is what it seems.”

That led to what is probably my personal favorite Wonder Woman story, “Testament,” a five-page story that appears in Wonder Woman Annual #1 that I wrote, penciled, and inked. If you can’t see an Alan Moore influence there... [laughter] All the dialogue reads totally sequentially, and it’s only when you look at the artwork that you notice that the dialogue is actually switching time periods. What seems to answer a question from the panel before is actually a new scene. 28 • Wonder Woman’s first Annual (1988) featured a variety of short stories, each illustrated by top artists of the time.

The first time I worked with another artist handling my plot and script was the first Wonder Woman Annual—with Art Adams, John Bolton, José Luis García-López, Brian Bolland, Chris Marrinan, Curt Swan— always an idol of mine—and Ross Andru. I had a very prestigious start as a writer for other artists. The biggest challenge was when I got the artwork back. I was doing plot, not full-script, and you always get back some stuff that’s totally different from what you envisioned... and some that is exactly what you envisioned.

have expected it. With the Bolton chapter, he wasn’t the artist originally scheduled for that section. So I got something totally different. The one thing I enjoyed immensely in doing that issue as my first story with other artists is that it forced me to learn to adapt to different styles very quickly. Writing for John was totally different from writing for Curt and totally different from writing for Ross. Ross is a master storyteller, John is an illustrator; it was two totally different approaches to a story. Some artists would emphasize things that you would have handled differently, so that you might have to cover in copy something that wasn’t covered in the artwork.

I think Andru and García-López are the prime examples of that— I got exactly what I was expecting. With Art Adams, I got a lot more cheesecake than I was expecting... but it was Art Adams. I should

Sometimes it can be frustrating. That first issue was so new to me that I was just in awe of it. Working with those men, I was gratified. Other times, you feel that the artist didn’t quite get it right—or didn’t think the way you did. You learn that, in doing a plot, for some artists you have to write a lot more to make sure they know what you’re thinking—because they’re not mind-readers and they’re not you. Some artists understand you right away. 29

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• Pérez decided to do away with the Greek Gods for a while, beginning in issue #21 (Oct. 1988).

The Gods seek the aid of Diana and the other Amazons to destroy Olympus, explaining to them why Olympus has to be destroyed and why they have to leave the Earthly plane. This is a real turning point for the series and for the Amazons because, with the exception of Hermes, none of the Gods will be appearing for at least a year.

Heracles goes with the Gods because after all the years of using his powers for destruction, he is excited to use his powers for creation.

• Setting up Hermes on Earth with Steve Trevor, Pérez was able to humble the god and expand Trevor’s role.

Is she expecting too much from him? When even a real god can disappoint her, was she being too hard on Superman for not being what she thought he was? Diana is confused about her feelings. This is all new to her.

• Superman and Wonder Woman had flirted and shared a kiss in Action Comics #600 (May 1988), co-produced by John Byrne and Pérez. George wasn’t happy with the story and looked to rectify it in the future, as he talked with DC about writing a Superman series in 1989 and the upcoming 50th Anniversary of Wonder Woman.

I really want to play Trevor up a lot more because he is now a troubleshooting safety and securities investigator. He is the kind who would investigate airplane safety, airplane crashes, terrorist activities, etc. He’s going to have a much more dynamic role in the series, and he’ll get into things that ordinarily there might be no reason for Wonder Woman to be involved.

If I can make Steve Trevor interesting, I will have accomplished more in this series than anyone has in the past 40-odd years. I think there’s a lot of potential in Steve Trevor being a character that a male audience will like if handled correctly. I want to show a sense of nobility in Steve Trevor. I do not want him to be a strident military character. He’s like a dove in a field of hawks. He does not believe that nuclear proliferation is the way to solve everything. He’s gotten into trouble because of that, but he’s still a crackerjack pilot, and part of his history, without him knowing it, is intertwined with Diana’s as well. 30 Hermes—from the very first issue you could tell that he was going to be a little more special, because he was one of the few male gods who was spotlighted other than Zeus because he was the leader, and Ares because he was the main menace. I think when I researched Hermes and realized he was also the god of thieves was when I really thought he might be a lot of fun to work with. 31 Hermes obviously has designs on Diana, but he’s going to be acting as such a pompous ass that Diana questions her feelings for him. She’s in awe of him because he’s a god, but when he starts acting so badly, even she has to start rationalizing.

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Fleet Feet The god Hermes became a series regular, as seen on this cover to Wonder Woman #23 (Dec. 1988) and the original art for the letters column header, “Postscripts to Paradise.”

TM & © DC Comics.

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I did suggest doing a graphic novel in 1991 for Wonder Woman, celebrating her 50th anniversary, with Superman as a guest-star. With that story, I would possibly—without sounding cruel because this is the way somebody else phrased it to me—do the Superman/ Wonder Woman story right. I was very disappointed with Action #600.

• Issue #25 (Holiday 1988) found Pérez leaving as the interior artist, with the team of Chris Marrinan and Will Blyberg taking over.

I was earning guaranteed royalties on Wonder Woman. Whatever the sales were, I had a certain minimum guarantee—John Byrne had a similar deal with Superman—in order to encourage us to stay on these titles, as DC was concerned that the novelty value may wear off after a year or so. Wonder Woman did well the whole time I was drawing the book, but I felt that I could do better commercially by going back to the Titans. 32 • Issues #28–31 (March–June 1989) featured both the origin of the Cheetah and a discovery of Antiope’s lost tribe of Amazons.

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It’s got a touch of Arthur Conan Doyle mixed in with Edgar Rice Burroughs. There’s a lot of jungle and lost city type of stuff with the usual “great white doctor,” jungle natives, lost tribes, jungle deities, and so forth. The tribe Barbara Minerva finds worships a feline female deity.

[In Egypt] is a modern race of Amazons who, though not immortal, have descended from Antiope’s Amazonian splinter group. They are very, very malevolent. They live by a very harsh code. They don’t wear bracelets, but rather an insignia that harkens back to a character shown in the first Wonder Woman Annual.”

• The 1989 Annual was another star-studded affair, although this time, Pérez made sure that all of the artists, letterers, and colorists were women!

The first Annual was called “Amazons,” and it really dealt with the history of the Amazons and Diana, and the Amazon part of her persona. The second Annual is “The Game of the Name.” It deals with what the name Wonder Woman—not Diana—means in different parts of society, and the different ways in which that name has been used.

By taking that and “Amazons” together, I fully flesh out who Diana is.

• Writer Mindy Newell joined Pérez to co-script the series with issue #36 (Nov. 1989).

Mindy was a dream to work with. Mindy is obviously a very strident feminist in her ways—a more arch voice sometimes—which I think was needed. She gave me a definite point of view, and I liked Mindy as an individual—she and I were friends—and I wanted to work with her. I told Karen that if I was going to have another person dialoguing I would prefer if it was a woman.

Mindy added a different set of nuances to the characters, but the most infamous was in the Eris storyline when we had the ambassadors and religious leaders of the world go to Paradise Island. As I plotted it, it was pretty strong in dealing with prejudices and misconceptions and misunderstandings and just plain intolerance. Mindy took it even one level further—made it even more strident—and some characters who were insulting became incredibly insulting. I liked it, as did Karen, because that’s the whole point of the story. Mindy was a loose cannon and letting them have it and I was loving everything she was doing.

Karen liked it, it got lettered, and then for some reason, I don’t know how, it got upstairs, and they were concerned that characters were sounding anti-Semitic, that races, religions were all being insulted, that people were going to write angry letters and bomb our offices.

The whole point of the story was that these people were wrong!

The funniest part was when they called in anti-women and anti-Jewish watch groups, meanwhile Mindy Newell, Karen Berger, and Jenette Kahn are all Jewish women and each of them approved the darned story! I think DC might have been coming off a similar publicity nightmare and didn’t want another, so they made a preemptive strike and Mindy was the target of it and her script was pretty much gutted. 33 • Issue #41 (Apr. 1990) found young Vanessa Kapatelis going through a rite of womanhood.

This is, as far as I know, the first comic book to deal with a child’s first period. We’re handling it as tastefully as possible, but she needs to deal with that.

• Issue #45 (Aug. 1990) was the debut of Wonder Woman’s first monthly credited female artist, Jill Thompson. Issue #46 brought in more real-world issues with a story titled “Chalk Drawings,” which saw a teen girl that Vanessa knows commit suicide.

I may not have played to Jill as well as I could have. Jill works better when she can do bigger panels… Jill and I had a difficult time 33

Modern Masters

Apple of Evil The cast from Themyscira is reflected in the poisoned apple of Eris, the goddess of Discord, on this cover to Wonder Woman #37 (Dec. 1989). Art by penciler Chris Marrinan, inker George Pérez, and colorist Carl Gafford.

TM & © DC Comics.

working with each other. She was trying to compromise for me and I was trying to compromise for her, and while I thought she gave a real sense of design and elegance to Wonder Woman that she’d been missing, I think she and I didn’t mesh well. And that’s probably my fault more than hers because she had a certain style, and I had a hard time writing for her. I was giving Chris the same type of plots that I gave myself, which meant very complex, lots of panels on a page. Jill was trying to find her voice with Wonder Woman, and I really wasn’t letting her do it. She wasn’t involved in the storytelling, so we really didn’t talk much. Again, that’s my fault. I should have opened communications. Jill and I are good friends and she won’t be surprised to hear me say this— in fact she’d probably say the same thing about me—I loved the look of it, but it was harder to find my Wonder Woman in there.

There was some good stuff, though—when she went to man’s world there was some nice stuff there. And “Chalk Drawings” was much more of a story that Jill really could handle because it didn’t have the Pérez bombast. It was a good, quiet story, and I think Jill and I

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worked really well together on that one. And Mindy Newell handled the dialogue marvelously.

[Editor’s note: An interview with Mindy Newell about this important issue follows on page 77.]

Karen and I liked doing socially relevant stories, so I told her I really wanted to do something with teen suicide. She thought I was building up to the suicide of Eileen, Vanessa’s girlfriend, who did seem to have a somber look towards life with her father and having to take care of her brother. She looked like the logical choice. But I wanted to turn it around to the girl who had everything. She had high standards to constantly live up to, and Eileen was so used to her life she knew how to survive and was determined to survive.

• Pérez had an exclusive contract with DC until August 1990, which coincided with Wonder Woman’s 50th issue. But Pérez decided to stay on for one more year, intending to lead into a Wonder Woman–themed crossover called The Holy Wars.

I had done some study, and Mindy Newell, who was a nurse, knew a lot about the psychology of suicide, so that’s why that story ended up being such a strong one. My favorite little scene—and I don’t remember where I got it from—was the idea that since she killed herself in the garage her parents have yet to go back in there.

I got the idea for the title, “Chalk Drawings,” from a trip to the fair and seeing a beautiful rendering on the pavement and knowing full well that it was going to be washed away. 34 34

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Holy Wars deals with the pantheons in the DC Universe going at each other to stake their claim on Earth, to gather all the religions into one.

By religions, I mean the mythologies. I’m not going to be the Salman Rushdie of comics, thank you. Holy Wars is DC’s celebration of Wonder Woman’s 50th anniversary. She is the linchpin of the series.

The whole idea of religion and belief is very strong in Holy Wars.

There’s a goblet that figures in the story—the one Heracles used to drug Hippolyte and was given back to her in issue #50. It’s stolen in the course of the story—but its recovery is handled in Batman, mostly because I wanted to do a “Dark Knight and the Holy Grail” type story. There will be crossovers to Dr. Fate as well. I’ve gotten some great help on this from people like Bill [Messner-] Loebs, John Ostrander, and [editor] Dan Raspler. 35 Cynthia Martin is actually doing the art for Holy Wars, following my layouts. I’m actually laying out the pages, full-size, so that the artist knows exactly what the storytelling will be. Captain Marvel will also play a part in Holy Wars, as I explain the Z for Zeus in his name, since he has a mix of Greek and Roman names in his SHAZAM, as well as Solomon, a Judaic name. I have some ideas on handling how they all get mixed together—but I don’t want to tip my hand. 36 • As 1991 rolled on, problems began as Pérez learned he was going to be losing his editor. Tom Peyer transitioned in with issue #61 (Jan. 1992), two issues before Pérez left. Peyer would co-edit War of the Gods (a retitling of The Holy Wars) with Berger as well. George created a detailed overview of the project for other DC creators to cross over with the storyline; he would later find out that for some reason, most of the editors never bothered to send the overview to their DC series’ creators! A planned John Byrne Shazam! (Captain Marvel) series [see BACK ISSUE #12—ed.] also threw the book into conflict, until that series was killed.

It was starting in Wonder Woman towards the end, particularly when I started losing Karen Berger when she had to go on maternity leave. I just started slowing down. The spark was dimming.

I knew I was not going to be drawing War of the Gods… I plotted it out with all the tie-ins I wanted to have and discussed it with Karen Berger. It was supposed to be called “The Holy Wars,” but they thought that was too religious a title. Unfortunately, during the course of War of the Gods, Karen Berger— who was pregnant with her first child—had to take maternity leave. The biggest problem I had was trying to make it a tie-in to the Wonder Woman series. DC might have felt a little less confident about a crossover series centered around a female 35

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The Big Five-0 This ad slick by Pérez promoted 1990’s Wonder Woman #50, but it was never used as a cover or pinup!

TM & © DC Comics.

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lead, as opposed to Batman or Superman or some of the stronger selling characters. We were fighting an uphill battle in trying to do the crossovers the way we wanted to make it work. And by the time the series was coming out, it was quite obvious that, in some cases, I had done overviews that the creators of the tie-in books never saw—the editors never got them to them. So there was a crossover that no one seemed to know anything about.

allowed to do a fantasy-type series within a superhero genre. And that’s probably what I enjoyed so much about it. It was a character that allowed for more fantasy storytelling. It was also more personality driven, there was more introspection, and I still had a mixture of action tossed in there.

I’m most grateful that my time on Wonder Woman, even more so than on Titans, garnered a large female following for my work; which is not that easy in the world of mainstream comic books. The greatest compliment I received in working on Wonder Woman and the fantasy genre was by one woman who actually read the book, and was surprised that a man had written it.

That made me feel quite proud.

In some cases—like John Ostrander and Marv Wolfman—they wanted to cooperate and tried to do the best they could. John was incredibly helpful, including suggesting the usage of [American] Indian gods and tying in with Firestorm. And Marv tried as best he could to tie in with Titans, but for the most part the book was floundering and, for a book that was supposed to focus on Wonder Woman and be the crossover of the year, I was unpleasantly surprised when Armageddon [actual crossover title: Armageddon 2001— ed.] came out as “the crossover of the year.” It was like we were working in a vacuum.

I had something to say with Wonder Woman. Maybe it’s the fact that she was a female character that made her interesting to me. I could explore areas of my own personality that I wouldn’t have been able to explore before.

• George looks back at his five years with Wonder Woman and the legacy he’s left with the character, and whether he would ever return to her.

So, War of the Gods ended up becoming a very unpleasant experience and not what I wanted it to be. Adding fuel to the fire, my disgruntledness led me to be careless with my deadlines, so that the crossovers did not work chronologically. Part of that was bad coordination, the unfortunate placing of an assistant editor in charge to replace Karen, and my own disgruntledness. War of the Gods was the beginning of the end of my relationship with the Wonder Woman character. 37

My run exceeded my initial 6-month commitment by nearly five years…

I cannot let another paragraph go by without acknowledging and thanking my other collaborators in crime, like Greg Potter, for starting the ball rolling. Greg may have left early when the series’ direction veered my way, but he was there first and several of his concepts still Amazing Heroine stand as part of Wonder Woman’s DC’s Wonder Woman reboot was covered in new history. And mere thanks seem woefully inadequate to express my • George looked at War of the Amazing Heroes #106 (Nov. 1, 1986). Cover by gratitude for scripter Len Wein and Gods as a “cursed book,” and Pérez, colors by Dale Crain. inker Bruce Patterson’s contributions it soured his relationship with in making me look better than I was.

DC for some time. In 2001, he Wonder Woman TM & © DC Comics. Amazing Heroes © Fantagraphics.

Len’s words brought life and clarity to returned to the character to comy ideas, while Bruce’s brush added write Wonder Woman #168–169 with writer/artist Phil Jimenez, who idolized both Pérez’s art lushness and sparkle to my pencils. The series would have been a lot and his run on Wonder Woman, and who used significant less without them.38 callbacks to Pérez’s run in his own time on the book. Pérez also returned to the character for a cover and a seven-page story for I think I’ve done all I wanted to do with Diana. With so many others Wonder Woman #600 (Aug. 2010), some Wonder Woman cards having added their spin to the character since my departure it could for the DC Overpower game, and a cover for Wonder Woman never be the same for me. I was blessed with the opportunity of #750 (Mar. 2020). And, he featured her in the JLA/Avengers having a blank slate to work with when I took on Wonder Woman, opus of 2003, and two early issues of The Brave and the Bold in one of comicdom’s most well-known characters—and definitely the 2007–2008. Importantly, director Patty Jenkins credited Pérez’s most well-known superheroine. Chances like that come but very run on the series as heavily influencing the hit 2017 Wonder seldom in one’s lifetime. 39 Woman feature film.

I am eternally grateful to all the creators and fans, past and present, Even though it revolved around a solo central character, hey, I had who allowed me to walk the path to Themyscira… I hope you enjoy an island full of Amazons that I constantly was using. I created a the journey as much as I did—and do.40 large supporting cast… I may as well call it a group book. But it Pérez intro in Wonder Woman TPB was fantasy, and thanks to the support of editor Karen Berger, I was 38 37

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Pacesetter #6 Pérez intro in Wonder Woman TPB

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Everyone Everywhere All at Once The covers to The Pérez Archives by Andy Mangels, produced as a fundraiser for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Pérez drew Andy’s head touching Wonder Woman’s head as a tribute to his longtime friend’s love of the Amazon! Colors

by Marcus Mebes.

All characters are TM & © their respective owners.

A WONDERFUL LEGACY

Throughout his five years on the Wonder Woman series, George and his collaborators brought realism to the character. She was both confident and strong, but also a fish out of water. She questioned social norms and social boundaries and pushed for women’s rights. She defied sexism and objectification of women, while still wearing a one-piece bathing suit. She was compassionate and caring, decisive and strong, and she lived up to her role as an icon. Although she is a trademarked asset for Warner Bros. and DC, Wonder Woman is a dynamic character with a powerful voice in pop culture. In the 80+ years she has been published, nowhere has the influence of her voice been clearer than in the work of George Pérez.

I had a chance to pay tribute to George’s work when I wrote the Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman miniseries for Dynamite and DC Comics. Inspired by George’s second Annual, I actively recruited a female artist, two female letterers, and a female cover artist. I asked the artist Judit Tondora to lay out several sequences and pages as Pérez might have. I wrote a shiva ceremony in the second issue that was inspired by several of George’s stories. And I made two elements match George: He referred to her as often as possible as “Diana,” not “Wonder Woman,” as did I; and, he always had Diana smile a lot. So, each issue, I made sure to include scenes of Diana smiling, and touching others—either to comfort them, or lend them strength, or express her care.

I’m much older than 17 now, the age I was when I first met George. As I write this, it’s been a year since George passed from this plane into whatever comes next. I treasure the nearly 40 years I knew one of the world’s greatest—and nicest—comic creators, and I treasure the over-40 years I enjoyed his incredible work.

In one of our final projects together, The Pérez Archives, we raised over $7,000 for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. George drew my face on the front cover, alongside the faces of so many heroes he had worked on; as a touchstone to me, he had my head touching Wonder Woman’s head.

It was a moment of caring, from a hero, which I will never forget.

76 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

Quotes by Pérez are courtesy of Andy Mangels from interviews for Amazing Heroes, Comics Interview, Sketch Magazine, and BACK ISSUE. Some quotes are provided by and used with the permission of: Tom Heintjes (The Comics Journal #100); Heidi McDonald (Amazing Heroes #106); Mark Waid (Amazing Heroes Preview Special #3); Patrick Daniel O’Neill (Comics Interview #94); Eric NolenWeathington (TwoMorrows’ Modern Masters vol. 2: George Pérez); Tony Lorenz (Pacesetter: The George Pérez Magazine #6); George Gustines (Pacesetter #17); and Christopher Lawrence and Nick Barrucci (George Pérez: Storyteller). Some quotes are also used for George’s introduction to Wonder Woman #1 and to the second Wonder Woman trade paperback.

Artwork and photos are courtesy the collection of Andy Mangels.

ANDY MANGELS is the USA Today bestselling author and co-author of over 20 books, including the TwoMorrows book Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, as well as Star Trek and Star Wars tomes, Iron Man: Beneath the Armor, and a lot of comic books. He wrote the bestselling Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman series for Dynamite and DC Comics, and six Fractured Fairy Tales graphic novels for Junior High audiences, released by Abdo Books in 2021. He has recently written newsstand Bookazines about Ant-Man, Iron Man, The Little Mermaid, and Chadwick Boseman, and has an upcoming Aquaman Bookazine coming. He is currently writing a book about the stage productions of Stephen King, editing a prose LGBTQ+ horror anthology, co-editing The Complete Gay Comix/Comics for Fantagraphics, and working on other projects. Additionally, he has scripted, directed, and produced Special Features and documentaries for over 40 DVD releases. Andy’s Retro Saturday Morning” column is featured regularly in RetroFan magazine!

His moustache is infamous. www.AndyMangels.com and www.WonderWomanMuseum.com.

Pitching In with Pérez:

MINDY NEWELL and

#46 (1990) interview conducted by S t e v e n

Wilber

In 1990, a poignant tale was published in DC Comics’ Wonder Woman. By this stage in the series, writer George Pérez was joined by fellow writer Mindy Newell, who jumped aboard with issue #36.

Together, Pérez and Newell reintroduced Eris, the Goddess of Discord, and the first envoy from the outside world to Themyscira, home of the Amazons. Princess Diana’s adopted family in Boston, Julia and Vanessa Kapatelis, had already visited the isle of paradise, but that didn’t mean they would be unaffected during Newell’s tenure on the series. With issue #46 (Sept. 1990), Vanessa’s best friend, Lucy, killed herself in a surprise twist. Here was a popular young woman from a well-to-do family who decided on her own that she had nothing left to live for. Lucy’s death would deeply affect Vanessa, Julia, and Diana.

While a tale of tragedy, Wonder Woman #46 was written in a way that captured innocence and love, trademarks of the series that still speak to fans today. BACK ISSUE had the good fortune of speaking with Mindy Newell about this unforgettable story, Wonder Woman #46’s “Chalk Drawings.”

– Steven Wilber STEVEN WILBER: Mindy, you were involved with writing Wonder Woman in the mid-’80s before your initial run was cut short because of continuity changes occurring in Crisis on Infinite Earths. You returned to the Amazing Amazon in the follow-up Wonder Woman series written by George Pérez. Can you tell us how your return to the world of Princess Diana came about?

MINDY NEWELL: All I really have is a memory of being in Karen’s [Karen Berger, Wonder Woman editor] office and of her asking me if I would like to dialogue Wonder Woman over George’s scripts. She probably also went on to tell me that George needed to step back for a while as he was overloaded with work, that they had discussed it, and together had decided to ask me to come on board.

Then again, memory is a funny thing, and maybe she called me at home.

Of course, I was surprised, flattered, and knocked off my feet, but, knowing myself pretty well, I probably said something like: “HOLY SH*T!” And then I remembered to say yes.

WILBER: This was a slightly different Amazon Princess than who you had worked with. Was it difficult to get acclimated to a new and improved Wonder Woman?

NEWELL: Are you kidding? I loved George’s take on her!

Seriously, so much of what George did on the book synced with my ideas of Diana—the stranger in a strange land (with Julia Kapetelis as her guide and mentor, a sort of “Oracle of Delphi”), the emphasis on Diana’s Greek and mythological heritage, and her maturation as a woman and a superhero. mindy newell And I loved that Julia had a daughter, Vanessa, on the cusp of child transitioning to woman, experiencing all the anxieties and joyfulness of that transition— eager to become “an adult,” but not quite ready to leave behind the safety net of childhood. Vanessa was a parallel of sorts to Diana, who was also figuring out her path through man’s world.

WILBER: Lucy Spears was a minor character introduced prior to your arrival to the Wonder Woman book. Did George always intend for her demise? Can you recall the conversation you had that plotted out issue #46?

A Tale of Tragedy Pérez’s cover to Wonder Woman #46 (Sept. 1990), which features the heartrending study of teen suicide, “Chalk Drawings.”

TM & © DC Comics.

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 77

Solemn Gathering (left) The Wonder Woman cast gathers to say farewell.

Detail from page 2 of Wonder Woman #46. (right) Detail from page 11, showing Vanessa’s reaction to the suicide of her friend.

TM & © DC Comics.

NEWELL: I think he did. Sadly, I never got the chance to discuss it directly with George, so I can’t comment on that.

I do remember telling him and Karen that I really, really loved that the story focused on the aftermath of suicide on family, friends, and peers, the shock, the anger, the desolation, and just trying to understand What the hell happened?

I’m really trying to remember honestly and correctly… was I the one who came up with the idea that we, the reader, would never really know why Lucy killed herself?

I think I was.

WILBER: Wonder Woman had become a comic book that didn’t shy away from real-world issues, but was there any trepidation about writing a story focused on teen suicide?

NEWELL: No. Not one bit. Except to say that we all—George, Karen, me—wanted to do it right, so if that’s what you wanted to call “trepidation,” so be it. (I hate to use this word in connection to writing about suicide, but I think the word for what we all felt was excited.)

You see, Lucy was portrayed as the “girl who had everything”—smart and pretty and popular, rich— and frankly, something of a “Heathers” to Vanessa, who idolized her and wanted to be her, to the point of following Lucy’s lead, to the detriment of Vanessa’s other friend, Eileen.

And it was Eileen who came closest to understanding what drove Lucy to suicide: Eileen: Lucy was messed up, Ness. Stop blaming yourself.

Vanessa: SHE WAS NOT!!!!!

Eileen: She was. She was lonely. She was miserable.

She was depressed.

Vanessa: HOW DO YOU KNOW? Eileen: ’Cause.

Eileen: I’ve been there. And once you’ve been there, you don’t forget it. And you get so you can see it in other people.

Eileen: I saw it in Lucy, Ness.

That was me, talking through Eileen.

78 • BACK ISSUE • George Pérez Tribute Issue

WILBER: Can you recall readers’ reactions after issue #46 was published?

NEWELL: Remember that “Chalk Drawings” was written pre-Internet, back when comics still had letter columns, so, yeah, we got tons of letters.

Sadly, all too many of them were from readers who had been touched by suicide and were deeply personal.

All of them were appreciative and thankful that we had published this story.

WILBER: In the Further Adventures of Wonder Woman anthology published by Bantam Books (1993), you had a chance to follow up the story when Diana discovers an abandoned baby. She and the Kapatelis Family find themselves in a race to discover the fate of the baby’s mother, and in the meantime, raise the baby. Straightaway, Julia fears for her daughter’s emotional state after Vanessa requests to name the baby “Lucy.” Where did you get the idea to tie these two stories together?

NEWELL: It just felt pretty natural and real, connecting the baby, Vanessa, Julia, and Diana together through the memory of Lucy.

You know, no one forgets. No one really gets past the pain. You just learn to live with it, or die a million little deaths every day for the rest of your life.

WILBER: Any final thoughts on your time writing “Chalk Drawings” or working with George Pérez on Wonder Woman?

NEWELL: As I told Karen shortly after George’s death: One day he said to me: “Single mothers are the superheroes. You are a superhero.”

Oh, George. I will never, ever forget working with you. And never, ever forget how blessed I was to do so.

And with you, Karen.

STEVEN WILBER is a storyteller on canvas and educator in the classroom based in Boston, inspired by his growing 30-plus-year collection of comic books.

We are committed to preserving the real-life stories behind the comic-book stories we once read. While I am this periodical’s editor, I feel more like a curator of a smartly designed selection of stories and art from yesteryear.

You might be surprised to discover that on two separate occasions during the past decade or so, I considered resigning as BI’s editor for new opportunities. But I couldn’t. In the 20 years since BACK ISSUE began, I, like so many of you, have grown to love this magazine. When I work on an issue of BI, I’m among friends. We are family (with apologies to Sister Sledge), our contributors and readers, bound by cherished memories of burrowing through crammed spin racks and pedaling our bikes to the local 7-Eleven for a Slurpee in a plastic DC or Marvel collector’s cup.

So thank you, BI family, for your support of this magazine.

While it’s unlikely I’ll be penning a similar anniversary message in 2043, I am committed to helm BACK ISSUE for the foreseeable future—and wow, do we have some great material in store in the months to come!

20 YEARS OF BACK ISSUE

Batman TM & ® DC Comics. Captain America TM & ® Marvel. BACK ISSUE TM & ® TwoMorrows.

Space limitations in this Pérez-packed issue prohibit the inclusion of my “Backseat Driver” editorial and other anniversary special features, so please indulge me as I use our letters page to reflect on this milestone edition.

BACK ISSUE, since it launched in November 2003 with— appropriately—a cover drawn by George Pérez, has become a safe haven for those who grew up with the comic books of the 1970s and 1980s. Some of you have told me that you look forward to BACK ISSUE more so than contemporary comics themselves. Many of you read BI cover-to-cover—really, can you say the same about other mags?—and you sizzle with anticipation when upcoming themes and covers are revealed.

And guess what? So do I! What fun I have rummaging through the musty pages of Bronze Age comics! I’m not alone, working alongside the talented freelance writers and designers who share my passion.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

The following reference sources were inadvertently omitted from the “Battle of the Planets” article that appeared in BACK ISSUE #129: • Jason Hofius’ Battle of the Planets site: www.battleoftheplanets.info • Battle of the Planets / Gatchaman Wiki / Fandom • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Planets • https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076983/ • https://scoop.previewsworld.com/Home/4/1/73/1016?articleID=160486 • Win Mortimer / Wikipedia • Win Mortimer Trust for Artists / The Life and Career of Win Mortimer And you Battle of the Planets fans will be happy to learn that next year, Jason Hofius will be writing a history of that ’80s animated favorite for our sister publication, RetroFan. It will appear in RetroFan #36, on sale in December 2024.

Next issue: Blast off with the DC Super-Stars of Space! Adam Strange in the Bronze Age, RICHARD BRUNING and ANDY & ADAM KUBERT’s Adam Strange, From Beyond the Unknown, the Fabulous World of Krypton, a Mongul villain history, the Omega Men, and more! Featuring CARY BATES, DAVE GIBBONS, DAN JURGENS, TODD KLEIN, ELLIOT S! MAGGIN, SHAWN McMANUS, DOUG MOENCH, TOD SMITH, JOE STATON, PETER J. TOMASI, MARV WOLFMAN, and more superstar creators.

Re-presenting the cover to Strange Adventures #222

by CARMINE INFANTINO and MURPHY ANDERSON! Don’t ask—just BI it! See you in sixty!

Your friendly neighborhood Euryman, Michael Eury, editor-in-chief

George Pérez Tribute Issue • BACK ISSUE • 79

s.

Find BACK ISSUE on

Adam Strange TM & ® DC Comi cs. BACK ISSUE TM & ® TwoMorrow

Send your comments to: Email: euryman@gmail.com (subject: BACK ISSUE) Postal mail: Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief • BACK ISSUE 112 Fairmount Way • New Bern, NC 28562

THE BEST OF SIMON & KIRBY’S

MAINLINE COMICS

by JOE SIMON & JACK KIRBY Introduction by JOHN MORROW

In 1954, industry legends JOE SIMON and JACK KIRBY founded MAINLINE PUBLICATIONS to publish their own comics during that turbulent era in comics history. The four titles—BULLSEYE, FOXHOLE, POLICE TRAP, and IN LOVE—looked to build off their reputation as hit makers in the Western, War, Crime, and Romance genres, but the 1950s backlash against comics killed any chance at success, and Mainline closed its doors just two years later. For the first time, TwoMorrows Publishing is compiling the best of Simon & Kirby’s Mainline comics work, including all of the stories with S&K art, as well as key tales with contributions

by MORT MESKIN and others. After the company’s dissolution, their partnership ended with Simon leaving comics for advertising, and Kirby taking unused Mainline concepts to both DC and Marvel. This collection bridges the gap between Simon & Kirby’s peak with their 1950s romance comics, and the lows that led to Kirby’s resurgence with CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN and the early MARVEL UNIVERSE. With loving art restoration by CHRIS FAMA, and an historical overview by JOHN MORROW to put it all into perspective, the BEST OF SIMON & KIRBY’S MAINLINE COMICS presents some of the final, and finest, work Joe and Jack ever produced. NOW SHIPPING! (256-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $49.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-118-9

All characters TM & © their respective owners.

DESTROYER DUCK GRAPHITE EDITION

by JACK KIRBY & STEVE GERBER Introduction by MARK EVANIER

In the 1980s, writer STEVE GERBER was embroiled in a lawsuit against MARVEL COMICS over ownership of his creation HOWARD THE DUCK. To raise funds for legal fees, Gerber asked JACK KIRBY to contribute to a benefit comic titled DESTROYER DUCK. Without hesitation, Kirby (who was in his own dispute with Marvel at the time) donated his services for the first issue, and the duo took aim at their former employer in an outrageous five-issue run. With biting satire and guns blazing, Duke “Destroyer” Duck battled the thinly veiled Godcorp (whose infamous credo was “Grab it all! Own it all! Drain it all!”), its evil leader Ned Packer and the (literally) spineless Booster Cogburn, Medea (a parody of Daredevil’s Elektra), and more! Now, all five Gerber/Kirby issues are collected—but relettered and reproduced from JACK’S UNBRIDLED, UNINKED PENCIL ART! Also included are select examples of ALFREDO ALCALA’s unique inking style over Kirby on the original issues, Gerber’s script pages, an historical Introduction by MARK EVANIER (co-editor of the original 1980s issues), and an Afterword by BUZZ DIXON (who continued the series after Gerber)! Discover all the hidden jabs you missed when DESTROYER DUCK was first published, and experience page after page of Kirby’s raw pencil art! NOW SHIPPING! (128-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $31.95 • (Digital Edition) $13.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-117-2

ALTER EGO COLLECTORS’ ITEM CLASSICS

By overwhelming demand, editor ROY THOMAS has compiled all the material on the founders of the Marvel Bullpen from three SOLD-OUT ALTER EGO ISSUES—plus OVER 30 NEW PAGES OF CONTENT! There’s the STEVE DITKO ISSUE (#160 with a rare ’60s Ditko interview by RICHARD HOWELL, biographical notes by NICK CAPUTO, and Ditko tributes)! The STAN LEE ISSUE (#161 with ROY THOMAS on his 50+ year relationship with Stan, art by KIRBY, DITKO, MANEELY, EVERETT, SEVERIN, ROMITA, plus tributes from pros and fans)! And the JACK KIRBY ISSUE (#170 with WILL MURRAY on Kirby’s contributions to Iron Man’s creation, Jack’s Captain Marvel/Mr. Scarlet Fawcett work, Kirby in 1960s fanzines, plus STAN LEE and ROY THOMAS on Jack)! Whether you missed these issues, or can’t live without the extensive NEW MATERIAL on DITKO, LEE, and KIRBY, it’s sure to be an AMAZING, ASTONISHING, FANTASTIC tribute to the main men who made Marvel! NOW SHIPPING! (256-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $35.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-116-5

CLIFFHANGER!

CINEMATIC SUPERHEROES OF THE SERIALS: 1941–1952 by CHRISTOPHER IRVING

Hold on tight as historian CHRISTOPHER IRVING explores the origins of the first on-screen superheroes and the comic creators and film-makers who brought them to life. CLIFFHANGER! touches on the early days of the film serial, to its explosion as a juvenile medium of the 1930s and ‘40s. See how the creation of characters like SUPERMAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, SPY SMASHER, and CAPTAIN MARVEL dovetailed with the early film adaptations. Along the way, you’ll meet the stuntmen, directors (SPENCER BENNETT, WILLIAM WITNEY, producer SAM KATZMAN), comic book creators (SIEGEL & SHUSTER, SIMON & KIRBY, BOB KANE, C.C. BECK, FRANK FRAZETTA, WILL EISNER), and actors (BUSTER CRABBE, GEORGE REEVES, LORNA GRAY, KANE RICHMOND, KIRK ALYN, DAVE O’BRIEN) who brought them to the silver screen—and how that resonates with today’s cinematic superhero universe. NOW SHIPPING! (160-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-119-6

TwoMorrows 2023 www.twomorrows.com • store@twomorrows.com

THE

PACIFIC COMICS COMPANION

by STEPHAN FRIEDT & JON B. COOKE

Author STEPHAN FRIEDT shares the story of the meteoric rise of the Schanes brothers’ California-based imprint PACIFIC COMICS, which published such legends as JACK KIRBY, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, STEVE DITKO, NEAL ADAMS, MIKE GRELL, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and DAVE STEVENS. From its groundbreaking 1981 arrival in the fledgling direct sales market, to a catastrophic, precipitous fall after only four years, THE PACIFIC COMICS COMPANION reveals the inside saga, as told to Friedt by BILL AND STEVE SCHANES, DAVID SCROGGY, and many of the creators themselves. It also focuses on the titles and the amazing array of characters they introduced to an unsuspecting world, including THE ROCKETEER, CAPTAIN VICTORY, MS. MYSTIC, GROO THE WANDERER, STARSLAYER, and many more. Written with the editorial assist of Eisner Award-winning historian JON B. COOKE, this retrospective is the most comprehensive study of an essential publisher in the development of the creator’s rights movement. Main cover illustration by DAVE STEVENS. NOW SHIPPING!

WORKING WITH DITKO

by JACK C. HARRIS

WORKING WITH DITKO takes a unique and nostalgic journey through comics’ Bronze Age, as editor and writer JACK C. HARRIS recalls his numerous collaborations with legendary comics master STEVE DITKO! It features never-before-seen preliminary sketches and pencil art from Harris’ tenure working with Ditko on THE CREEPER, SHADE THE CHANGING MAN, THE ODD MAN, THE DEMON, WONDER WOMAN, LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, THE FLY, and even Ditko’s unused redesign for BATMAN! Plus, it documents their work on numerous independent properties, and offers glimpses of original characters from Ditko’s drawing board that have never been viewed by even his most avid fans! This illustrated volume is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience the creative comic book process by one of the industry’s most revered creators, as seen through the eyes of one of his most frequent collaborators! NOW SHIPPING!

Star Guider TM & © Jack C. Harris.

Shade TM & © DC Comics.

(160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-121-9

(128-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $24.95 • (Digital Edition) $13.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-122-6

THE CHILLINGLY WEIRD ART OF

MATT FOX

by ROGER HILL

MATT FOX (1906–1988) first gained notoriety for his jarring cover paintings on the pulp magazine WEIRD TALES from 1943 to 1951. His almost primitive artistry encompassed ghouls, demons, and grotesqueries of all types, evoking a disquieting horror vibe that no one since has ever matched. Fox suffered with chronic pain throughout his life, and that anguish permeated his classic 1950s cover illustrations and his lone story for CHILLING TALES, putting them at the top of all pre-code horror comic enthusiasts’ want lists. He brought his evocative storytelling skills (and an almost BASIL WOLVERTON-esque ink line over other artists) to ATLAS/MARVEL horror comics of the 1950s and ’60s, but since Fox never gave an interview, this unique creator remained largely unheralded—until now! Comic art historian ROGER HILL finally tells Fox’s life story, through an informative biographical essay, augmented with an insightful introduction by FROM THE TOMB editor PETER NORMANTON. This FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER also showcases all of the artist’s WEIRD TALES covers and interior illustrations, and a special Atlas Comics gallery with examples of his inking over GIL KANE, LARRY LIEBER, and others. Plus, there’s a wealth of other delightfully disturbing images by this grand master of horror—many previously unpublished and reproduced from his original paintings and art—sure to make an indelible imprint on a new legion of fans. NOW SHIPPING! (128-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $29.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-120-2

New from TwoMorrows!

ALTER EGO #184

ALTER EGO #185

ALTER EGO #186

KIRBY COLLECTOR #88

KIRBY COLLECTOR #89

Presenting MARK CARLSON-GHOST’s stupendous study of the 1940s NOVELTY COMICS GROUP—with heroes like Blue Bolt, Target and the Targeteers, White Streak, Spacehawk, etc., produced by such Golden Age super-stars as JOE SIMON & JACK KIRBY, CARL BURGOS, BILL EVERETT, BASIL WOLVERTON, et al. Plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, FCA, and more!

Spotlights ANGELO TORRES, the youngest and last of the fabled EC Comics artists— who went on to a fabulous career as a horror, science-fiction, and humor artist for Timely/Marvel, Warren Publishing, and MAD magazine! It’s a lushly illustrated retrospective of his still-ongoing career— plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more

THE COLLECTORS! Fans’ quest for and purchase of Jack’s original art and comics, MARV WOLFMAN shares his (and LEN WEIN’s) interactions with Jack as fans and pros, unseen Kirby memorabilia, an extensive Kirby pencil art gallery, MARK EVANIER moderating the 2023 Kirby Tribute Panel from Comic-Con International, plus a deluxe wrap-around Kirby cover with foldout back cover flap, inked by MIKE ROYER!

KIRBY CONSPIRACIES! Darkseid’s Foourth World palace intrigue, the too-many attempted overthrows of Odin, why Stan Lee hated Diablo, Kang contradictions, Simon & Kirby swipes, a never-reprinted S&K story, MARK EVANIER’s WonderCon 2023 Kirby Tribute Panel (with MARV WOLFMAN, PAUL S. LEVINE, and JOHN MORROW), an extensive Kirby pencil art gallery, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!

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All characters TM & © their respective owners.

Known as one of the finest inkers in comics history, the late TOM PALMER was also an accomplished penciler and painter, as you’ll see in an-depth interview with Palmer by ALEX GRAND and JIM THOMPSON. Learn his approach to, and thoughts on, working with NEAL ADAMS, GENE COLAN, JOHN BUSCEMA, and others who helped define the Marvel Universe. Plus Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, FCA, and more!

BACK ISSUE #150

BRICKJOURNAL #82

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #32 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #33

ANNIVERSARY ISSUE! Our oversized 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR sesquicentennial edition, featuring BATMEN OF THE 1970s! Exploring the work of Bronze Age Batman artists BOB BROWN, DICK GIORDANO, IRV NOVICK, FRANK ROBBINS, WALTER SIMONSON, ALEX TOTH, & BERNIE WRIGHTSON. Plus: revisit FRANK MILLER’s first Batman story, and more!

Celebrating Disney’s 100th anniversary in LEGO! Disney Castles with MARTIN HARRIS and DISNEYBRICK, magical builds

by JOHN RUDY and editor JOE MENO, instructions to build characters, plus: Nerding Out with BRICKNERD, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

WILLIAM STOUT is interviewed about his illustration and comics work, as well as his association with DINOSAURS publisher BYRON PREISS, the visionary packager/ publisher who is also celebrated in this double-header issue. Included is the only comprehensive interview ever conducted with PREISS, plus a huge biographical essay.

Also MIKE DEODATO on his early years and FRANK BORTH on Treasure Chest!

STEVE GERBER biographical essay and collaborator insights, MARY SKRENES on co-creating Omega the Unknown, helping develop Howard the Duck, VAL MAYERIK cover and interview, ROY THOMAS reveals STAN LEE’s unseen EXCELSIOR! COMICS line, LINDA SUNSHINE (editor of early hardcover super-hero collections), more with MIKE DEODATO, and the concluding segment on FRANK BORTH!

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’80s INDIE HEROES: The American, Aztec Ace, Dynamo Joe, Evangeline, Journey, Megaton Man, Trekker, Whisper, and Zot! Featuring CHUCK DIXON, PHIL FOGLIO, STEVEN GRANT, RICH LARSON, SCOTT McCLOUD, WILLIAM MESSNER-LOEBS, DOUG MOENCH, RON RANDALL, DON SIMPSON, MARK VERHEIDEN, CHRIS WARNER & more superstar creators. Cover

by NORM BREYFOGLE!