Marv Wolfman/George Pérez George Pérez George Pérez/Al Vey/Mike Perkins
Written by MARV WOLFMAN; Art and cover by GEORGE PEREZ
Legendary creators Marv Wolfman (CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS) and George Pérez (FINAL CRISIS: LEGION OF THREE WORLDS) reunite for a lost tale from their classic run on the best-selling NEW TEEN TITANS! This original graphic novel features a mysterious villain playing a deadly game with New York City as the gameboard – and the Teen Titans as thepieces! Twenty years in the making, THE NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES is a can't-miss for fans new and old.
DC Universe | 144pg. | Color | Hardcover | $24.99 US On Sale September 21, 2011
R.I.P. Fabulous Flo
From mirror.co.uk
"Fabulous" Flo Steinberg, the woman who helped keep Marvel Comics running in the Silver Age, has died.
She was also a pioneer in Independent comics in ...
Posted by Vu Nguyen
The
votes are in and you, the fans, have determined your favorite creators
and projects of 2011 (highlighted in bold in each category) in our 30th
annual Fan Awards.
A nominating round earlier in the year determined the top five nominees
in each category, including our two new categories, and the resulting
ballot went online and in CBG #1690. As you’ll
see, the voting was close in many cases, indicating that every creator
and every project was somebody’s favorite. (Only projects with a 2011
copyright date and creators who had work published with a 2011 copyright
date were eligible for consideration.) So, without further ado …
Favorite Original Graphic Novel
Batman: Noel (DC) 28.93%
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century: 1969 (Top Shelf) 25.35%
The nomination round for the Eagle Awards 2012 has now closed. On March
1st the final round for the Eagle Awards 2012 will open. Please click here to open the survey, but hurry as the survey closes on 2nd April.
Once you’ve completed the survey we will contact you using the email
address provided. Please ensure to confirm your nominations otherwise
they will not be counted.
If you want to promote the Eagle Awards Final Voting round on your website please visit our contact page for some banner examples.
Nominees Eagle Awards 2012 Q23. Favourite 2011 Original Graphic Novel
Batman: Noel
Habibi
Hellboy: House of the Living Dead
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century: 1969
Teen Titans: Games
Wondering what to read this fall? Below, please find a list of
some fantastic graphic novels and collected editions scheduled for this
Fall.
(excerpt)
DC Universe titles coming in September 2012:
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: AMETHYST, PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD VOL. 1 TP
Writers: Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohen
Artists: Ernie Colon, Ric Estrada, Pablo Marcos, Alex Saviuk, Bob Smith,
Gary Martin, Romeo Tanghal, Kurt Schaffenberger and Karl Kesel
Collects: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #298, AMETHYST, PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD
#1-12, AMETHYST ANNUAL #1, DC COMICS PRESENTS #63 and AMETHYST #1-11
$19.99 US, 648 pg
NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES (2nd Print) (Nov 2012)
DC Universe titles coming in November 2012:
THE NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES TP
Writers: Marv Wolfman and George Pérez
Artists: George Pérez, Mike Perkins and Al Vey
Just found out that
GAMES will be going into a 2nd printing! I guess the classic Titans
still have an audience out there. Thanks, all! Wednesday at 11:21am
NEW CONVENTIONS ADDED TO MY 2012 SCHEDULE! Jan. 28-29: New Orleans Comic
Con; June 1-3: Philadelphia Comic Con; & Aug. 9-12: Chicago Comic
Con. Looking forward to seeing a lot of my fans in the Big Easy, the
City of Brotherly Love and the Windy City! Tuesday at 8:25pm
This file is posted for new products scheduled to ship to comic shops on 9/21/2011 which include B.P.R.D.: Hell On Earth — Russia #1, Conan: Road of Kings #8, Batman #1, Catwoman #1, Birds of Prey #1, Nightwing #1, Done to Death GN, Star Trek #1, Chew Volume 4 TP, Captain America #3, Daredevil #4, and more.
Amazon.com
is showing off a new cover (note the DC Comics logo and intense
orange). They are selling it for $15.35, quite a deal from $25 retail
(almost $10 off) that you'll pay at the comic book store. I'm fond of
the comic book store, but with these big savings and my limited budget,
why wouldn't I just order it online?
This is one of the few books that I've ordered, despite the fact that the preview pages from TEEN TITANS #100 (Aug 2011)
didn't look that great. The artwork didn't look like George inked it
and didn't look that detailed ... perhaps art from that original time
period didn't age very well.
Marv Wolfman and George Pérez created one of DC best loved versions
of the Teen Titan in the 80′s with the NEW TEEN TITANS. The run was one
of DC most successful titles of the day. In 2001 after Marv and George
were no longer on the title together they crafted a graphic novel called
Games. Games never saw print. A limited edition Ashcan version was
produced in 2001 with unfinished pages. Now 10 years later the story the
fans have been waiting a decade to read is finally coming to comic
shops. Marv Wolfman was kind enough to stop my First Comics News to get
our readers up to speed before the graphic novel ships.
First Comics News: With NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES we are going back to 80s Titans. What’s it like revisiting the Titans?
Marv Wolfman: I’ve written Titans on and off for
years so that wasn’t new or different, but coming back to that story was
special because George was drawing it. I did not write it in my 80s
style nor did I try to, but those who have read it feel it’s just like
the old stories. I think it’s because though the writing style is
completely different the characters are who they are. So it sounds right
even though the writing is stronger.
1st: What’s it like to work with George again?
Marv: Wonderful. We mesh so well. I think we were
both afraid things might have changed (though we’ve still been friends
over all this time) but when we sat down it was exactly like the old
days.
Wolfman, Perez on Top of Their "Games" with New Teen Titans Graphic Novel
by R.J. CarterPublished: August 3, 2011
(excerpt)
Hindsight is 20/20 in this 1980s retro story from Marv Wolfman and
George Perez that seems to have at least some obvious inspiration from
the lessons of September 11, 2001. As someone who's been a Titans fan
all his life (starting in the Cardy era) and who really loved the New Teen Titans series, Games
has a lot to like: the tight, insanely detailed pencils of George
Perez, the unique personalities exhibited once more by my old favorite
characters... Nightwing back in the old high collared circus outfit with
the bat-mask, and everybody actually having outside lives again
(Starfire doing the modeling, Changeling disturbing the peace at Dayton
Manor). I don't remember Jericho being quite the ladies man as
he's portrayed here, and Danny Chase was always someone a bit lower on
my list of preferences, but they all have their roles to play in this
adventure that, I have to admit, takes some rather lengthy and arduous
turns to finally get to a point where it all comes together.
Remember, when you order any of these titles, whether here or at your
local comic book shop, NOW instead of waiting closer to the release
date, you save money AND you save the time of hunting down the issue
after it sells out. To find a local comic book shop, please browse The Master List of Comic Book & Trading Card Stores.
Marv Wolfman and Sergio Aragones. (Photo by Michael Harring)
Wolfman also had his turn answering questions,
and received a couple about the origin and status of the upcoming Teen
Titans original graphic novel “Games” (with George Perez on art). Marv
was pleased to talk about the project and its history.
“Years ago, George had drawn 60-70 pages of the original storyline.
It was semi-integrated with what we were doing at the time – the
costumes were the same but it was a standalone story. Sadly, because
we’re no longer the age we were when we started it, neither of us could
remember what the story was about. So what you have now is actually an
incredibly different story using the same artwork that’s much more
powerful and with stronger villains. We’ve worked some brand new ideas
into it – we knew the basics, we just didn’t remember the specifics of
all the little stuff.
“We only wished – honestly – that we could have done an extra 30 or
40 pages because we had so much fun getting back to this thing that we
had started twenty-five years ago. The two of us getting back on the
Titans for a long-term story…it felt – and George can tell you – it was
exactly the same dynamic we had all those years before. We just fell
right back into it. It felt like such a Titans story that we couldn’t
believe that any time had passed.”
As for the book’s status, he said, “George is done. I’m done. Mike
Perkins, the inker, is two pages short. The lettering is all done, and
the coloring is almost done. It will be out this fall as promised, and I
can tell you George’s work is the best I have ever seen from him. It
is gorgeous.”
The comics landscape is littered with forgotten pitches, ideas
mentioned and long forgotten, and comics that just plain took forever to
come out. However, there’s a select few comics that were promised, but
never released. We keep waiting for them to come out… And waiting… And
waiting. Here are ten comics that just may never hit the stands – at
least not any time soon.
(excerpt)
2. The New Teen Titans: Games
A follow-up on Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s seminal, redefining
run on DC’s teen superhero book, Games has been in progress since the
late 1980’s. For various reasons, the project has been ditched, and
picked back up various times. DC has promised that Perez is working hard
on the book, despite the artist’s health problems, and the book will
finally be released in 2011. Though, that’s what they said in 2010… And
2009… And 2008…
(Vu: www.amazon.com is listing shipping date to February 25, 2011)
As many of you have already learned, The TEEN TTANS: GAMES graphic
novel has been taken off the November release schedule and will be
re-solicited. The fault is entirely mine. I'm afraid that a confluence
of events, including my worsening e...yesight
which prompted the ongoing surgical procedures that I've already
covered here and the bad timing of committing to LEGACIES before I knew
that GAMES' deadlines had been compromised.
With LEGACIES being an
ongoing series, as opposed to GAMES being a one-shot, it was determined
that the monthly series had to be prioritized since my involvement with
that series had already been publicized.
Due to some attendant
light sensitivity issues, my ability to stare at a white sheet lit by
studio lamps was definitely getting a bit difficult, which is one of
the reasons I switched to inking Jerry Ordway for Issue 6. Oddly
enough, looking at pages already grayed by pencils was easier on my
orbs than starting with a clean white page.
In all likelihood, I
will still have several surgeries to get through and, according to my
doctor, the prognosis is good. I will be returning to GAMES after I
finish LEGACIES and will progress as best as I can in between surgical
procedures. After I finish that long, long, long delayed book, I will
request to be used primarily as an inker for the following year (with
the exception of some covers or pin-ups here and there) until my
eyesight is normal (or at least stabilized). After that, I intend to
kick some serious comic art butt!
I sincerely apologize to all of
you who are now disappointed, yet again with the continuous delays on
this decades-old project. I particularly want to apologize to my friend
and TITANS cohort Marv Wolfman who's shown the patience of a saint
throughout all this, even during times when I was too overwhelmed to
return his calls.
I have about 25 pages left to draw and I'm hoping
that, when the book is finally re-solicited (and it will be!) that it
will be at least a tiny bit worth the long wait.
NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES
Written by MARV WOLFMAN & GEORGE PÉREZ • Art by GEORGE PÉREZ, MIKE PERKINS and AL VEY • Wraparound cover by GEORGE PÉREZ
Twenty years in the making, TEEN TITANS: GAMES is a can't-miss for fans
new and old. Harking back to the era when NEW TEEN TITANS was the
best-selling monthly comic series comes this lost tale from legendary
creators Marv Wolfman (CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS) and George Perez
(FINAL CRISIS: LEGION OF THREE WORLDS) starring their fan-favorite
characters just in time for the NEW TEEN TITANS' 30th anniversary!
Set
in the 1980s during the height of the New Teen Titans popularity, this
stand–alone hardcover features a mysterious villain playing a deadly
game with New York City as the game board–and the Teen Titans as the
pieces! Like something out of a time capsule, this never-before-seen
epic is the New Teen Titans story from their original creators that has
never been told...until now!
DC Universe | 144pg. | Color | Hardcover | $24.99 US
CBR News: You drew the first page of "Teen
Titans: Games" more than 20 years ago. Was it hard to get back to the
proverbial drawing board after two decades away from the project?
George Pérez: Yeah, actually. The toughest thing is trying to
remember what the heck was going on it. Since the plot, both versions,
were rather skeletal - which was not unusual for the times. Marv and I
had such a rhythm that I would take a very, very loose plot, which I
believed this time was typed out by me, and then just make it up as I
went along, making the story move and then adding bits and pieces of
characterization. Unfortunately, I was also notorious for not putting
too many notes in, and so, of course, that comes back to bite me in the
butt now. I can't figure out some of the stuff that I've been put in
there. "OK. There's a blank screen here. What was supposed to be in it
and how do we solve the problem that was being set up? I'm not exactly
sure." So that's something that Marv and I will have to work out.
We're
moving along, and Marv has been asking me questions in emails, and some
of them I've been able to remember, and some of them I've been able to
fake [laughs] and others I've had to say, "Oh God. I'm honestly not
sure." But one of the great things about it is that, whatever flaws
there are in the story, Marv is not going to repeat mistakes that we
were probably going to do 20 years ago. So they're corrected. In fact,
he's already come up with certain ideas of how to conclude the story
that actually veer in a slightly different direction than the original
ending, which I think is absolutely fine. And I actually like what he
came up with. It's a very, very interesting twist that I didn't count
on and also will affect how I actually finish drawing the book.
Back
in '87 or so, George and I started the now legendary Titans graphic
novel, GAMES. George drew about 80 pages before going into a small
Titans block. At the same time, I was in a massive writer's block. One
thing led to another and we never finished the story. But now we're
resurrecting the original story, adding a bit of today's magic to it,
and are intending to finish it at long last. We're using the original
plot, with a few tweaks along the way, all of George's original art,
done at the height of our Titans, adding to that brand-new art to
finish the story, and all new dialog. As of today, I've dialogued a
little less than half of it. George is drawing the final 40 pages. Mike
Perkins is inking it. And it is looking incredible. And I, who had been
very nervous about going back to those characters after such a long
absence, am loving every minute of it. Honest to God, I want to do more.
Teen Titans: Games" is a go. Announced today as part of DC Comics'
week long "DCU in 2010" marketing campaign, the highly-anticipated
graphic novel from the original "New Teen Titans" creative team of
writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez will be arriving in the
marketplace by year's end.
(excerpt)
CBR News: The first question is, I guess,
an obvious one, but "Teen Titans: Games" was originally conceived 25
years ago. What took so long to get to today's announcement?
Marv Wolfman: It was a couple of things. We plotted it way
back in 1987, and George drew approximately 80 pages. I think at that
particular point, having come off – and George can tell you this a
little bit better, because it's on his side – drawing the Titans for so
long and being on time for all that time, when most people couldn't
even do a book for a year, he had been on it for five or six years and
he missed one issue in that entire time, and that was planned. It was
actually #5. I think there was a Titan overload at that point, and this
was a daunting task. When we started this – and this was going to be a
hardcover book from Day 1 – no one had ever done anything like "Games."
There hadn't been a 120-page graphic novel about a character or a set
of characters of that sort. There had been books that had been 48 pages
or 60 pages, period, but 120 pages was a daunting task – certainly back
then. We've had some graphic novels that are that long and longer
still, since. So to get back to your question, I think it was just a
bit of Titans overload, and I think George was also beginning "Wonder
Woman," so he really needed a break from the Titans.
A few things to ponder while you recover from the headline and that amazing George Perez cover.
120 pages of classic, New Teen Titans action.
George Perez and Marv Wolfman together again.
So, yes. The OGN will hit stores this year. What more is there to say? Let’s check with Marv, shall we?:
“It’s all the regular Titans, obviously because the story was
plotted back then it’s Troia, in that costume, Nightwing, Cyborg,
Changeling, Danny Chase, Jericho, Starfire, and a number of others but
they’re all there. This isn’t a big surprise. What this really is, is
the uncovered story that had been done at the height of the Titans. And
except for the actual dialoguing, that’s exactly what it is. Because as
I said, George drew 80 of the pages back then.”
It's
no secret that Marv Wolfman and George Perez' version of the New Teen
Titans is my favorite comic book series of all time. But, since their
run, it feels as if no one has really come close to capturing the magic
those two creators had on the series. So, maybe DC Comics needs to look
outside the realm of comics to bring some fervor to these classic
heroes again! Today, I'm presenting my Top Five Non Comics People I'd
Like To See Write Teen Titans.
Yet
again we poll folks from EVERY region of the comics industry to see
what’s on their minds for the past year and what they have in the works
for 2010. We’ve been doing this for a few years and never has there
been such consensus on the top stories of both the past and future
years. As you read on you’ll see what we mean, but you’ll also find
exclusive art previews, publishing news, and some pretty sharp
opinions.
2010 projects Illustrating Marvel’s adaptation of Stephen
King’s The Stand. Inking George Perez on the long-awaited Titans:Games
Graphic Novel
What was the biggest story in comics in 2009? Marvel/Disney
What will be the biggest story in comics in 2010? Colour comics available on the i-tablet
What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2010?
I’m still eagerly waiting to hear if A-ha will be playing any of their
final concerts in The States - if so, attending this will be my biggest
guilty pleasure.
When I think of comics in the 00s I think of:
CrossGen - both the good and the bad….but mostly the good.
The strong emergence of the hardback collection.
Y-The Last Man
Working for Marvel.
It's been awhile but I hope to soon get back into a regular twice a week blogging habit. So what's been keeping me busy?
Work
primarily. I'm finishing a 2-part Brave & Bold as well as a Titans
graphic novel to come out for the 30th Anniversary. Need I add that
it's drawn by George Perez? I'm also writing two different video games,
the first of which has been announced, and that's the DC Online MMO.
For those who know what an MMO is, no explanation is needed. for those
who don't, no explanation can suffice. But let me say it's big. very
big. And the art generated by Jim Lee and the guys at Wildstorm is
simply incredible. Then when you take what I'm doing and what they're
doing, then mix it up with what the people at Sony Online Entertainment
are doing, it's just brilliant.
We're back for another 20 Answers and 1 Question with DC Executive
Editor Dan DiDio, and your questions really got him talking this time
around.
Although DiDio couldn't address the questions you were all asking
about recent news concerning the creation of DC Entertainment, it was
clear that things are business-as-usual at DC, as DiDio discussed
everything from the future of second features, to pricing to some
specific character concerns.
(excerpt)
11) Kooster wrote: Legion of 3 Worlds #5
-- Is there a near-future story about how Alan Scott got trapped in
Sorcerers World? And can you comment on what George Perez is working on
next?
DiDio: There is presently no Alan Scott story that I know about, at least for the moment.
But for George Perez, there's rumors floating around our building that
he and Marv are picking up where they left off 20 years ago on the Teen Titans: Games
hardcover, original graphic novel. And it sounds like that's something
we'd like to see come to completion for a release in 2010.
Nrama: Oh, last time I talked to George about that he had around 50 pages left to draw but didn't know if he'd ever get back to it. It's been a long time coming.
DiDio: It certainly has. But that's why it's still a rumor. We'll believe it when we actually have it in our hands.
Wanted to send you this link for a video interview with the
legendary George Perez from Chicago. We have interviewed Mr. Perez
several times and would like to share this video with all his fans.
Its a good sitdown and he talks about Hero initiative, Games and some new covers he's doing.
It’s long been hoped that the previously-unpublished-and-once-thought-abandoned Teen Titans: Games graphic
novel by Marv Wolfman and George Perez would be completed and published
for next year. Because 2010 would be the 30th anniversary of the New
Teen Titans comic by Wolfman and Perez.
(excerpt)
Perez has drawn at least seventy of the hundred-and-twenty planned
pages (a number of which reprinted below), many of which were inked by
Al Vey. I understand that Mike Perkins has been recruited to ink the
uninked pages and to ink new pages that Perez is working on.
First off, apologies for missing the date a couple of times now.
Scheduling, as it gets closer to convention season becomes more and
more of a bear, but we should be in good shape to hit our
every-other-week schedule from here on out.
As always, thanks to the Newsarama readers for the questions, and keep
sending them in (we’ll be asking again next Wednesday) – without your
questions, Dan and I would talk about the weather and what we saw on
television. Oh, and just one last note before we get rolling – this
interview was conducted with Dan prior to the news Monday of the
Superman strip from Wednesday Comics appearing in USA Today. We’ll hit him up on that topic shortly.
(excerpt)
20. Okay – that’s an issue we could most likely go on and on about
forever, but in the interest of time, let’s try to end on an up
note...something that was brought up on the thread – a reader said that
George Perez had dropped hints that the long-delayed New Teen Titans
graphic novel, Games had been the go-ahead for completion. Has that
happened, and is George back working on it?
DD: It’s back on the table again. One of the reasons we’re
looking at it, like we’re looking at a number of projects involving the
Teen Titans next year because we’ll be celebrating an anniversary for
the Teen Titans.
But yeah, now that George is o close to wrapping up Legion of 3 Worlds, we’re looking at a number of projects for him that will be his next priority.
July 19th saw the release of Justice League of America #0 and Back Issue #17, which includes a previously unseen Starfire/Wonder Girl sketch by George (along with several other Perez illos).
Well, it's time for an all-too-infrequent
update on what's going on at the International House of Pérez. I've
read quite a number of posts on various message boards asking such
things as"When will George be starting on THE BRAVE & THE BOLD?",
"Will GAMES: THE TITANS GRAPHIC NOVEL ever come out?", "Is he working
on the DC character turn-arounds for DC's official bible?" "Will that
art be made available to the buying public?"
Well here are some answers, a few unfortunately vague because, quite truthfully, I'm not sure of the answers myself.
DC's big event books have really put a
major monkey wrench in the production of the monthly books (not to
mention some of the event books themselves). Because of my involvement
in INFINITE CRISIS, which seems to grow with every issue, I've not been
available to start anything on B & B except for the first issue's
cover, which was done months ago in anticipation of my starting the
actual title in November of 2005. That cover was supposed to appear in
the WIZARD issue announcing DC's 2006 schedule of new titles. It was
yanked when it became obvious that I could not start the book until
after my return from vacation in late January so the release schedule
was still undetermined. That vacation, planned over a year ago as a
partial celebration of Carol's and my 25th Wedding Anniversary, also
explains why I will have no interior art in IC #5. Upon my return I
learned that Mark Waid, now heavily immersed in writing his share of
52, had not been able to work on B &B during my absence and will
likely not be able to do so for a couple of months. I'm not hurting for
work, however, as there are plenty of pages to draw for IC 6 & 7,
far more than I had imagined when I agreed to help out on the project.
INFINITE CRISIS' schedule overrules all others for the next two months.
That includes B &B and any art for the DC Bible.
As for the character art for the DC
Bible (not its official name, by the way), I really have no idea
whether it will appear in a published format, although I think it would
be cool if I do a good enough job to warrant such a publication. Lord
knows the royalties would be nice. But, until I can actually start on
drawing them the subject's rather moot.
The official status of GAMES is a bit
more tricky. With all the post-IC work I have lined up, I don't see how
I will have the time to get back on the graphic novel. Quite honestly,
and honesty can be quite brutal, I wouldn't hold my breath on it ever
being released. I know that my wonderful friend and co-creator Marv
Wolfman is still guardedly optimistic on the resurrection of this
project (a lot of that positive thinking having been fueled by me two
years ago when I stated my intent to complete the art), but my
subsequent exclusive contract with DC has prompted the company to
utilize my talents on more current projects aimed at forming DC's
future rather than just basking in the nostalgia of its past. The
completed art in GAMES is over 15 years old, although it does hold up
pretty damn well, in my opinion. I guess it could conceivably be
restarted yet again, but it seems to become more unlikely with each new
DC assignment in each passing new year. For that, I am sincerely
sorry-- For Marv, for inker Mike Perkins who signed a Marvel exclusive
since inking ten of the un-inked pages, for Al Vey, who had inked the
earlier pages over a decade ago, for color artist Tom Smith, for the
fans who have waited so long and whose hopes may be dashed yet again--
and, finally, for me. It would have been nice to put closure to the
project. Oh, and for those who suggested that some other artist or
artists finish the project, I suggested the same thing years ago.
Unfortunately, DC only wanted this as a Wolfman/Pérez Titans story; so,
without me, it's not getting done. An unfortunate Catch-22, I'm afraid.
Still, there is always that small glimmer of hope. After all, what if
I'm done with all my IC stuff and there's still no B & B work
ready? You never know.
I do have some non-IC work down the
pipe, mostly covers. I still have two more JSA covers to draw and I've
drawn a RED SONJA cover for Dynamite Comics (part of an agreement that
pre-dated my DC exclusive) and still have a few covers to draw for that
company. There's also the cover for the final collection of my WONDER
WOMAN work. I've been approached by Wildstorm for a cover, but I
haven't followed up on that yet.
I am grateful that there are so many
fans out there for which my continuing output seems to actually matter.
Thanks for the support, the kind words, and even the critiques. Despite
illnesses and setbacks, I'm thankful for the loyalty and affection of
my fans. Along with the love and support of my wife, family and
friends, it's what gives me the drive to get up in the morning and face
that drawing board and peer into the snow-white blankness of the page--
and make my mark.
Ah, the Titans graphic novel: GAMES.
Marv Wolfman and George Pérez started the graphic novel way back in
1989; Pérez completed about 70 pages before the project was put on
hold. Last year, DC announced the project was revived - meaning Pérez
would complete his pages with a revised script by Marv Wolfman. The
long-delayed Titans Graphic Novel, GAMES, was originally scheduled to
hit shelves by the end of 2005.
So what is the status of the
long-anticipated project? Right now, Pérez is booked up with projects
from DC, and there may not be time to complete it during his contracted
period with them. As of right now, it's on hold once again, and might
likely stay that way. Stay tuned to titanstower.com for any future news
concerning the final fate of GAMES.
Featuring panelists Dan DiDio, Greg
Rucka, VP of Sales Bob Wayne, and editor Joan Hilty, DC’s Saturday
evening “Crisis Counseling” panel at WizardWorld: Chicago offered a
little in terms of upcoming information, a touch in terms of teases,
and more often than not, the phrase, “All will be revealed” to fans’
questions about upcoming stories, endings of stories, fates of
characters, and more.
(excerpt)
• Asked about George Perez’s upcoming
role with DC, DiDio repeated an earlier announcement that Perez would
be drawing the alternate covers to all seven issues of Infinite Crisis
(Jim Lee will be drawing the regular covers). Asked later about the
status of Teen Titans: Games, the original graphic novel by Perez and
Marv Wolfman the two began years ago, and were at one time working to
complete, DiDio said that the GN is on hold for now.
• Asked about George Perez’s upcoming role with DC, DiDio repeated an
earlier announcement that Perez would be drawing the alternate covers to all
seven issues of Infinite Crisis (Jim Lee will be drawing the regular
covers). Asked later about the status of Teen Titans: Games, the original
graphic novel by Perez and Marv Wolfman the two began years ago, and were at
one time working to complete, DiDio said that the GN is on hold for now.
Marv Wolfman
said he had fun reinvigorating the book in 1980 with George Perez. He
praised George as a creative partner who "always brought more to the
table." Marv mentioned New Teen Titans #8 as a particular turning point
in the series. In that issue, George added much to the personality of
the characters, particularly Cyborg. Wolfman said Wonder Girl was his
favorite of the old Titans... But out of the Titans he created, Raven
was his favorite.
A fan asked Marv why he thought the
Titans didn't live up to the popularity of the X-Men in the late 80s,
when it once rivaled them in sales. Marv said he never looked at the
Titans as an X-Men-type concept. "If anything, it was more Fantastic
Four." He said he developed a very 'family' type atmosphere in the
book. Also, he was aware when creating the book, to give it many places
to go. Starfire gave space epics. Raven gave mystical/magic stories.
And Cyborg had more high-tech sci-fi. And so on. That way, it never
gets dull.
Wolfman also cited the lack of spin-off
titles as one reason the Titans never matched X-Men. Also, the
direct-only format ended up making the book less accessible.
When asked about the Graphic Novel
GAMES, Marv answered, "I have no idea what is happening with that." He
hasn't seen any new art.
Friday’s Teen Titans 25th Anniversary panel
at Comic Con International: San Diego saw the room packed as Nick
Cardy, Marv Wolfman, Geoff Johns, Glenn Murakami, and Barb Kesel talked
Titans old and new, in print and animated.
(excerpt)
After introducing himself Geoff Johns
praised Wolfman, saying that his writing has served as an inspiration
and influence on him over the years.
Murakami said that he, like Johns, was a
fan of the Wolfman/Perez comic series growing up, and lept at the
chance to develop the group of heroes as an animated series when the
opportunity was presented to him.
...
Asked about the progress of Games, the
long-delayed in finishing original Teen Titans graphic novel by Wolfman
and Perez, Wolfman said that it will happen when it happens, noting
that Perez needs to finish it first, as it is something Wolfman said he
doesn’t want to write in pieces. “It’s the best Titans George has ever
drawn, though,” Wolfman said.
George Perez, who recently signed a
five-year exclusive agreement with DC Comics, should have no problem
filling that time with work. He's inking several DC projects, including
The Return of Donna Troy, and has tons of offers for even more work
within the company.
“If I were to say 'yes' to every offer
that’s been made to me in the past few months I’d be busy through
2011,” the superstar writer/artist reflected at the Pittsburgh Comicon,
grateful that after 30 years doing comics professionally he is still in
demand, he joked “I'm the pretty girl at the prom.”
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of his
landmark series The New Teen Titans with writer Marv Wolfman, Perez is
currently inking Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez’ pencils on the Return of Donna
Troy miniseries “I‘m getting such an education,” he said. He also
recreated the cover of NTT No. 1 for the cover of this year‘s
Overstreet Price Guide. Plus he's resumed work on the Titans graphic
novel, Games with collaborator Wolfman. Though he isn’t involved with
the Cartoon Network's Teen Titans show's production, he also gets a
percentage of profits from the cartoon and spin-off merchandise. In
fact, between that and the financial success of the long-awaited
JLA/Avengers, Perez has spent most of the past year on vacation, making
up for lost time with his wife, Carol. Time that he lost while creating
the work-intensive JLA/Avengers crossover which, at one point, gave him
tendonitis. “I have not drawn an interior comic book page in nine
months,” he said.
BOOKSHELF Q & A: GEORGE PEREZ
published in WIZARD #165 (Jul 2005)
transcribed by Vu
www.wizarduniverse.com
NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES
(2010)
If you can
name it, chances are George Perez has drawn it, from Marvel's first
family to DC's teen team supreme. Now collected for the first time, two
of Perez's seminal works make it to trade in June with FANTASTIC FOUR VISIONAIRES: GEORGE PEREZ vol 1 (collecting his 1970s work on the book) and NEW TEEN TITANS: WHO IS DONNA TROY? (featuring Perez and a variety of other artists.) Here's what Perez had to say about dominating the bookshelves…
WIZARD: What's your favorite Fantastic Four tale that you drew?
PEREZ: The issue with the Impossible Man [#176]. The fun part was
drawing myself and [writer] Roy Thomas - boy, did I look good in those
days! - and having my comic book self talking to Jack Kirby whom I had
never met and wouldn't meet for the first time until 1985.
What was best about working on FF?
It was a nice learning experience for me. I got to add another
notch in my gun as far as establishing myself as an artist who really
likes doing group books. I was doing Avengers and Inhumans around the same time.
A standout New Teen Titans tale you penciled - #38, "Who is Donna Troy?" -will be included in the new collection. So who is Donna Troy to you?
I think Donna Troy will always be a feminine ideal who's basically
the girl next door that everyone just has to fall in love with. She was
rather perfect in her own way - strong, intelligent, giving, loving and
of course, gorgeous.
But who wins in a fight between Donna Troy and the Thing?
In the long run, it would probably be Donna because Ben would be a
little reluctant to use all his strength at first on a female
character, despite his experience with Thundra and everyone else. That
one brief hesitation is all she needs.
What will your next big project be after the Teen Titans: Games graphic novel?
Nothing specific at this point because Games won't be
finished until the end of the year. A lot of people have been coming up
with a lot of proposals. I'm very flattered that at my age, I'm still
being considered the pretty girl at the prom. [Chuckles] it's very humbling and I'm gratified.
George Perez told The Continuum he is working with Phil Jimenez and
Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez on what he calls "The EZ Project," a
soon-to-be-announced project from DC Comics.
"I'm having the time of my life inking
the incredible Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez," Perez told The Continuum at
last weekend's MegaCon. "Phil is writing and drawing the covers, so I
get to ink him, too."
The "EZ" is a reference to the last two
letters in each of the creators' names. It has been rumored that the
project involves Donna Troy.
Perez is drawing a new cover to a Marvel
Visionaires featuring his run on Fantastic Four. He's also doing three
pages for a 10th anniversary edition of Witchblade and some City of
Heroes covers for Top Cow Productions.
Perez said he will be concentrating on his New Teen Titans graphic novel with Marv Wolfman in May.
"I've got learn to say no. I'm getting
so many great offers," Perez said. "I'm proud to say that after 30
years in the business, I'm still kind of the pretty girl at the dance."
I am currently inking the incredible Jose
Luis Garcia-Lopez on a project written by Phil Jimenez, who is also the
cover penciler, with me inking Phil. Unfortunately, beyond that, I'm
not at liberty to reveal what the project is so I've been calling it
"The EZ Company Project" since all three creators share the same last
two letters in our family names. DC Comics should be making an
announcement relatively soon and it will be a relief to finally be able
to talk about it openly.
Contrary to solicitations I have indeed
drawn the cover for FALLEN ANGELS #20. Due to a mix-up in the
scheduling it initially appeared that I couldn't do the cover, so the
regular team was told to go ahead and draw the cover. When Peter David
found out about that he reminded the editor that the deadlines had been
pushed back and even though the book had been solicited with another
cover, Peter figured few would be bummed out to find that there was a
Pérez cover after all.
I have also drawn a cover for a Marvel
Visionaries book spotlighting my 1970's run on FANTASTIC FOUR. Tom
Smith colored that piece and, as usual, did a wonderful job.
I am currently drawing a variant cover
for Top Cow's CITY OF HEROES #1 and will be drawing the cover for a
CITY OF HEROES novel called "Web of Arachnos". This should be the first
of three covers for a series of CoH novels. And since I just mentioned
Top Cow, I should also announce that I will be participating in a
special 10th Anniversary edition of WITCHBLADE. I will be drawing three
pages written by Ron Marz. And as I draw those pages I will be filmed
by a video crew for TwoMorrows' DVD companion to its MODERN MASTERS
book series.
There have been other offers, including
some covers for Dynamic Forces' RED SONYA and ARMY OF DARKNESS. I also
will be providing a cover for DF's STORYTELLER, yet another
retrospective on my career. (I am definitely being over-exposed). A
cover for ForceWerks' B.A.B.E. FORCE is also on my schedule. There have
been other one-shots I've been offered that I'm not yet free to
discuss, or yet to accept, but after "The EZ Company Project" I will be
primarily focusing my attention on completing GAMES: THE TITANS GRAPHIC
NOVEL. Inker Mike Perkins has already started on some pages and Tom
Smith has 30 pages ready to start so it's up to me to get busy so that
Marv Wolfman can start dialoguing the first half of the book.
Just some tidbits from George at the recent Canadian Comic Expo:
- Mike Perkins will be inking him on Titans: Games, since George was so
impressed with the results of their previous collaborations. The pages
already inked by Al Vey will see print as they are.
- George said that when the convention was over, he would draw his
contribution for Astro City: A Visitor's Guide. (The book is scheduled for
release on October 13th.)
- He drew 2 covers and 5 interior pages for the cancelled Sojourn/Lady Death.
Earlier this week, an item that appeared on George Perez’ fan site sparked some speculation regarding his next DC project:
Here's a little tease about George's next project - Phil Jimenez
writes, Jose Garcia-Lopez pencils and Perez inks... something. George
wouldn't go into any more detail, and I think he wants DC to make the
official announcement, but I thought you might want the heads up.
The project
in question is likely the Troia miniseries Jimenez has been asking for
since he signed his DC exclusive contract. Donna Troy is reportedly one
of his favorite characters, and he’s been looking to “right a wrong”
since she was killed off a while back.
As for Perez, his participation in this
project shouldn’t preclude his work on The New Teen Titans: Games,
which was announced last year. Games will reunite Perez with his
original Titans collaborator, Marv Wolfman.
This Has A “Life After Death” Factor of Seven Out of Ten
Teen Titans: Games, the original graphic
novel by Marv Wolfman and George Perez that was mostly completed during
the team’s heyday on New Titans, was abandoned at the time but will be
finished up -- allowing Perez to complete a bulk of work without having
to draw it all from scratch. The original pages had been sold but have
been loaned back to DC for scanning. The graphic novel has a target
release date of October 2005.
"I read with sadness your comments about Marv Wolfman and George
Perez. It's absolutely outrageous that Marv Wolfman has trouble
pitching his ideas to DC considering the debt they owe him. My question
is this: Is Marv Wolfman's problem related to not being considered
contemporary to current readership or is it an ageism problem in the
comic book industry?"
That's really the same thing, isn't it?
It's funny; thirty years ago, "ageism" was a problem in that DC and
Marvel were letting virtually no young talent in; almost everything was
being written by men in their forties or older, and there was no
audience complaint about it. Comics haven't gone completely ageist yet,
but they tend to pick up bad habits in imitation of Hollywood these
days. There has been a not-so-silent rule of thumb in Hollywood for the
past couple decades – though you can certainly find exceptions – that
in order to appeal to the young (the target audience for most studio
movies, and the perceived natural audience for comics) you should have
the young generating the material, since "they" know what "they" like.
Ageism is something a lot of comics writers have complained of in
recent years, but, again, you can also find plenty of exceptions, and I
know Marv's case re:DC is somewhat more complex than that. (Again, I'll
let Marv elaborate if he wants, but I'm not going to.)
I spotted George Perez at the DC Booth early on
in the convention, but he wasn't listed as a guest anywhere. When I
arrived at the con Sunday at around 10:45am, I picked up the daily
newsletter. I immediately saw George was scheduled to do a signing and
sketching session at the ACTOR booth at 10am. As quickly as I could
weave through the crowds, I found my way to the booth.... to see
someone already had a 'last in line' sign. I wanted to fall to my knees
in comic book fashion and wail: "Nooo!" But I have too much dignity for
that. Really.
Regardless, it was a good opportunity to
talk to George about his upcoming projects... and the Titans Graphic
Novel, GAMES. George said he has a 6-page Avengers sequence to do, in
conjunction with the relaunch of that book. He also mentioned an
upcoming project - still under wraps - where he would be inking Jose
Garcia Lopez. "That will be an education of a lifetime", George noted.
So what's up with GAMES? George believes
it should be hitting stands in the last quarter of 2005, just in time
for its 15th anniversary. Sixty-some pages are pencilled and inked from
those years ago. Some pages are pencilled but not inked. And there are
40-plus pages that need to be pencilled from scratch. Al Vey inked the
original 60 pages, but a different inker will be used for the
remainder; Al Vey's inking style has changed too much in the last 15
years.
I believe that one of the reasons
Wolfman and Perez had the impact that they did was that they were able
to fuse superheroic fare and adapt it to their era. A lot of it is due
to Claremont and Byrne creating a hunger for characterization and
evolving plotlines. Fans looking for more of this were able to latch on
and see something similar. Yes, there were flaws. However, Wolfman and
Perez however brought an intimacy to their work which made me and
others care for the characters. I wasn't around for the birth of
Marvel, but I've heard that a very similar thing happened in the '60s.
As I've heard from so many writers, "Make people care about the
characters and the audience is yours." Wolfman and Perez made fans
care, and saved the company.
I know many people credit Alan Moore,
Frank Miller, and Neil Gaiman for bringing DC critical acclaim. But
where would DC be if Wolfman and Perez hadn't helped save the company
where new visions and talents could develop?
Sadly creative tastes change and time
passed for the Titans. Liefeld, Lee, McFarlane and others became what
fans craved. I haven't seen much from Wolfman in the last few years. It
would be nice if DC would provide him the opportunity to tell his
stories.
I have a feeling many will cringe at
the suggestion that the creators get a pension from DC. From what I've
heard they both received ample amounts of royalties at the time. Much
of what I see on the stands seems to be a modern version of what they
did about two decades ago. The TEEN TITANS cartoon and Geoff John's
TITANS book seem to be heavily inspired by the work the two gentlemen
created. One of the saddest things about this industry is how companies
can dispose of talent once sales start to dip. Reminds me of a
statement Ice-T once made, "The companies don't love me. They just love
that I make money for them. Once I can't make money for them anymore
I'm out on the street." Both creators are working on a TITANS graphic
novel and I'm really looking forward to it. I hope that Wolfman reaches
a new audience and that he can reverse the trend of creators falling
off the face of the earth once they fall out of favor."
Based on my request a few days ago, a couple of questions have been coming in for my Q&A
page. I want to thank you guys for sending them in. The latest one is
about the Teen Titans "Games" graphic novel George Pérez and I are
doing. If any of you are interested in knowing the latest scoop, take a
look. And if you don't know anything about "Games," I suggest you READ THIS
first then read my answer. As for everyone else, send in your questions
and you might get the chance to see your name on the internet, an
exclusive club of only nine billion, collect them all.
We managed to get some time together to
discuss our re-teaming for next year's Titans' graphic novel, "Games,"
and we came up with a really cool way into the story that we're both
completely happy with. For those who don't know about "Games," CLICK on
the "Secrets Of The Teen Titans"
link to the right and enjoy. No, there's no plot giveaways, but there
is some cool repros of a few pages as well as the story of how this
120-plus page graphic novel has been delayed for more than fifteen
years. But it is set to come out in 2005 in time for the 25th
anniversary of George and my first issue.
George-Perez.com have been following the lead from Mark Metz
(email), since October 26, 2003. Also note that the artwork used by Wizard (as well as other websites) was colored by Marcus Mebes.
The inaugural Wizard World Texas
convention is well underway this weekend in Arlington, Texas, and live
from the con floor Patrick James and Omar A. Safi have provided
ComiX-Fan with a wrap-up of news from the first two days.
At the DC Comics panel on Day 1, the publisher revealed a host of news and information as follows:
NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES
(2010)
Writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez will complete their New
Teen Titans original graphic novel from 1987, Games. Pérez originally
completed 73 pages of the project before it was put on hold due to the
artist's increasingly busy schedule. Now, the OGN will include a new
framing sequence set in current continuity that will lead into the
flashback tale. Look for the hardcover in late 2004 or early 2005.
On Day 2, Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada held his regular Cup O' Joe panel in which he discussed several topics.
JLA/Avengers artist George Pérez announced that issue #4 will be
delayed due to stress injury he incurred from the three weeks he worked
on the cover to issue #3. Pérez said that the delay should only be
about three weeks, and the issue should be out by mid-January.
Pérez also stressed that JLA/Avengers has no continuity connections to the previous Marvel Comics Versus DC mini-series'.
You asked for it, DC
Comics heard and is finally delivering a project years in the works,
Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s unfinished New Teen Titans graphic
novel, Games. Announced at Wizard World Texas, Games is a story Titans
enthusiasts have been clamoring for. Perez told THE PULSE, “Marv
Wolfman and I will finally be finishing the other major aborted project
that fans have been asking about for years. I learned that all the
original artwork (about 60 or more pages) is owned by one man and he is
more than willing to give them back to me so I can ink the pencilled
pages and tweak those already inked. This gives me a major head start
for a planned December 2004 release. Tom Smith will join the party as
color artist.” We caught up with Marv Wolfman for a quick few questions
about the project.
THE PULSE: Is it still called New
Teen Titans: Games or does it have a new name? If it has a new name,
what is it? How many pages is it? What is the projected release date?
MARV WOLFMAN: Wow. A lot of questions disguised as one. I have no idea
at this stage
if it will be called The New Teen Titans or not. That would harken back
to our original title so it would be good, but that's DC's decision.
When it comes time to name it I'd probably enter in a vote for NTT, but
we'll see. Our plan is to do it as 120 pages, as it was originally
intended, but if, as he draws out the last pages, George needs more or
less, I'm sure the book will adjust accordingly. I believe the release
date is next winter.
...
Check back with THE PULSE for another interview with Wolfman later in the week about the NEW TEEN TITANS.
* JLA/Avengers artist George Perez, who
has a hand injury, said that the fourth and final issue won't be out in
time to meet its originally solicited Dec. 31 release.
"It'll probably be out two or three
weeks after that," Perez said. "Do not blame Marvel or DC or Kurt
(Busiek, the writer) or anybody else. Blame me. I am the sole person to
blame."
TEEN TITANS
George Perez reunites with Marv Wolfman to complete The New Teen Titans graphic novel Games, begun in 1989.
...
Perez said that the final graphic novel will be about 160 pages.
November 20, 2003 | "Games" To Be Announced at Wizard Texas
I spoke with George for about an hour at a signing in October, and he
confirmed that the Titans project he will be working on is the
completion of "GAMES".
From what
I understood him to say, the material that is already completed will
serve as a flashback sequence, and a framing sequence in the present
day will be written around it.
He seemed
extremely enthusiastic about it, and about working with Marv again on
Titans, but that was just how I interpreted it, ha ha ha.
He said the finished book will be approx. 144 pages, and will be released next Christmas.
He thinks it's a good project to come out in 2004, the year of his 50th birthday and 30th year in comics.
Posted: 2003-11-16 17:31:26.0
Oh, Marv will be writing the additional pages of "GAMES".
George said he is glad to be using the old material, as it put him "about 75 pages ahead already" on his next project, ha ha
But he insisted it had to be as a
flashback sequence, as he did not want to have to take the time "to
draw late 80s fashions and styles", I believe is how he put it, in the
rest of the book.
When I met George for the first time in
97, he had expressed then how he was "finished" with Wonder Woman,
Titans, etcetera. I refreshed his memory of this when I saw him on Oct.
25, and he kind of smiled. Guess he changed his mind on both
characters, as he also said he's working on new covers for four trade
paperback collections of his first two years on WONDER WOMAN (the 24
issues he pencilled).
I guess each book will contain 6 issues
a piece. He said it was a bit challenging to come up with some kind of
"fresh" visual for the covers, since those stories were from so many
years ago. But it will be interesting to see what the finished project
looks like.....
Posted: 2003-11-16 20:03:28.0
One
of the comments George made when I saw him was that, unfortunately, the
plot of GAMES is terribly similar to JLA/AVENGERS, in that the heroes
are being manipulated by higher forces.
Despite
that, he said he is still glad to be finally finishing this project,
just hopes readers will overlook the similarities in plot structure on
these two "long-awaited" projects that are finally coming out
back-to-back.
He kept
emphasizing that the story is, literally, about GAMES......I believe
the illustration he used is the Broadway musical CATS........the show
was literally about CATS!!!!
I am
looking forward to it, and I don't think George would have made all
this up to throw us off the trail of his future projects.
George
said he had a lot of prospects for work in the next few years. He said
Brian Michael Bendis REALLY wants to do a project with him, and that
Bendis asked "permission" of someone at Marvel if he could have
George's number to call him........well, it went something like that,
really quite humorous. George can certainly tell a story!!!
Turns out that JLA/Avengers won't be the George Perez superhero swan-song after all. Perez is currently re-teaming with Marv Wolfman
on their unfinished 120-page graphic novel, The New Teen Titans: Games,
started in 1989. Perez had finished nearly 80 pages of Games before
over-commitment to new projects forced the artist to put it on the back
burner. Expect an official announcement next year as we get closer to
con season. To read a good summary of the whole saga go to:
www.titanstower.com/../games.html.
This Has A "Name of The Game" Factor of Nine Out of Ten
Just thought you might want to know. My brother
visited a store in North Carolina that George was
signing at today (October 25th). He says George told him that his
next project was a Titans Graphic Novel. He didn't get
more detail than that, so I don't know if this is
something new or if he is completing the one he an
Marv Wolfman never finished. Hopefully that is the
case. I figure we'll hear something official sooner or
later, but that's what he says he working on.
DC Comics
just gave me the okay to print a few pages from the never before seen
"Games" Teen Titans graphic novel that George Perez and I began back in
1986. George completed 70+ pages (the best Titans pages he ever did)
but then stopped. He had Titans overload and couldn't continue.
Although George and i continued to work together on History Of The DC
Universe and a few other projects, this one was something special. In
the next few weeks I'm going to write an article about "Games" and put
it up on this site with some of the astounding art. Will "Games" ever
be finished and printed?
5: I
NEVER said the current stories in Titans suck. First, I don't read the
book and haven't since I got off it. That's just my policy. Since I
haven't read it I obviously can't make any comment on it. Second, if I
did read it and didn't like it I would still never say anything like
that. It's not my style. The most I'd say (if I read it which I don't)
is that it isn't my approach, but that's acceptable because I didn't
follow the style of the writers who preceded me on the book and I
wouldn't expect anyone to mimic what I did.
#4: With a new editor in place who would let me do the Titans the
right way, I would have cured Vic and Raven. Brought Joey back to life
(I maintain that the Joey we saw after issue #50 wasn't the real one
but a clone who came out of the Wildebeest clone stories). The Titans
would have become friends again and the nastiness owould have been
gone.
#3: DC seems to have absolutely no interest in my doing any Titans stuff. All my pitches have been rejected.
#2: In case the story ever does get published I think this should stay a secret.
#1: I have high res scans of the original art but again, there
seems to be no interest as I don't get any responses to any of my
proposals to do this. Go figure.
Replying to:
Hi,
I know you might really be tired of this questions on this topic, but here they are:
1) Do you think DC would be interested in finishing the GAMES story
and publishing it? Maybe have a penciller like Phil Jimenez finish the
remaining 16 or so pages. As memory serves I think maybe 80 pages has
been don already.
2) You mention before one of the characters died? Who is it? Maybe
the story could be an elseworld story or whatever, so we don't need to
look into continuity... even though it's pretty screwed up already.
3) I really enjoy your story in LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE #18 and
the special #1, and even in the Titans #50. Do you think DC would make
give you a couple of titans project in the future, or if you have any
pitch for a Titans story, maybe an elseworld story picking up at a
certain poin in titan continuity. Like maybe Jericho and Kole are going
steady, Dick choosing to leave earth and be with his wife Kory,
Deathstroke running for president,...etc etc.
4) Given a chance, how would you continue writing the Teen Titans after the events of #130?
5) I do agree with you that the current stories in the Titans suck!
Erik
February 16, 2003 | Wolfman's "What The--?" (Feb 16)
WHAT THE--? Still More Letters!
Sunday, February 16
written by Marv Wolfman
(excerpt)
From: kpierc72@e....
How did the entire concept of the Teen Titans came about? Was it DC's intention for it to complete with the X-Men
or was it a surprise hit? Had you and George Perez always had the idea
of Cyborg, Raven and Starfire, back in Marvel? Why did DC not include
firestorm within the Teen Titians. Who had come up with the concept of
Nightwing.
You’re not asking for much, are you? Seriously, I
get this asked a lot and I may have even answered a version of this
before here, but since folk don’t generally go through the back date
archives, here we go again: Titans came up because I had
decided to leave Marvel and move over to DC. Back then you could only
work for one company, not both. Len (see above) was an editor at DC at
the time and though I was given a number of assignments when I got
there, I really wanted to do my own thing. Len and I had written a Titans story way back in the first series (the Russian Starfire (later Red Star) story and I always had a love for the Titans
concept. I came up with a bunch of characters – more on this in a
moment – then Len and I pitched it to the Powers That Be.
Unfortunately, they didn’t want a new Titans series because they didn’t
like the previous one. They had no thoughts about doing a DC version of
X-Men, no matter what people think. Nor did I, by the way. Despite Len – who created the New X-Men being my editor – I was never much of an X-Men
fan and doing a DC version of that book never crossed my mind. I wanted
to do a ‘family’ book. Frankly, in my mind I wanted to do a DC version
of the Fantastic Four, which, as Stan Lee himself has always admitted, was a Marvel version of the J.L.A.
Anyway, the Powers That be asked us why they should publish a new Titans
book when the last series didn’t do well, and we replied, with no false
modesty, “Because we’ll do it better.” I guess they agreed because they
not only greenlit the book but an introductory story that appeared in DC Presents #26.
At this point I ran into George Perez up at Marvel and offered him the
book. He said yes thinking it would be dead 6 issues later. 16 years
later I got off the title and it’s still running today, with most of
the characters intact, albeit in a somewhat different form.
As
for how the individual characters were created, that’s harder to say. I
gave the group a lot of thought. I knew I’d want to use original Titans
members Robin, Wonder Girl and Beast Boy (with a new name) in the new
group. Kid Flash would probably appear but I wasn’t all that
enthusiastic about him. My feeling has always been that writers have to
pull back on that character because if you use him properly in a group
book he’ll not only get to wherever they’re going faster than the other
can, but he will probably have already solved the problem. In short,
he’s too powerful for a group dynamic. I also didn’t want to make
Aqualad a regular member because if you use him you are forced to use
water stories to fit him in.
I prepared a list of new
characters. I wanted an alien, and that became Starfire. I wanted an
athlete and that was Cyborg and finally I wanted an empath which became
Raven. Obviously, it wasn’t as simple as that, but the work to create
those characters, and to come up with a back-story I could keep mining
whenever I wanted to, would take much too long to explain. Suffice it
to say I spent a lot of time working out the characters so they would
blend together both emotionally and power-wise before I gave the
character descriptions to George to design. One he did I refined what I
wrote and, as they say, the rest is history.
To continue on how the Titans were created…
***
From: David Peattie
1.) I'd like to see a series of columns describing how you came up with the new characters you introduced in NEW TEEN TITANS.
Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, and the ones who came later like Deathstroke,
Terra, Kole, and so on. What prompted the idea for each character, what
was involved in fleshing them out as characters, and what kind of
response you initially got from DC about them all. Did the finished,
published product closely match what you'd originally intended? If not,
how much different did the end result come out to be? I know you said
you didn't want to spend a lot of time on "behind the curtain" stuff,
but I am always curious about how much of a writer's ideas make it to
the printed page, and when something is rejected or altered, why the
editor felt that was necessary.
2.) In a similar vein, I remember that some years ago, you and George Perez were supposed to do a TITANS
graphic novel that never did show up. Since the odds of it ever being
finished and published are about the same as my chances of becoming
Miss Universe, I wonder if you might clue us in on what the plot would
have been?
...
Okay,
continuing from the above – I came up with Deathstroke pretty much
right after I came up with the Titans. I knew Deathstroke would be in
issue #2 but his son would appear in issue #1. The genesis of
Deathstroke came very fast. I wanted a very moral character who was
also a criminal, a sort of Batman for the mercenary world, complete
with his own Alfred. Unlike Alfred, however, I wanted his partner to be
his mentor. That’s where Wintergreen came from. His name, of course,
came from the gum, just as Princess Koriand’r’s name came from the
spice, coriander. She was the spicy Titan, after all. I wanted Slade
Wilson to be the kind of character that you never could fully
understand. You would also never know which side he would be on because
he operated by his own very strict code of conduct. Slade would be
troubled by what he had to do, but he was also caught up in a web of
his own creation and was unable to break free. Simply, I wanted to
create an antagonist who would be as well defined as the Titans
themselves. Only mistake I think I made with him is having him have a
physical relationship with the 16 year old Tara Markov. That was wrong.
Which
leads to Terra. That was easy. George and I wanted a Titan who betrayed
the others. We also wanted to play against every reader conception of
who characters are. George and I knew her whole story before we began
and we knew she would die. We set the story up with her trying to
destroy the Statue of Liberty to show she was the bad girl, but we knew
if George drew her as a cute kid everyone would simply assume she would
be ‘turned’ from the dark side because that’s the way it was always
done which is why that wouldn’t be the way we did it. Tara was insane
and stayed that way right until the moment she died. By the way, she IS
dead. I don’t know what other writers will do with her – if anything –
but if they want to honor the original series they will leave her dead.
The Terra from Team Titans was – as stated – some kid the villain
kidnapped and physically and mentally altered her into looking and
acting like the original. But she was NEVER the real Terra.
One
last note: I came into DC with Terra the same day Mike Barr came into
DC with Geo-Force. Both had earth-shifting powers. It would have been
unfair for one of us to get rid of our character, so we decided to make
them brother and sister.
Finally, Kole. Because other editors
were not pleased that they were asked to come up with characters to
kill in the Crisis, I realized I’d have to come up with somebody to
knock off as well, if only to assuage their feelings somewhat. I came
up with the crystal powered Kole who was named after and drawn to look
like a real person we knew. The problem was, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez,
who drew the Kole issues did a magnificent job and I grew to really
like the character and wished I hadn’t created her to die. But if I
were to play the game nicely, she had to weave her last crystal.
As
for “Games,” the graphic novel George and I began way back when. George
drew about 80 pages of the best Titans work he ever did before going
into artist’s block on the Titans. I kept trying to convince DC to let
another artist finish the last 30 pages, but for reasons that have
never made sense to me they have always refused to do so. Every so
often I bring it up again and the answer is still no. Why? I can’t
imagine. There are 80 pages done. I’d have to dialogue the job and much
of it would need to be inked, but I think even if it now had to be an
Elseworlds book – or at least a Hypertime story – that people would
flock to buy a hardcover Perez/Wolfman Titans book. What do you think?
January 25, 2003 | Greenberger's Answer to "Games"
TITANS:
GAMES was intended as a 96+ page graphic novel that George never
finished. He partly never finished it because the story was never to
everyone's satisfaction, if I recall. Once the project was shelved,
many of the story elements were taken from the GN and used in the
monthly. So, when the issue of finishing the book came up at some
point, we realized how poorly it would compare with the stories done to
date and it was decided by TPTB to keep it shelved.
January 12, 2003 | WoW Cover (Apr 03)
From NEW TEEN TITANS vol 3, #42 (Apr 88)
TITANS TOWER (letter page)
Apr 88
NEWS!
NEWS! Just today, Marv handed in his contract for a Titans graphic
novel to be produced by Marv and George Pérez. It'll feature the Teen
Titans and the Titans of Myth. This will take at least a year to
produce, but it's definitely going to be worth waiting for!
Thanks,
Mike. I'd love to see DC print all George's an my Titans, and with a
second Archives edition coming out soon, as well as the Titans Baxter
reprinting, they are on the way to doing just that. I'd also love for
them to finally finish and print the Titans graphic novel George and I
started so many years ago. He completed about 80 pages of incredible
art and we can always get someone else to finish it up and then have me
write it as planned.
Marv,
DC just announced that The New Teen Titans Volume 2(1984)
issues 1-5 will be collected into a Trade Parerback. Did you write a
intro for the new TPB? I always like the introductions that provide a
little behind the scenes info on the project. Just wondering.
posted 12-04-02 04:31 by Marv Wolfman
No, I was not asked to write an intro to the Trigon storyline. On the other hand, I did write the intro to the second Titans Archives edition.
It is possible they asked George, which would make sense as it was, in
many ways, his swan song on the Titans. He did do approximately 80
pages of a 120 page Titans graphic novel - that I think is still the
best Titans work he ever did - but that has never seen print and to
date there seems to be no interest in having me finish writing it and
him - or someone else - finish drawing it. Even with another artist it
would still be 80 pages of Perez/Wolfman Titans.
As for the Trigon collection - I don't
know too much about it. But I, too, hope it's printed as least as well
as the original which was beautiful.
Letters, We’ve Got Letters!
Sunday, October 6
By Marv Wolfman
From: kpierc72@earthlink.net
How did the entire concept of the Teen Titans came about? Was it
DC's intention for it to complete with the X-Men or was it a surprise
hit? Had you and George Perez always had the idea of Cyborg, Raven and
Star fire, back in Marvel? Why did DC not include Firestorm within the
Teen Titans. Who had come up with the concept of Nightwing?
I will
assume you’re asking about The New Teen Titans and not the original
group. I don’t know who created that group – it could have been the
editors or the writer, Bob Haney. Maybe someone out there knows? As for
my group, I was leaving Marvel and coming over to DC (in those days you
could only work for one company and not both) and was getting my
assignments. My only request was no team-up books, so, naturally, I was
assigned to DC Presents and Brave & Bold, both team-up books.
Therefore, my first order of business was to get off those titles.
Len Wein
and I had written a story or two for the original Teen Titans way back
in the late 60s, and I always had a warm spot for those characters, so
I asked Len – who at this point had become an editor at DC – if we
could revive the title. I went home and came up with the characters,
so, no, there was not always a Starfire, Cyborg or Raven. You can read
my introduction for the first Teen Titans Archives to see how they came
about. Len and I went into publisher Jenette Kahn’s office and pitched
my idea. Jenette said she did not like the previous version of the
Titans and therefore wasn’t hot on the idea, but we said we’d do it
better. Honestly, that’s all we said. Jenette, who trusted us, said
fine.
As I
fleshed out the characters I ran into George Perez at the Marvel
offices. I mentioned to him that I was working on a new version of the
Titans and would he be interested in drawing it. George thought the
book would last maybe a half dozen issues, and there was a chance he
could also draw the Justice League, which was the book he really wanted
to do, so he said yes. George then designed the look of each and every
one of the characters.
We showed
Jenette what we had done and she liked it so much she decided we should
do a 16 page original Titans story that they would put in free in DC
Presents #26 to get people interest.
NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES ASHCAN
2001
Publication is 80 pages, plus covers
Self-published by a fan, printed by color photocopy.
Features entire 71 pages of art for unpublished graphic novel, pencilled by Pérez, with first 30 pages inked by Pérez and Al Vey
Also includes 8-page plot by Pérez, based on the mutal plot with Marv Wolfman.
Limited to 15 copies for creative team and select audience only.
There are
three interviews in this issue, George Pérez, Tom Smith, and Kurt
Busiek. The Busiek interview mostly focused on his work, including his
upcoming POWER COMPANY. Smith's interview mostly is about coloring,
although it's interesting to note that Smith got into coloring because
Neal Adams thought his art "sucked" but liked his coloring.
Excerpt from the interview with George Pérez:
TL: ...Now all we need is the never finished "GAMES" graphic novel to be completed. I can dream right?
GPz: And I'm afraid that now that GAMES dream is never going to be
more than that. In addition to the presence of dead chracters like
Jericho appearing, a major scene in the story took place on the World
Trade Center towers. That pretty much ends the speculation for me.
Check out
Titans Tower: Games for more details on the unpublished "Games" Titans Graphic Novel. As always be sure to check on Titans Tower for the latest in all things Titans.
(excerpt)
Juggling Schedules
[from Comics Scene Magazine #11, 1990]
Perez
is now co-plotting The New Titans, plotting Wonder Woman and doing
layouts for Action Comics. However, comics fandom hasn't seen the last
of full Perez pencil art. He has a major work due out sometime in 1990:
the long-awaited Titans graphic novel, Games.
"I'm
working on it right now. I'm trying to produce four pages a week so
I'll be done by the end of January," Perez reports. "They're being
inked by Karl Kesel and colored by John Stracuzzi. There's no firm
release date. There have been so many that have come and gone that I
want to play this a little closer to the vest. That's my fault, nobody
else's. By producing on a four-pages-a-week schedule, I'm not forcing
somebody else to do their part in a hurry. Karl's not going to get 120
pages to ink all at once: 'You have two weeks!' " he laughs.
Titans Lost and Genes Found Dateline: Saturday, July 21, 2001
By: ARNOLD T. BLUMBERG
(excerpt)
"I didn’t
know we were already referred to as legends," said Wolfman at a San
Diego Comic-Con panel. "It’s like, we’re not around any more, but we’re
remembered fondly."
Their
legendary status hasn’t slowed them down one bit. During the course of
a one-on-one panel (a concept that left both creators a bit stymied as
to how to proceed), Wein and Wolfman discussed their beginnings as
teenagers breaking into the comic book business and the path that led
them through both major publishers (at that time) and even into the
frontiers of television animation. Wolfman also elaborated on the never
completed TITANS graphic novel written by Wolfman and
illustrated by George Perez, a project that – like many in the industry
– faded into the background and still lingers in the minds of fans and
creators alike.
"George
drew 80 pages of [an 120 page story] and hit an artist’s block," said
Wolfman. "He literally could not draw another picture of the Titans.
Having been in a writer’s block, I totally understand. He just hit a
wall on it. I said, ‘Let’s get so and so to finish it up.’ For reasons
that have escaped me for fifteen years, DC just decided to write it
off. I would love to finish it. It was the best Titans story we had
ever come up with."
Although
that project may be doomed to never see the light of day, for Wein and
Wolfman, the future looks particularly bright. After decades of
creating highly regarded comics, they have sold their very first
feature film, and the convention attendees were some of the first to
hear about their new take on superhero movies.
NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES (2010) 
NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES (Sep 2011)
Batman: Noel 
NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES (Oct 2011)
TEEN TITANS (Unpublished page from "Games") (1983), art by George Perez, colored by Tom Smith.
From
WONDER WOMAN BY GEORGE PEREZ VOLUME 2 (07 Jun 2017)
