DC Daily Ep 5: George Perez on Wonder WomanFrom Vu
DC DAILY (2018)
DC Universe
In the third (and final) The Legacy of George Perez appears on Episode 5 of DC Daily - available today. The interview focuses on ...
Posted by Vu Sleeper
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DEATHLOK HC (Nov 2009) Marvel Comics
DEATHLOK THE DEMOLISHER: ORIGINS (UK) (Sep 2014) Marvel Pocket Book
xxx
Repost: Fallcon 2003 posted May 20, 2017, 9:41 PM by Vu Nguyen [ updated May 20, 2017, 9:43 PM ]
With the recent death of Rich Buckler,
I thought I'd repost this Fallcon 2003 report. When I restarted the
George Perez Website, all entries prior to 2008 were lost to the
internet... I do have backup of the entire original website on my
computer, so here is a repost about Bucker's appearance.
>>>
October 5, 2003 | Fallcon 2003
From Vu
I haven't been to Minnesota's Fallcon Comic Book Convention
since they moved to the Minnesota State Fair Grounds, so it's been a
good one or two years. Things have certainly changed, the biggest
difference is that there were a lot of exhibitors, vendors, companies,
and artists (as seen in the overview photograph).
I did feel sorry for the exhibitors who were stuck in the "Batcave"
which were colder, damper, and (what seems like) half-lit. I asked one
of the vendor why they got the bad end of the stick, and basically it
was because they had applied for space very late in the stage of the
convention and they got what was left over.
I attended Rich Buckler & Mike Grell's
Panel later in the day, in the "Danger Room". Since the place was an
old theater, noises really carries well. Unfortunately, this goes for
people who were talking in the back of the theater.
Grell did most of the talking, he seems really excited about a possible
up-coming movie adaptation of his creation, Jon Sable. His involve in
the film only goes as far as his script (he cited that Hollywood in
generaly does not want the writer's input after the script). If you
grew up in the eighties, you would remember that NBC (?) actually aired
about six or seven episode of Jon Sable! They changed it a little, but
it's still pretty much the same character.
There were a lot original artworks, which I suspects were donated for display by the owner of www.comicsfun.com,
as I saw the Triton and Spectra artwork by George Pérez in frames. The
"Celebrating 60 Years of Wonder Woman" included over 50 artists, but
none of which included George Pérez's! My favorite WW sketches were Dan
Clowes and Peter Gross (Death wearing WW's outfit).
As for that one final photograph, I have to admit I am a bit of a
Miracleman fan, and I had no idea that two-pack existed. I thought I'd
share the information, in case someone out there wants one for their
collection.
OVERVIEW
CELEBRATING 60 YEARS OF WONDER WOMAN
SPECTRA
(1975), art by George Perez
RICH BUCKLER
at the Minnesota's Fallcon Comic Book Convention (4-5 Oct 2003)
RICH BUCKLER & MIKE GRELL PANEL
SPAWN & MIRACLEMAN TWO-PACK
(San Diego Comicon Exclusive)
R.I.P. Rich Buckler posted May 20, 2017, 8:18 PM by Vu Nguyen [ updated May 22, 2017, 5:35 AM ]
ASTONISHING TALES #25 (Aug 1974)
Marvel Comics
John writes:
Bleedingcool.com said Rich Buckler
died of cancer. I saw Buckler and his wife at SpringCon (Minneapolis)
years ago, nice guy. I happened to be in Paris just prior and mentioned
I saw his gallery exhibition while there, which knocked him out.
Vu writes:
The first time I saw Rich Buckler, he was at Fallcon 2003 (04 October
2003). I rarely take photos with artists, celebrities, or musicians -
but I had to get one with Rich because I knew that Buckler was the guy
that gave George Perez his first professional break. R.I.P.
George Perez, in an interview in Wizard #35, talked about how he accidentally got into the business:
I got in with [Factor Unknown], but meanwhile Sal Quartuccio [now head of Sal Q Productions] had
shown my stuff to [artist] Rich Buckler. Rich need an assistant and
called me up with an offer. I was working as a bank teller at the time.
My first published pro work was on Rich's first issue of Deathlok, Astonishing Tales #25.
He gave me a two-page cartoon sequence at the end showing how he and
Doug Moench came up with Deathlok from discarded ideas in a trash pail.
My art being what it was at the time, I penciled everything except the
Deathlok figure.
By being Rich's assistant,
people at Marvel got to know me. And people like [editor] Jim Salicrup
and [writers] David Kraft and Bill Mantlo saw my work, liked it, and got
me my first work under my own name.George Tuska needed a break on
the Man-Wolf feature in Creatures on the Loose and Dave Kraft
liked working with me, so he asked me to stay. Around the same time, I
was given a fill-in on the Sons of the Tiger feature in Deadly Hans of Kung Fu #6, but Bill Mantlo asked for me to stay on as well.
Thanks to them, I was given
regular work fairly quickly. That was around 1974, only two years out
of high school. Within six months after that, Rich Buckler fell behind.
Since I was Rich's assistant, they asked me to pencil what was
supposed to be a Fantastic Four annual and turn into two issues of the regular book [#164-#165].
In the latest episode of AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D., #13 entitled
"T.R.A.C.K.S." which aired February 4, 2014, we see Mike Peterson, a
with a facial scar on half of his face and a cybernetic prosthetic leg.
We find out later that his leg bears the name "Project Deathlok".
Actor J. August Richards' recurring character, Mike Peterson, to transform into the fan-favorite Marvel character!
Deathlok has come to "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
A classic Marvel Comics icon who is celebrating his 40th
anniversary this year, Deathlok will be brought to live-action life for
first time ever on the all-new episode of "Marvel's Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D." premiering Tuesday, February 4 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
Transformed into the cybernetic solider against
his will, Mike Peterson (J. August Richards) must struggle to find the
man in the machine. With a high-tech eye that allows him to see through
walls, super strength and increased speed courtesy of a cybernetic leg,
will Deathlok fight alongside the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or against
them?
"We have been waiting all season for this moment where we
can reveal that Mike Peterson's story arc is an origin story," said
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bell. "We're thrilled to have J. August
Richards playing Deathlok and to have our audience enjoy this favorite
Marvel character on the show."
"If you would have asked when I
was nine-years old what I wanted to be, I would have said a super hero
and I'm so excited to be one now as an adult on TV!" added J. August
Richards. "It's a dream come true."
George Perez broke into the comic book industry in the summer of 1974
(which also happens to be the season and the year I was born) but his
story begins a little bit before that. Perez had graduated from high
school and was working as a bank teller in 1972 and ’73 when a high
school friend brought him to a comic book convention. Perez describes
himself as a self-taught artist, but he brought his portfolio along
with him anyway. He showed it to several editors and companies and
received some fairly harsh criticism. Marv Wolfman, then an editor a
Marvel, said that he didn’t know anatomy or perspective. Neal Adams,
the head of Continuity Studios, told him to quit inking his own work
because he obviously didn’t know how. (1)
Perez went home with the expressed purpose of proving his critics
wrong. He could draw anatomy. He did know how to ink. But by trying to
prove them wrong, he ended up proving them right. His anatomy,
perspective, inking, everything improved as he worked harder on his
craft.
Meanwhile, at least one other person showed some faith in him. Marvel
artist Rich Buckler had also seen George Perez’s portfolio and
remembered the young artist. When he needed help on a project, he gave
Perez a call. George Perez completed two pages of a Deathlok story for
Astonishing Tales #25, which was published with a cover date of August,
1974. Buckler was happy with how that project turned out and continued
to throw small jobs Perez’s way. Perez even worked as an uncredited
assistant for Buckler on Giant-Size Fantastic Four #3, which was
published in November of that same year. Perez describes that Fantastic
Four story as his big break into the industry. (2)
Even though he didn’t receive a credit for the Fantastic Four story,
Perez did garner the notice of the editors at Marvel Comics. He was
soon receiving work on his own merit. Superheroes were in a bit of a
slump at the time, and other genres like monster stories and kung fu
were on the rise. Perez got to do a bit of both. He was assigned “The
Sons of the Tiger” back-up feature in “Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu”
beginning in issue 6 (November, 1974) and then the Man-Wolf series in
“Creatures on the Loose” (starting with #33, January 1975). Since one
story was a back-up feature and the other title was bi-monthly, Perez
was able to work on both series at the same time.
If any
comic artist working today deserves the title of "living legend," that
artist is George Pérez. How man citizens in the kingdom of comic
creators have worked steadily over the last 30 years, growing more
popular with each passing?
THE 1970s After an understated debut on Marvel Comics's Astonishing Tales #25
way back in 1973 - the first appearance of Deathlok, by the way - Pérez
found he could write his own ticket, quickly jumping on titles like Avengers, Fantastic Four, Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu and Justice League of America.
THE 1980S The defining decade of Pérez's career, not only did the '80s see the debut of the hugely popular New Teen Titans
- co-created with writer Marv Wolfman - and enduring villains like
Deathstroke the Terminator and Brother Blood, it saw Pérez take on half
the task of rewriting the reality of the DC Comics universe, Crisis on Infinite Earths simplified the chaos of DC continuity, killing off Supergirl and the Flash and making way for their modern successors. From Crisis,
Pérez went straight to reworking the story of Wonder Woman, lending his
writing skill as well as his art to the new, more mythology-centered
character if there was one dark spot on the Pérez decade, it was the
lost dream of the JLA/Avengers crossover…
THE 1990s A vision of the last days of the green goliath in Hulk: Future Imperfect
with writer Peter David could stand alone as an artist's project of the
decade. But Pérez, with sleek, bright art and an overwhelming need to
draw every Avengers that has ever been, went on to relaunch the Avengers with Kurt (Marvels)
Busiek as the '90s neared their close. More than 20 years after his
start, Pérez transitioned easily into the new millennium and found a
whole new generation of comic fans waiting for him.
TODAY
As he near the half-century mark, George Pérez shows no signs of going
gracefully into that good night (or whatever old comic artists go).
With new, fantasty-themed art for such CrossGen books as CrossGen Chronicles and Solus, he's breaking new territory - even for him. And with the blockbuster success of JLA/Avengers, he's finally realized a dream nearly 20 years in the making.
ESSENTIAL PEREZ READING
(excerpt)
In nearly 30 years in comics - THIRTY!-
George Pérez has probably drawn every character you've ever heard of
and a lot you haven't.
And written a few too. While it's impossible to show 'em all, here are
some of the highlights you might want to pick up from dealers at the
show. Thanks to GeorgePerez.com for the checklist; you can find a complete list of George's work there.
Heritage Comics
is having their auction this weekend. Among some of the Pérez-related
auction are his first published professional comic book art in ASTONISHING TALES #25 (Aug 74). The other interesting item is the 30 cent variant to INHUMANS #4:
The Inhumans #4 35 Cent Price Variant (Marvel, 1976) CGC NM 9.4 White pages.
While the vast majority of the copies of this issue sport a 25 cent
cover price, this is one of the scarce variants that was used to test
whether the public was ready to accept a 5 cent price increase. These
30 cent editions were only distributed in a few cities and high-grade
copies are exceptionally difficult to locate. Try to find another!
Overstreet values on these issues are extremely conservative compared
to what these copies actually sell for. George Perez art.
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OVERVIEW
GIANT-SIZE FANTASTIC FOUR #3
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