Originally published in
COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #954 (28 Feb 1992)
, Krause Publication
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George Perez writes:
After 17 years, imagine my surprise to actually be writing a second
letter to your publication within one month's time. I am addressing my
comments to Mark Engblom's letter (and, indirectly, to John Byrne's
message to you by voice mail) regarding my comments about homage covers
in general and the cover of
Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 in particular.
First,
Mark, thanks for bringing this particular subject out into the light. I
originally had a statement in my letter pertaining to this exact case
but decided to delete it because it made me sound self-serving and it
took away from the intent of the letter. If I recall correctly (and I
may be wrong, since I don't have a copy of my original letter in front
of me), I said that the only conscious instances of my copying another
artist's cover design were the Action Comics and The New Titans covers to which I referred. The incredible similarity between the Crisis #7 cover and the Uncanny X-Men
("Death of Phoenix") cover was simply one of those crazy coincidences
that pop up in this industry from time to time. (And provide for great
subjects of speculation in the recurring deja vu feature.)
MIGHTY THOR #127 (Apr 1966)
Marvel Comics
UNCANNY X-MEN #136 (Aug 1980)
Marvel Comics
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7
(Oct 1985)
DC Comics
For those who tuned in late: The Uncanny X-Men
cover to which Engblom referred showed Cyclops cradling a dead Phoenix
in a pose eerily similar to the one of Superman cradling the equally
dead Supergirl on my later Crisis cover. When I was first approached about it by a fan years ago, I admit that I was bowled over. I hadn't read an issue of Uncanny X-Men
in some time and could honestly not recall ever having seen John's
cover, and I definitely didn't use it as my design guide. However, the
layout was so startlingly similar that even I began to doubt whether or
not I was inadvertently inspired by it.
For the
record, my original inspiration for the cover was an early Jack Kirby
cover showing Odin cradling Thor. I wanted to get the same impact, but
designed it totally on my own without actually referring to the Kirby
piece to suit the needs of the comic book on which I was working. It's
like having a super-hero fly and immediately imagining Curt Swan's
Superman as an inspiration without deliberately aping his style or
composition. If John (or anyone else for that matter) thinks I actually
took my Crisis cover idea from him, I just want to say here and
now that it wasn't so. If it were, I certainly would have acknowledged
it. However, having been a fan of John's work for many years, it
wouldn't surprise me if some of his design sense just rubbed off on me,
much as it has with so many artists whom I have admired.
Thanks for giving me the chance to clear things up.