13 days, 13 great works. It starts here…
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Comics great George Perez announced his retirement this month (click here) and we’re celebrating his illustrious career across 13 days with the TOP 13 GEORGE PEREZ COUNTDOWN — ranking his best work going back to his professional beginnings in the 1970s. I’m personally most familiar with Perez’s DC output, so I’ve enlisted 13th Dimension contributor Anthony Durso to make the daily picks. (He also made that fancy banner.) Get your arguments ready, folks! — Dan
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By ANTHONY DURSO
George Perez. Without a doubt, a favorite comic-book artist of mine, no matter the decade.
I first encountered Perez’s detailed artwork in 1978 (first in The Avengers #161 and then Fantastic Four #184) and was instantly a fan. Along with his Marvel contemporary, John Byrne, he quickly became a household name at the Durso home. Just ask my brother. (Over at DC it was Ross Andru and Dick Giordano, and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez).
Throughout the years, I followed Perez’s work from Marvel to DC to Marvel to DC, and some independents along the way. (His covers were my gateway to Deluxe Comics’ T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents revival, for example.) And if anything, he got better with age. That can’t be said for everyone.
But Perez is Perez and although it’s sad to hear that he’s retiring because of health issues, it’s nice that he’s going out on his own terms. For us fans, there’s a tremendous body of work to re-read again and again and discover something new in his artwork each time we pick it up.
On to the countdown:
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13. The Infinity Gauntlet.
Well, this is embarrassing. No sooner do we start the countdown and George Perez leaves the book?! The Infinity Gauntlet, written by Jim Starlin,was released during that period in the early ’90s when Perez was having a hard time finishing what he started. In addition to the Marvel event, Perez was also working on Wonder Woman and War of the Gods for DC. Editorial issues on all projects put Perez at odds with his co-creators and his output suffered as a result. After penciling Issues #1 through #3 and part of Issue #4, Perez handed off pencils to Ron Lim but remained on covers as the inker for the final two issues. Nevertheless, the work Perez did complete is outstanding and showed the beginnings of what a Marvel version of Crisis on Infinite Earths could have looked like.
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NEXT: The #12 Pick is… click here.
Anthony Durso is the owner of Retropolis Tees and the custom toy-package website The Toyroom.
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MORE
— The Complete TOP 13 GEORGE PEREZ COUNTDOWN. Click here.
— Comics Pros Pick Their Favorite GEORGE PEREZ Covers. Click here.
January 25, 2019
Thanos really rules that cover artwork. 😉
January 26, 2019
PEREZ IS ONE OF THE BEST COMIC BOOK ARTIST OF ALL TIME