GEORGE PEREZ NEWSLETTER #3
reviewed by Vu

GEORGE PEREZ NEWSLETTER #3

I am sure most of the visitors to this website already own all the GEORGE PEREZ NEWSLETTER, but just in case you're a new visitor or are thinking about buying an issue, I'm going to write my traditional review for my website.

To cut to the chase, once again, I am deeply impressed with this fanzine. Calling it a fanzine actually wouldn't do it justice, it looks more like a professional magazine. The theme to this 100 page monster is, of course, Crimson Plague, so if you love CP, you really need this issue in your collection.

The best part in this issue is the artwork to the first 14 pages (plus cover) of the unpublished CRIMSON PLAGUE #3. It also feature plot summary page-per-page on #3. It doesn't stop there - there's plot summary all the way up to issue #9, which is called "The Dying Game".

There's lots more CP-related articles, but the one I enjoyed most was seeing real photographs of people, who appeared in the CP comics, and reading their reactions to being in a comic book.

As usual, generous George Pérez lends his time to help create this issue. He supplies contacts, artwork (most have not been published), and, of course, his interview. Here is an excerpt on how the idea of Crimson Plague came about:

GPz: Believe it or not, it started out as a Batman story, way back when Julie Schwartz was still an editor for DC. I was tooling around with an idea for a limited series, an imaginary tale or Elseworlds story I believe, dealing with Nightwing (or another future incarnation of Dick Grayson) investigating the murder of a semi-retired Batman who is a John Doe in the police morgue. Grayson identifies the body of the many scars on the body and those scars spark memories that form the flashback framework which had something to do with all the partners and sidekicks who teamed with Batman throughout the years. One of them was supposed to be the killer. The story became more complicated the more I expanded on it. After a while, I thought that this story would probably not fly at DC at the time, so I never proposed the story and decided that it might work better with an original character. That's how GLADIATOR was born, with the title character replacing Batman, and Nightwing's role in the story split between a female character called Tribune, the latest in a long line of Tribunes, and a police detective modeled after a comic shop owner from Fayetteville, NC, named Bernie Mangiboyat. In creating a history for Gladiator, I wanted to feature a femme fatale character, similar to purpose to Catwoman - a deadly villainess with a romantic tie to the hero. She was called Plauge and she was modeled after a beautiful young fan I met at a Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC. In fact, she was Bernie Mangiboyat's fiancée at the time. Her name, of course, was DiNA: Simmons.

Even at $10, this is well worth having in your Pérez collection. With one hundred pages, plus full color front and back cover, shipping & handling, the cost of printing, researching, proofreading, marketing, planning, pain and sweat, etc., etc., it is actually a small price to ask. I don't believe that Tony Lorenz is making (or wants to make) money off this very personal project of his. He simply want to share his love with other Pérez fans around the world.

You should show your support, you can contact Tony Lorenz at TLorenz101@aol.com and ask how you can get copies of THE GEORGE PEREZ NEWSLETTER. I think for the time being you can get all four copies (including the GPN #2 Limited Edition).