Image from DC Fanpage: JLA/Avengers

I am going to start a new feature here called Spotlight. I am basically going to revisit old Perez-related comics and hopefully bring some forgotten (or unheard of) information to your attention.

This was triggered when I went to DC Fanpage's JLA/Avengers Page and saw that they have several scans of the original first JLA/AVENGERS cover COMICS INTERVIEW #6 (see Comics Interview Cover), but with new colors. The two other cover scans are from different sources and (in my opinion) weren't as good as I would like to see it. So I've decided to re-scan the cover to DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT'S COMICS INTERVIEW SPECIAL EDITION: JLA/AVENGERS (can they think of a longer name?). Also note that the cover was colored by Bill Chadwick, who also hand separated the colors.

This book is printed on nice white sturdy paper and the entire magazine is squarebound, so it resemble a book with a cardstock cover (rather than their normal staple magazine format). This Special Edition was a reprint from DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT'S COMICS INTERVIEW #6 (new scan as well).

I remember the first time I saw this book, it was at (the now-closed) comic store called Sierra's Comics and Book Store in Clovis, California. I picked up the reprinted magazine and I asked the store clerk about it and he told me that it was a reprint and that the JLA/AVENGERS comics was cancelled! I was about 16 years old at the time!

Here is an excerpt from the article:

David Anthony Kraft: Well, gee, all the questions I had prepared no longer seemed to apply. Here we are, having waited to the last minute --- and yet, as we go to press, it's not even certain whether there'll actually be a JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA/AVENGERS book!
George Pérez: Every since I agreed to do this JLA/AVENGERS crossover, I've been very excited about it. I even jokingly threatened anyone else with a letter-bomb who even tried to get the assignment! I first asked for a plot all the way back as far as November or December of 1981, so I could have it really ahead of schedule, since it was scheduled for a summer 1983 release. Gerry Conway was working on other things, so he got it to me later than I would have wanted --- but a very, very good plot, although it seemed to have a hell of a lot of plot holes.

DAK: What was the original plot?
GPz: It was a time story, wherein Kang the Conqueror and the Lord of Time somehow dislodge and chase after some kind of stone that represents total power accumulation at the end of time. It's bouncing backwards through Time and Space, and the villains use the JLA and the Avengers respectively to go against each other, at different points in time, obviously with a different pairings of characters, to try to stop the others from getting the stone. The exact motivation was never clearly given in the plot. There was a motivation that was agreed upon between Gerry and myself, but it was never written down in the plot. It probably would have turned up in the writing. Roy Thomas was supposed to do the scripting based on Gerry's plot. The plot was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but strictly as a visual story it had a hell of a lot of potential. When I was told that Jim Shooter had turned it down, it distressed me, but it was understandable.

COMICS INTERVIEW last published issue is #143 as far as I know.
Here is a complete George Pérez appearances in COMICS INTERVIEW:

DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT'S COMICS INTERVIEW

Comics Interview #3 (IA)

Comics Interview #6 (CA, IA; int)

Comics Interview #9 (IA)

Comics Interview #13 (IA)

Comics Interview #20 (IA)

Comics Interview #26 (CP)

Comics Interview #50 (CA, IA; int)

Comics Interview #78 (IA)

Comics Interview #94 (CA, IA; int)

Comics Interview #104 (IA; int)

Comics Interview: JLA-Avengers Special Edition (CA; int, rep #6)

Comics Interview: Masters of Marvel (CA, IA; int, rep #50)

Comics Interview: Cosmic Crossover (CA, IA; rep #6, #26, #50, and #94)

Special thanks and acknowledgement to Andy Mangels's PEREZ ARCHIVES #1, Joe Koch's Avalanche Of Wonder, Mile High Comics, Pérez Art Gallery, David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview Group, and Comic Books Circus.