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GUEST OF HONOR
Monday, November 17Bonus 5 Questions With...George Pérez
With George Pérez appearing as the Guest of Honor at Wizard World Texas next weekend we thought it would be cool to re-run this classic Five Questions with the man himself! Here he talks about what it was like working on the most prolific crossover event in the last 20 years - JLA/Avengers. And don't forget you can meet Pérez, along with writer Kurt Busiek this weekend at Wizard World Texas!
JLA/ AVENGERS (Sep 2003)
1. How did JLA/Avengers get back on track after almost 20 years?
When Joe Quesada became editor-in-chief at Marvel, he wanted to find out what type of bureaucracy, what type of politics and what was slowing it down, and what can Marvel do to assuage it—assuage any concerns that DC might have and remove any stumbling blocks. Joe, in addition to being a fan, he’s also a friend, and he felt like it was a book that was owed me and owed the fans. Everyone was excited about it nearly 20 years ago and its had so many stops and starts, he wanted to see what he could do to rekindle the project. It was a nice little feather in his cap to have it done on his watch, as it were.2. How did DC respond?
I knew for a while how much Joe wanted to promote this project and [Marvel editor] Tom Brevoort had been championing it, Kurt [Busiek] had been, even [colorist] Tom Smith was adding his two cents and was trying to talk to people he knew who might get this project going. And Wizard did its share when it did ‘The Last Team Standing’ with the JLA and The Avengers. All this to show that there was a genuine feeling of the fact that this project should be done. Then it seemed like all the people at DC were all gung-ho for it.3. How has your work been different on this JLA/Avengers than on the first try?
One of the things that I learned from the first time around on JLA/Avengers is to watch over my artwork. It took 10 years before I got the artwork back from the cancelled JLA/Avengers project. The artwork on JLA/Avengers, the current version, never leaves my office. I have a tabloid scanner. I scan the files, I clean the files and then, I send those over to Marvel and DC and they make the final version for colorist Tom Smith. So then, not a single piece of JLA/Avengers artwork has left my studio. That’s modern times, and that probably would not have been a possibility in 1983.4. At one time, there was talk of Mark Waid co-writing JLA/Avengers, right?
Yeah, it would’ve been wonderful to have had Mark in there too because I really enjoy Mark’s knowledge of DC’s history. He would’ve played to both strengths, but at the time, Mark wasn’t available and at the time that this project was announced, this creative team was set. Then, one of the things that I did tell Kurt, and I have no reason to regret it, is that I did not want to get involved in the plotting sessions. They know what I want, they know that I want to draw everyone. I trust that Kurt, who has a great regard for the Golden and Silver Aged characters, to come up with a story that worked,5. Mike Carlin eventually took over as DC’s editor for JLA/Avengers. What was it like to work with him?
Mike is the smooth gear. I’m very, very happy to have Mike Carlin there. Mike and I have had our disagreements in the past, but I’ve always had a great respect for him as an editor even if he voted against me on something or sided on something that I didn’t like. I had great respect for him. I had great respect for him because he acts like an editor. Mike is top drawer for me.***BONUS QUESTION***It’s taken you almost two years to complete four issues. Is that the time you thought it would take?
There are times that the book is taking longer only because I totally, totally underestimate how fast I can keep working at a regular pace and that by the seventh day in a row, I realize, ‘You know, I’m getting tired and I’m having a hard time focusing on the page.’ So, I mean, for some of the pages, a detail that I do in pencil, it’s even more detailed in ink because I can ink a lot crisper. So, I say, ‘Okay, I’ve got to not rush it.’ I can make it come out on time. It won’t be the best that I can do, and I think that everyone pretty much agrees that this book needs the best you can do.You can catch Guest of Honor George Perez at Wizard World Texas next weekend. Click here to order your tickets today!
