Happy Birthday, George Perez!
George broke into the comic-book business as Rich Buckler's assistant. His first published work was on the Kilraven strip in Marvel's Amazing Adventures. After a few more hits-and-mostly-misses, George was given the Man-Wolf strip in Creatures On The Loose. This was in 1974. Things began to happen pretty quickly after that, with successive work on The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, The Fantastic Four, and The Avengers.
In 1980 George moved to DC, where he of course helped co-create New Teen Titans (with Marv Wolman). And as DC's newest super-star, they asked him to do several covers for titles such as Green Lantern and Legion of Super-Heroes. This was his first published Legion work. Later, in the classic maxi-series Crisis On Infinite Earths, George drew several Legionnaires (notably Dawnstar and Colossal Boy, two you could always pick out of a crowd).
In 2007 George teamed-up with writer Mark Waid for an extended story-arc in Brave And The Bold (v3) that featured, among many others, the Legion and the Fatal Five. However, it wasn't until The Legion of Three Worlds in 2008 that George actually drew a Legion of Super-Heroes story. Clearly, however, he knew what he was doing. Seems like Mr. Perez is a secret Legion fan!
In honor of George Perez' birthday, here are just some of his many Legion illustrations. And by the way, George still attends comic-book conventions pretty regularly. He is a personal, friendly guy, so if you do get to meet him ask him about his favorite Legionnaires and see what he says.
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| Illustration from Perez, Accent on the First E |
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| George Perez' first Legion cover, 1980 |
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| Legionnaire profiles in the digest-sized Legion collection, 1982 |
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| The Legion of Three Worlds (above, and below) |
Hoo boy, Dr. Mayavale. Not even a Perez cover could salvage that turkey of an issue.
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