Earth's Mightiest Comic Book Artist!

No one else could draw the things that George Perez could draw. His mastery of a superhero gathering was unmatched. Others tried and had some success, but always there were indications of crowding and restlessness in the crowded panels. Only a Perez crowd scene seemed literally picture perfect, with every face visible and recognizable. The settings were always teeming with figures but never felt awkward. 

Perez broke in drawing characters like Gullivar of Mars and Man-Wolf. He proved himself on the White Tiger in the pages of Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu. But he found his calling when he was assigned to The Avengers. He had many stints on "Earth's Mightiest Heroes", all of them welcome and in every instance, Perez seemed to be a better artist in all ways. He then graduated to "The World's Greatest Comic" -- the Fantastic Four. 

He migrated to DC where he and Marv Wolfman recreated the Teen Titans making them "New" for a fresh audience and stealing just a wee bit of the glamour that the X-Men had generated in the day. 

Then with the tragic passing of Dick Dillin, George got his most cherished gig, the Justice League of America. His reputation as the greatest team artist in the history of comics was assured. 

There was even talk of a crossover between the JLA and the Avengers and no artist was considered save for Perez. It didn't happen. But the Crisis on Infinite Earths did. 

Crisis on Infinite Earths is Perez's masterpiece. It has never been equaled by any of the myriad limited series that followed it in the decades that followed. The Crisis as it's called transformed the DC Universe and remade in the images that Perez made famous. He went on to work on Wonder Woman with mixed success and then when the Image era erupted, he along with other fan-favorite artists sought to bring their own projects to the marketplace. Once again there was success, his talent was never questioned. And then he came back to Marvel for one more go on The Avengers. 

The Busiek and Perez Avengers rescued the team from a misbegotten turn when the book was handed off to the Image folk. And instead of an Avengers which didn't look much like what we'd seen before but more resembled those countless 90's super-teams of lesser note, we finally got the real deal. The late 90's return of Perez to The Avengers literally took my breath away. I could hardly wait to get each issue, each glorious issue with art that was the best of his career. After that there was only one hill left to climb. 

The Avengers finally crossed over with the Justice League of America and the Busiek and Perez team handled the job with grace and spectacular talent. I consider that last best team-up to be my swan song to modern comics. I'd dreamed of the crossover for decades, and then it had happened. I couldn't think of a single thing I wanted to see from the "Big Two". George Perez had said it all with his fantastic artwork. 

George Perez drew so furiously that it had a negative impact on his health. Now we hear that as sadly expected the great artist has passed on. Farewell George and thanks for making this fanboy's dream come true as only you could do. 

Here are a few of my favorite covers by Perez. 

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