George Pérez (born June 9, 1954 in The Bronx, New York City, New York) is a Puerto Rican-American illustrator and writer of comic books. Along with John Byrne, he was arguably the most popular artist in American comic books in the 1980s. He primarily illustrates superhero comics, mainly published by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and is known for his clean, dynamic, yet extremely ornate style.

Pérez's family migrated from Puerto Rico in the 1940's. Like many of the immigrants from Puerto Rico, they were poor and settled in the Bronx where there was and is a large Puerto Rican community (Barrio). Pérez's parents became factory workers. Eventually, they moved to Flushing in Queens, New York. There, Perez used to visit a comic book store called "Mike's Comic Hut" every chance he had. He became fasinated with comic books and their illustrations.

Pérez came to prominence when he started illustrating The Avengers for Marvel Comics, starting with vol. 1 #141. His early style seemed very much influenced by Jack Kirby, one of Marvel's leading creators from the 1960s, albeit with a stronger sense of anatomy and a penchant for making his worlds seem bright and beautiful.

In the 1970s he illustrated several other Marvel books, including Fantastic Four, where he began working with Marv Wolfman.

Pérez soon moved over to work for DC Comics. Following a popular stint on Justice League of America, Pérez's career took off with the launch of The New Teen Titans, written by Wolfman. This incarnation of the Teen Titans was intended to be DC's answer to Marvel's increasingly-popular X-Men comic, and Wolfman and Pérez indeed struck gold. Moreover, Pérez's facility with layouts, details, and faces improved enormously during his four years on the book, making him one of the most popular artists in comics.

Wolfman and Pérez followed this with DC's 50th-anniversary event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, which purportedly featured every single character DC owned in a story which radically restructured the DC universe's continuity. Pérez was inked on the book by two of the best inkers in comics at the time: Dick Giordano and Jerry Ordway.

Following Crisis, Pérez was responsible for relaunching Wonder Woman, tying her more closely to the Greek gods and jettisoning many of the extraneous elements of her history. Pérez at first worked with Len Wein on the stories, but eventually took over the full scripting chores. While not as popular as either Titans or Crisis, the book was a very successful relaunch of one of DC's flagship characters.

In the 1990s, Pérez left the spotlight, although he worked on several popular projects, most notably Sachs and Violens and Hulk: Future Imperfect, both written by Peter David.

Pérez finally returned to a major ongoing title for the third series of The Avengers, written by Kurt Busiek, where he remained for nearly three years, again receiving critical and fan acclaim for his polished and dynamic art. After leaving the book, he and Busiek worked to produce the long-awaited JLA/Avengers inter-company cross-over, which saw print in late 2003.

Major Works

• The Avengers vol 1, #141-162, 167-172, 194-196, 198-202; Annual #6, 8
• The Avengers vol 3, #1-15, 18-25, 27-34; Annual 1998
• Crimson Plague #1-2 (unfinished, published several times)
• Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-12
• Fantastic Four vol 1, #164-167, 170-172, 176-178, 184-188, 191-192
• History of the DC Universe #1-2

• Hulk: Future Imperfect #1-2
• Infinity Gauntlet #1-4
• JLA/Avengers #1-4
• Justice League of America #184-186, 192-197, 200
• The New Teen Titans vol 1, #1-4, 6-40; Annual #1-2
• The New Teen Titans vol 2, #1-5, 50-61
• Sachs and Violens #1-4
• Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
• Wonder Woman vol 2, #1-62; Annual #1-2
• Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, Annual #3

Trivia

Pérez is noted for often using a technical pen when inking. Unlike standard ink-dipped pens, technical pens tend not to allow the variety of line widths typically expected in comic book inking. This gives Pérez-inked work an unusual look.

External links

• Interview with George Perez (http://www.collectortimes.com/2000_06/Clubhouse.html)
• George Perez fan site (http://www.george-perez.com/)it:George Pérez