In praise & defense of George Perez: the man who transformed DC Comics

[verslibre]

Cap's right forearm is laughably wide (looks like a bicep). The shield looks wrong to me. His left forearm would have to be a stump (in this particular illo) in order to be perfectly concealed behind the shield. Right-side thigh...something's not right about that, either.

[the Hornet]

When I got into comics, the Image guys soon became all the rage. It was not till many years later that I discovered Perez. It blew me away. Easily the best I have seen.

But I have to mention that Jim Cheung is really incredible too and even if its not a popular opinon, Jim Lee is still good.

[Jim Thompson]

I would really like the shield in this picture to be turned transparent so that I can see exactly what is holding it to his arm. I would really love for his left glove to be removed so that I can get a better idea of the length and width of his forearm.

I wasn't claiming it was an anatomically perfect drawing. I asked if it met all the original poster's criteria (which it seems to do).

[dancj]

Making note that the thought being forwarded is subjective is not equivalent to saying it is invalid. Don't know where you're getting the idea I was implying his thought was invalid from.

Okay. Maybe instead if "True but irrelevant" I should have said "True, but that goes without saying - so there's no point in saying it"

[KevinTBrown]

Maybe. This piece of Liefeld art seems to basically follow perspective, anatomy, and conveys an action.

"Basically"...? Barely.

The head is too small, the legs are way too long, and the figure looks more like a pose than one in motion.

[Nomads1]

I doubt Jim Lee is thought of that highly by anyone. His style looks good on some characters, horrible on others.

However, a whole generation of artists were influenced by him in the 90's. You had recognized proffesionals changing their style to ressemble more his. Like it or not, Jim Lee is the 90's top artist. As great as artists such as Cheung, Coipel and other may be, I don't see them defining a decade of style the way Kirby, Perez or Lee did. Personally, I find him very good. Perhaps not as great a professional as Perez, but very good. However, as I said in my previous post, MAYBE Jim Lee.

Peace

[Jim Thompson]

"Basically"...? Barely.

The head is too small, the legs are way too long, and the figure looks more like a pose than one in motion.

Since you seem to know he's in motion, I think the artist got what he was hoping for.

[Jim Thompson]

Okay. Maybe instead if "True but irrelevant" I should have said "True, but that goes without saying - so there's no point in saying it"

Obviously, I disagree. I think it was relevant to the conversation.

[Flashpoint]

Bumped so I can access a few items in this thread. Thanks.

[tingray]

I just met George at a con last weekend, and he was the nicest guy ever. He took the time to talk to all the fans, and was drawing sketches for everyone who asked. A dream come true for me. He did a Wonder-Man sketch for me and a Hank Pym Goliath for my brother for only $40 a pop (cheap when you consider Patrick Stewart was asking $75 at the same con for just an autograph). Perez also signed some of my old Avengers comics (volume 1, #160 and #161). Looking at those old covers from decades ago, I realized his early work still holds up today. The amount of care and detail he put into every panel has never been equaled imo. I just scratch my head at the thought that some fans are actually critical of his work.

[R0NIN]

Not only was he an awesome artist. He was a master of compressed story art. There was literally so much going on in his art. Each issue was jam packed with action and storytelling. He really gave you your money's worth.

[hypotherion]

So I just waded through all 24 pages of this thread and now I'll throw in my 2 cents.

I'll preface my post by saying that even though I'm gunna be going against the grain of the thread, that doesn't mean that I do not acknowledge the impact he has had on the industry as a whole, Perez is a legend, not much more can be said on that topic, anyone who disagrees is just plain wrong. I'll also say that I have no interest in getting into a technical discussion on his art simply because I don't have the necessary background, I'll leave that to other posters who are better suited to have that sort of discussion.

That being said I do find his current work to be dated, and by "current work" I'm referring to anything he's done post-New 52. A poster earlier in the thread stated that Perez's work is like a time capsule into the 80s and that's exactly how I feel when I see his stuff nowadays. I'm not quite sure when my perception of him changed since I thought his work on Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds was excellent but I assume it's due to a combination of his medical problems/his inability to adapt to modern polishing techniques. There's something about his current work however that just feels off to me, it just does not feel as dynamic, slick, or polished as art produced by Quitely, Burnham, Capullo, or Williams. Oddly enough I'll echo the sentiment that I find his older stuff to come across as less dated than his current work, weird I know.

That being said it is impressive that he's still producing art at a relatively high level these days. I might find his style old fashioned but there are quite a few artists who are just downright worse than him in my opinion.

[Flashpoint]

So I just waded through all 24 pages of this thread and now I'll throw in my 2 cents.

I'll preface my post by saying that even though I'm gunna be going against the grain of the thread, that doesn't mean that I do not acknowledge the impact he has had on the industry as a whole, Perez is a legend, not much more can be said on that topic, anyone who disagrees is just plain wrong. I'll also say that I have no interest in getting into a technical discussion on his art simply because I don't have the necessary background, I'll leave that to other posters who are better suited to have that sort of discussion.

That being said I do find his current work to be dated, and by "current work" I'm referring to anything he's done post-New 52. A poster earlier in the thread stated that Perez's work is like a time capsule into the 80s and that's exactly how I feel when I see his stuff nowadays. I'm not quite sure when my perception of him changed since I thought his work on Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds was excellent but I assume it's due to a combination of his medical problems/his inability to adapt to modern polishing techniques. There's something about his current work however that just feels off to me, it just does not feel as dynamic, slick, or polished as art produced by Quitely, Burnham, Capullo, or Williams. Oddly enough I'll echo the sentiment that I find his older stuff to come across as less dated than his current work, weird I know.

That being said it is impressive that he's still producing art at a relatively high level these days. I might find his style old fashioned but there are quite a few artists who are just downright worse than him in my opinion.

Perez has multiple medical issues going on these days. One, if I recall correctly, is diabetes. But the other one directly related to his art is his failing vision. He has had to have surgery on his eyes at least once that I know of. Maybe it's more. But the wild level of detail he used to spend hours doing that made him famous is almost impossible to do with his failing eyesight.

I can understand people wishing this wasn't so. However, maligning the man who can still do decent, good or even great work when the sad fact is he's losing his eyesight is ridiculous. He's slower as an artist and his ability to do the level of detail he was famous for is not as good as it used to be. But again, most of this is due to his declining health, not declining talent.

[Flashpoint]

Thank you to everyone who keeps returning to this thread. I greatly appreciate it. This thread was my tribute to George Perez. He is one of 2 artists who most strongly influenced me as a kid. The other is Keith Giffen and I have created a companion thread detailing Giffen's career history as well:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com...f-Super-Heroes

Giffen and Perez are 2 of my biggest creative influences. Their work on LSH and NTT was a gigantic influence on me as a fan and aspiring creator.

I hope some of you will check out my Giffen thread, too. Thanks again.

[hypotherion]

Perez has multiple medical issues going on these days. One, if I recall correctly, is diabetes. But the other one directly related to his art is his failing vision. He has had to have surgery on his eyes at least once that I know of. Maybe it's more. But the wild level of detail he used to spend hours doing that made him famous is almost impossible to do with his failing eyesight.

I can understand people wishing this wasn't so. However, maligning the man who can still do decent, good or even great work when the sad fact is he's losing his eyesight is ridiculous. He's slower as an artist and his ability to do the level of detail he was famous for is not as good as it used to be. But again, most of this is due to his declining health, not declining talent.

But those two are intrinsically tied together, no? If the drop off in his skill level is due to his medical complications and if these complications aren't going to go away anytime soon (and I haven't heard anything to indicate that they will be going away) then his ceiling is no longer as high as it once was. To use that Michael Jordan analogy that was used earlier in the thread, Jordan's talent level at the end of his career was not as high as it was during his prime. The same goes for Perez, he is not capable of putting out the same quality of work as he did during his prime, ergo he is not as talented. I think the whole debate over whether it's due to "medical complications" or a "drop in talent" is kind of a semantics argument here (unless you're being a dick about it) since in the end we're discussing the quality of the finished product. To me there's a drop off between now and then, with the now looking more dated than his previous work.

As for maligning the man, I admitted that he is still better than quite a few artists out there, however in my opinion he is no longer a top tier level talent/creator and there are other artists I would prefer to see on books that I read. If that means that I'm maligning him so be it, but I don't see it that way.