Famous' Firsts - George Perez

As promised at the beginning of last month, we'll be spending the next couple of our Famous' Firsts posts looking at the first time each of the creators involved in the DC New 52 initiative first got their pencil or typewriter involved with the Man of Steel.

Today's entry features the mighty talent of George Perez!

Now this will actually be the second time that George Perez has made a high-profile entry into the Superman line, with the first being the helming of Action Comics when it returned to a monthly after its stint as Action Comics Weekly. For whatever reason, his time on the title never panned out, and he left the title with the potential for a great run never realized. Here's hoping the second time doesn't set a pattern.

That wasn't however, the first time George Perez got the chance to draw Superman. For that, we have to go back another eight years or so to some of Perez' earliest DC work in the pages of Justice League of America #185.


In looking at that panel, you can definitely see the beginning of the George Perez style. The funny thing is, however, is that I see it in the rubble and background more than with Superman himself!

George Perez is definitely famous for his massive crowd shots and dense illustration, but hands down, he's the best rubble illustrator in the business...and he's got three decades of work to prove it.

Script by Gerry Conway
Pencils by George Perez
Inks by Frank McLaughin
Colors by Gene D'Angelo
Letters by Todd Klein

Justice League of America #185
Crisis On Apokolips or Darkseid Rising!
December 1980
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Exclamations that never quite caught on

Never mind the floor, Superman, Ollie's mother has a laundry emergency that needs tending to!

Quick everybody! Darn those socks!

Script by Gerry Conway
Pencils by Dick Dillin
Inks by Frank McLaughlin
Colors by Gene D'Angelo
Letters by Ben Oda

Justice League Of America #182
Reprise
September 1980
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Gone Fishing...

...will resume regular posting when I get back from the old fishing hole.

Script by Gerry Conway
Pencils by Dick Dillin
Inks by Frank McLaughlin
Colors by Jerry Serpe
Letters by Ben Oda

Justice League Of America #1
While A World Lies Burning
September 1979
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Sunday versus #14

Superman vs. Kryptonian Dinosaur

So far we've had dinosaurs of several species, dinosaur skeletons, imaginary dinosaurs, super-smart dinosaurs...but we've yet to have a Kryptonian Dinosaur.

Beware the Octosaur!

Script by Len Wein
Pencils by Dick Dillin
Inks by Dick Giordano
Colors by Anthony Tollin
Letters by Ben Oda

Justice League Of America #111
Balance Of Power!
May/June 1974
Copyright (c) DC Comics

The benefits of lead-based paint

Luckily for us, Superman hasn't come across any more Kryptonite fire hydrants since the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission banned lead-based paint.


I'm also wondering if this wasn't a trap for Krypto that Superman just sort of blundered into.

Script by Gardner Fox
Pencils by Mike Sekowsky
Inks by Bernard Sachs
Letters by Gaspar Saladino

Justice League of America #21
Crisis On Earth-One!
August 1963
Copyright (c) DC Comics

The old switcheroo...

At last, after forty years of super-villain shenanigans, the true meaning of evil is about to make itself known.

And brought on by Superman, no less!


Now we all know that that's not the real Superman.

Bonus points for anyone out there who knows which one of the super-villains at their feet is the real Superman.

And super-double bonus points to anyone out there who knows the identity of the rather generic looking fella on the right.

And super-triple bonus points to anyone out there who knows what blockbuster series took this storyline and expanded upon it almost three decades later.

Script by Gerry Conway
Pencils by Dick Dillin
Inks by Frank McLaughlin
Colors by Gerry Serpe
Letters by Ben Oda

Justice League Of America #166
The Long Way Home
May 1979
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Dwayne McDuffie, 1962-2011

Yesterday afternoon, the sad news was released that Dwayne McDuffie had died at the age of 49 due to complications from surgery. I assumed that when I started this blog that there would be opportunities to eulagize different creators who had come and gone over the years and made a difference to the Superman legend. What I had not assumed, is that the first occasion would be for someone who died way too soon.

While Dwayne only ever wrote one story for the Superman line of titles, he was a major player when it came to the Justice League of America. As an editor and producer of the cartoon series Justice League Unlimited, he more than cemented his place in not only Superman history, but that of the entire DCU.

For me however, my fondness for Dwayne McDuffie goes back to 1992 with the creation of the Milestone line of comics. It seemed that every other time you went to the comic book store in the 90's, there was a new line of comic book superheroes being created. Like most of them, the speculation boom wasn't kind to Milestone and it didn't make it out of the decade alive. Unlike most of the others, however, Milestone tried something different with an eye towards racial and cultural diversity. For that, it left the 90's with it's reputation in good standing.

Fast forward more than a decade and Dwayne was writing Justice League of America with the promise of the Milestone characters being integrated into the DCU proper. To say that there was some editorial over-reaching that hampered his stories and resulted in unfulfilled expectations is a bit of an understatement. With that in mind, here's today's panel in honor of Dwayne McDuffie.


Rest in peace, Dwayne McDuffie.

Gone, but not forgotten.

Script by Dwayne McDuffie
Pencils by Jose Luis
Inks by J.P. Mayer
Colors by Pete Pantazis
Letters by Travis Lanham

Justice League of America (Vol. 2) #28
Welcome to Sundown Town, Chapter 2: Shadow and Act
February 2009
Copyright (c) DC Comics