RIP George Pérez

Remembering George Pérez, one of the greatest names in comic book history. 

 Yesterday(may 06 2022), the great George Pérez passed away at age 67. I want to take a moment and a few words to talk about his amazing career and how wonderful his soul always will be. 

Pérez was born in 1954, he started drawing at age 5 and simply didn't stop. In his teens, he became Rich Buckler's assistent. One year after that, he made his debut in the comic book world, drawing a 2 page story in Astonishing Tales #25.

After that, Pérez started working on The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, where he co-created White Tiger, the first hispanic Marvel superhero. After that... Avengers. And I think one could say this was the point where his legend as one of the greatest comic book names began. After all, Pérez is more well known for drawing big splash pages with tons and tons of characters. I consider him the absolute master and it comes to multiple characters in one place. While working on Avengers, Pérez co-created the mercenary Taskmaster. 

I won't be talking about every single work Pérez made since that is impossible, his career is so massive with so many comics that is more than deserving of his legendary status. But let's keep going. In 1980, Pérez began working on Justice League and of course, the classic, The New Teen Titans. During this time, Pérez co-created an insane amount of characters, including Deathstroke the Terminator (obviously). I love this run with a burning passion, this is where I got presented to George's amazing art and style. 

And in 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths happened. The definition of epic crossover event, a 12 issue series of cosmic proportions. Crisis was a massive success, i'm not exaggerating by calling this comic "the definition of epic crossover event". 

After the event ended, DC started to give his heroes updated origins and Pérez, with help from Greg Potter and Len Wein, made what I consider the best Wonder Woman run till this day. 

You probably are familiar with the MCU, and of course, even that owns some of its success to George. Pérez was the artist for Marvel's Infinity Gauntlet story, one of the major inspirations for the MCU. Pérez went back to The Avengers main title a while after. 

Next, we go to 2004 to remember JLA/The Avengers 

And what a insane story with even crazier artwork. Pérez always knew how to make everything look gigantic and epic. 

Unfortunately, we have to talk about the New 52 now, where Pérez was tasked with writing for Superman and due to DC editorial that did not go so well. In 2019 Pérez announced that he would be retiring and spoke about how poorly DC editorial treated him during his Superman run. According to him, that was a George Pérez comic in name only. 

Now, speaking personally, Pérez work really helped me while growing up. Having comics to read, worlds to enter, while things around me looked bad, it was really special. When you look at a artpiece made with heart, with passion, you created a connection of sorts with the art and the artist I think. Maybe that's why Pérez is and always will be loved. He did everything with passion, giving 100% of his talent and effort. You can feel it just by looking at any art of his. And there's nothing you can do besides falling in love after that. 

According to people who have meet him in conventions and other places, he always tried his best to make fans happy. And nothing is more George Pérez then that. 

I'm not good with words, but I would like to say that George is immortal. He lives in the hearts of his family, friends and fans. And of course, his art, his amazing work.  We all will miss you, George. By in a way, you're still with us. 

George Pérez, one of the most loved names in comics. 

Batman #123 Review

 Is the fake Deathstroke cosplaying as Hobgoblin?

Shadow War: Part 5

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Howard Porter

Colorist: Tomeu Morey

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Editor: Ben Abernathy 
Cover: Howard Porter and Tomeu Morey 

I feel secure saying that this crossover is finally at full steam. We continue to get moments of focus on the more human aspect of the characters, Damian wanting to help his new brother feels genuine and cohesive with everything we saw Damian go through all those years we spend reading comics about him. The hunt for Ra's murderer is going much faster now, Slade, who probably already know who he is, has even more motivation to wreck this guy up. Seeing Batman Inc in action is nice too. The art continues to feel weird but not much as the last issue of Batman.
The comic ends with a tragic death that did hit me, what a tragic journey. A death in comics that works and has impact is so rare these days. In a way, shame, wasted potential. But if it works, it works.
The backup story was the low point. Batman and Slade newest first encounter had no reason to exist.

But this was a good issue, my hype with this crossover lives again

Robin #13 Review

 So many people here are blood related

Shadow War part 4 

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Roger Cruz

Inks: Norm Rapmund

Colorist: Luis Guerrero

Letterer: Troy Peteri

Editor: Paul Kaminski
Cover: Roger Cruz, Norm Rapmund and Luis Guerrero 

Father and son and father and son and daughter together. Even though the main story is still taking some time to breathe. you can feel the main plot rolling. Who killed Ra's? But, being similar to Deathstroke Inc. #8, the highlight here is the human aspect of the story. Damian and Respawn meet again, Slade continues to show genuine care about his newest son, Batman wants to set thing right with Damian and so on. I much prefer this type of story, people having emotions, rather than big fight scenes. Very solid and functional issue.

Deathstroke Inc. #8 Review

 Can Slade be a good father?

Shadow War part 3 

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Paolo Pantelena 

Colorist: Romulo Fajado Jr. 

Letterer: Steve Wands

Editor: Ben Abernathy 
Cover: Jonboy Mayers 

I guess you could say the strongest aspect of today's issue is Slade and Respawn's father and son time together. Slade is trying here, this is somewhat inconsistent with his previous comic series but I guess you could say since time has passed the character has evolved and learned with his past mistakes. Cute definitely is the word that describes this the best. However, not a fan of Batman and Talia part here since it kinda downplays what happened previously. Some dialogue at the beginning and how the character Raptor is used did bother me too but this is not the end of the world.  What can I say, this issue works, not amazing but it gets the job done. Also, always nice to see a callback to Deathstroke rivalry with the Titans.

Batman #122 Review

 So, Deadline likes Slade now(?) 

Shadow War: Part 2

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Howard Porter, Trevor Hairsine

Colorist: Tomeu Morey

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Editor: Ben Abernathy 
Cover: Howard Porter and Tomeu Morey 

Ok, not much to talk here, I'm doing both sections at once. 

Ok, so I have problems with this. Characters like Deadline are seriously nerfed here.(Deadline's characterization feels off too) Batman investigating was good tho, specialty when he goes to talk with Talia. That was the best part of this issue and the second best part of this whole crossover so far. But the art... I like Howard Porter's art but here, it feels so confusing and rushed. Some characters are just somewhat hard to recognize, like Respawn. The backup story feels unnecessary, and Slade's characterization feels weird. "but it's the joker gas!" I know, still, not a fan. Why retcon, again, the first time Batman and Slade fought? Not a bad issue, but again, I see some problems.

Shadow War: Alpha #1 Review

 It begins! 

Shadow War: Part 1 

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Viktor Bogdanovic

Inks: Daniel Henriques 

Colorist: Mike Spicer

Letterer: Troy Peteri  

Editor: Paul Kaminski
Cover: Jonboy Meyers

Non spoilers section

Here we got some really nice character development with Ra's Al Ghul so the weight of his death. That's not a spoiler since DC has put this information in the synopsis for some upcoming comics. Big shame, this could have been surprising. Bruce and Damian's relationship is also explored, the best part of the whole comic in my opinion. Even Alfred's death still has some weight here. We end on a mystery, so, a very nice start overall for this crossover.

Spoilers

I've been very curious about this crossover, and   so far things are looking good. The highlight of this issue is Bruce and Damian for sure. Together again at last, however things are not looking good for father and son yet. My only problem with this is how Ra's dies. We have a murder mystery in our hands, and that's cool but Slade should be the one to kill him, it would make sense due to how protective he is of Respawn. I get that he wants to stay in the shadows but he could have killed Ra's stealthily. But that's not a big deal of course, a murder mystery is always cool when well done. 

 

Deathstroke Inc. #7 Review

 Looks like we have a family reunion. 

Deathstroke Inc. #7: Kids

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Stephen Segovia

Colorist: Hi-fi

Letterer: Steve Wands 

Editor: Ben Abernathy
Cover: Howard Porter and Hi-FI

Non spoilers section

Very strong issue, now I really care about Respawn. As always, love to see references and connections to previous stuff, be N52 Grant Wilson or Priest's Deathstroke run. This consistent sense of continuity is one of this series strongest aspects. A slow but good read.

Spoilers

So, Respawn really is Slade's son. A clone, to be exact but still. Slade sees in him a new chance of being a father, our terminator is very emotional lately. This issue makes easy to empathize with Respawn, I genuinely want him to have some kind of happy ending now. And Slade wants that too. Also, Slade going up against Ra's has some much more impact now. Of course, Deathstroke's motivations now are aiming troughs Dark Crisis and we get a little bit more insight about why Slade is preparing himself and others. Overall, another very cohesive and relevant issue for this series.