WOLFMAN, PEREZ, AND THE TITANS: GAMES

[MattBrady]

As announced at today’s WizardWorld Texas DCU panel, 2004 will see the release of Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s long (and we mean long) awaited Titans graphic novel, Games. Newsarama caught up with Perez, Wolfman, and even a surprised Mike Lovitz to get the story of this legacy project and see some art.

First, a little history on the graphic novel. The setting for Games is just after the “deluxe” or “baxter” series changes its name from The New Teen Titans to The New Titans, circa 1988. “The Judas Contact” was a memory, Dick Grayson had become Nightwing, the Wildebeast was around, Perez had left the series, and had just come back with issue #50, the “Who is Wonder Girl?” four-part arc.

Actually – there’s a funny story about that arc. As it turns out, Games is the second Titans graphic novel.

“The irony of all of this is that the ‘original’ Titans graphic novel was going to be the ‘Who is Wonder Girl?’ story that ended up being issues #50 to #54 of The New Titans when I came back to the book,” Perez said. “Marv and I had already started that as a graphic novel, but when I came back, we decided that we could put the story into continuity, and get it out of the way. But that was the original graphic novel, so when that was printed, we had to start fresh with a whole new story, and that became Games - so, if you want to get technical about it, this is my second Titans graphic novel.”

So – on to Games.

It was originally started sometime between 1986 and 1989, when Wolfman was in New York visiting the then Titans editor Barbara Kesel. “Barb and I were going to meet at George's house in Jamaica, Queens to discuss doing the first Titans graphic novel,” Wolfman recalled. “When I got there I told them the rough basics of what I thought might make a good story, and then we sat down and plotted out the novel. George fleshed it all out and went to work drawing what I thought was some of absolute best Titans material he had ever done.”

As far as where Games fits in to Titans continuity, that’s a good one. “This is a stand alone story that would have affected continuity had it come out in ‘89, but now needs to have a timeless feel to it,” Wolfman said. “Some very big things happen to major Titans players, but since it didn't happen back then, it has to fit into some sort of reader's mental continuity. They should decide for themselves when and where it belongs.”

So, work started on the story which told of the Titans finding themselves in the middle of something where they have to figure out what’s going on (“Sorry, but the high concept is what the story is about,” Wolfman said). Wolfman’s script was moving along, and Perez’s art was as well.

Until

it

just

stopped.

“At some point after drawing 70-plus pages, George hit a wall with the Titans and couldn't draw another page. I understood completely as I was going through the aforementioned writer's block myself,” Wolfman said. “The book just stopped.”

The art for the book was housed in the DC offices for a while after the project died, where it caught the eye of Michael Lovitz, a copyright lawyer (and occasional Newsarama columnist). “I had the opportunity to tour the DC Comics offices and met the editor on the book, who at that time had the pages, so I saw them just a couple of years after the project was killed,” Lovitz said. “I was later offered the opportunity to purchase the pages from another art collector, and was thrilled to be able to own this really cool piece of unfinished history, just as I'm thrilled to own pages from the original JLA/Avengers that George worked on.”

While Lovitz became the owner of the art in the intervening years, it didn’t stop one the story’s creators from becoming an advocate for the project’s resurrection. “From '89 to this past July at San Diego, I pestered just about every editor who has ever been on the Titans to get the graphic novel going again, with another artist if need be,” Wolfman said. “And though the Editors expressed interest, DC always turned it down. As I later learned, their feeling was that original graphic novels needed to be done by one team and that bringing in, say, Phil Jimenez, who could mimic George's style, would take away some sort of individualistic artistic viewpoint and make it less of a personal expression. This was George and my story and even if it's okay for various artists to work on a regular comic, a novel should be more artistically controlled.

“Obviously, DC could have made a ton of money on this, so their viewpoint wasn't business driven but a creative decision. As much as it frustrated me, how could I argue
against artistic viewpoint? That was why the Titans was such a good book in the first place. I had seen George at two conventions this past year, one in Kansas City and one in Pasadena, and I lobbied him to do the book, but, being immersed in the middle of JLA/Avengers, I don't think he was really interested in doing yet another big group book like that. Later on, Paul Levitz was at my after San Diego Con party this past July and I lobbied him again, but to no avail. So I finally accepted that this was one dead parrot of a book.”

And Perez knew what Wolfman had been doing over the years – he was just too bust to commit to it again. “Marv had mentioned for years his desire to get Games done, and I had told Marv I wasn’t really interested in doing it, because the story was dated and I would have to recreate the pages and couldn’t see myself doing it,” Perez said. “But Marv had been trying to get DC to green light the graphic novel again with other people finishing the artwork – although DC didn’t show any interest in finishing the book in that fashion. They wanted me involved to complete the book – pretty much the same way it was for JLA/Avengers.”

As unfortunate as the chain of events was, CrossGen’s financial troubles allowed for Perez to once again consider Games.

“When my relationship with CrossGen allowed me to start looking for freelance work after JLA/Avengers, I was caught in a situation where people were offering me work left and right,” Perez said. “Thankfully, JLA/Avengers had put me in a situation where I can pick and choose what I would work on, if I chose.

“But it was my friend and agent, Spencer Beck who called me up and let me know that all the pages to Games were owned by Michael Lovitz. Spencer told me that Mike was very willing to give me the artwork back to use as a springboard for the remainder of the book if I wanted to do it.”

Well, Lovitz was willing to return the pages to Perez and DC, but not without an “aw shucks” of his own. “When I found out George and Marv wanted to resurrect the project, I was both thrilled and saddened - thrilled, because now we'd finally get the full story - and who isn't thrilled each time George gets to draw the Titans? Saddened because the graphic novel in its present, unfinished form is really a snapshot of the comic publishing process. Some pages are finished and inked; some are pencilled in very full and complete pencils. Some are pencilled but not yet finished, with details still to be added. And a couple of pages are really not too much more than breakdowns. Now that the pages will all be completed, it means losing some of this beautiful pencil and preliminary work. At the end of the day, I'll be more thrilled to see the complete work; but still a bit sad to lose the ‘in process’ pages.”

Once Perez knew the pages were available, that was all he needed. “First I called Marv to see if he still wanted to do the project, and that call was merely a formality – I knew what the answer was going to be,” Perez said.

“Sometime in September, if I recall, George called and said he'd been thinking it over and wanted to know if I'd be on board if he called DC and said he was interested in finishing the novel,” Wolfman said. “I was walking around the L.A. County Fair when he called and I think the hogs in the building across the way could hear my squeal of delight.”

From there, the book needed a colorist, and Perez knew exactly who to call. “I called my colorist friend Tom Smith, since he’d been getting such great reviews on the coloring of JLA/Avengers, and I wanted him to come onboard with this one as well, making it his first major DC project. Again, that call was just a formality – the ‘yes’ was pretty quick. With Marv and Tom on board, I called Eddie Berganza, who in turn called Dan Didio, and pretty much in one day, the project was greenlit.

“As it turns out, they all thought the timing was incredibly great. The Titans have had a resurgence in popularity, and the current version owes a lot to the Marv Wolfman/Geroge Perez version. It also allows DC to have a major project that they’ll be able to promote for Christmas of 2004, and allowed me to have another major project that wouldn’t quite kill me to the extent that JLA/Avengers had been doing.”

As for those pages…as Wolfman mentioned above, the book’s late ‘80s death really was a tragedy – Perez had, all told, at least laid out over 80 pages of the planned 120.

“I made a count – there are 73 pages in various stages of development in either pencils or inks – and I have at least ten to twelve pages in various stages of layouts still in my drawer here,” Perez said. “So there are over 80 pages that are in one form or another that have gotten beyond the blank page. I’ll have to do some ink touchups on the pages that were already inked by Al Vey or me, and then ink the penciled pages, which were considerable in number. But a lot of this will be me scanning the pages, and sending them to Tom.

“The original coloring at the time – this was before computers were used, was going to be done by our colorist in a painterly style, so I was doing a very dead, flat line, so there were very few blacks, and very little differentiating of line weight, because it was going to look like a painted finished.”

Given that he’s finally getting the monkey that it called JLA/Avengers off his back, and he has a two-issue CrossGen project coming up, Perez said that he won’t be actively working on finishing pages until March or April, but Smith will start coloring the pages that were already completed and only need minor touchups in early 2004. Wolfman said he’ll be waiting for the entire book to be completed before finishing his script.

“When it's all done I will take a month or two off and write it straight through,” the writer said. “Because I knew it would originally take even George, who is very fast, several months to pencil it, I never dialogued any of the pages back in '89 because I wanted to write it in one frame of mood so from beginning to end so it would be consistent. As far as sticking to the original plot, I assume George will do so and make alterations only once he gets into it and if they are needed.”

And there is one other part that needs to be addressed – making Games work in 2004. “The only thing that Marv and I will have to sit down and figure out is how to make this work as a good piece of suspenseful storytelling, as all of these characters are now throwbacks to the late 1980s – their hairstyles, their clothing, the World Trade Center – all of these things are part of the story elements,” Perez said. “So Marv and I will have to work out a framing sequence that will allow Games to have some sort of ramifications or repercussions, so that this old, ‘untold tale’ will be important to the current day, something to give it a feeling of urgency. The story, if done straight as an untold tale will not have any emotional investment, since everyone knows what has happened to these characters in the 16 years since the story was written. That’s one of the main concerns we have now.”

Although, there may not be a framing sequence.

“I'd just soon have no framing sequence because everyone who buys the book will know it's set sometime in the past,” Wolfman said. “If they don't know it going in, I'm sure they'll realize it when they read whatever introduction or afterward we write. I'd love this to be a stand alone book not set in any time so anyone anywhere, including the kids watching the Titans cartoon show who have never seen the comic, can pick it up and not need to worry about where it belongs. At the time we did it we thought this was the best Titans story we'd ever done, so I'd like to see it stand on its own. But George or DC may have other views and when we finally sit down to talk about framing sequences and such, someone may have a compelling reason to do otherwise. Since this isn't a ‘My way or the highway’ kind of situation, and George and I have remained extremely good friends over the years, we'll do what makes the most sense at the time, which, again, is how he and I always handled the book. We always wrote and drew it from our gut and our heart, so why change that now?”

All told, Perez expects the book – if it has a framing sequence, to run around 150 pages, as it was supposed to be 120 pages as originally convinced, although it could run even longer. “Marv has some ideas about adding extras on top of the story – making it like a DVD with extras,” Perez said.

Finally, ask Perez to put Games and JLA/Avengers into perspective, and well…he can still end up scratching his head.

“Personally, I can’t believe I got the chance to step back in time not once, but twice,” Perez said. “This one even more so, because I’m working on the original project – the original pages. And of course, with that, thanks to Spenser and Mike, Games became the perfect follow-up to JLA/Avengers. This was a no-brainer. If people were excited about seeing me finish the first, it was only logical that I finish the other project form my history that everyone has been asking about. It doesn’t have as quite a checked history as JLA/Avengers, but people have been wanting to see it for years.”

For that final question…Games looks like this is it for Perez. His closet is empty of old project…almost.

“The only other thing that I never finished was Crimson Plague, and I don’t think I can afford to finish that,” the artist said. “I’ve already got people offering me work for 2005, so I know that there’s a lot of stuff out there for me. One of the great things about comics is that there has always been a surprise out there for me. So I’m very happy the way life is turning out for me. Next year, I’m turning 50, and to still be getting all this work, and offers, and press is very gratifying to a guy who’s celebrating thirty years as a comic artist.”

for more, personal reminiscences about Titans: Games, Wolfman urged folks to hit
http://www.marvwolfman.com beginning Monday, Nov. 24th.

[Ricber]

Finally!! This is the best news I've heard in a loooong time.
I hope they do end up doing framing sequences though. It will encourage new readers to pick it up too.

-Rich B.
www.sentinelsonline.com

[SpyGuy]

As someone who has seen the original pages, I've felt downhearted that GAMES was never released. For years, there has been all kinds of arguments that "It wouldn't fit into current continuity," which never made much sense to me given DC's Elseworlds line and the concept of Hypertime.

Kudos to George and Marv for resurrecting this project from the dead and giving us old-school Titans fans something to cheer about once again.

(Okay, DC...Start getting that NEW TEEN TITANS ARCHIVES #2 edition ready for a tie-in product...)

[tralfaz]

I dont even have to read the entire article because I already know i will love this...

Perez is god

[Brian Garside]

OMG! This has just made my freakin' day.

Titans is by far my favourite comic of all time. The Perez/Wolfman run was just utterly spectacular, and his "Who is Wonder Girl" storyline was awesome. I've heard about this graphic novel since the 80's, and the fact that it is finally being made is a fanboy's dream come true!

I am really grooving to JLA/Avengers, and when it's done, I hope Marvel and DC can get together one last time to let someone brilliant like Chip Kidd put together a supersized "special edition" with all of the art from the original which George had pencilled (I believe Rob Liefeld owns it now).

After buying Alex Ross' Mythology, I am totally jazzed to own more awesome comics history, stuff which I can share with my wife and friends, and help them to appreciate the medium.

[farwell3d]

Perez. Wolfman. Titans. Nuff said.

[Ionicavenger]

I hope all of these new Titans readers pick this up. As cool as the new stuff is, the old stuff was remarkable.

[Raphe Cheli]

I remember reading the twice-yearly Amazing Heroes Preview Specials, with announcements of new series, heads up on what was coming in already-published new series, and updates on announced projects that hadn't come out yet. Before the Internet, this was the place to find out information on upcoming projects.

The Games GN appeared in a few consecutive issues -- always partly done, or coming out in a few months, but obviously it never did. There were other things that were announced, even put on schedule, that I've been dying to read for 10-15 years. This, the Kevin Nowlan Man-Thing GN, the Miller/Simonson Daredevil story (published after the end of Born Again), JLA/Avengers (which finally arrived. although I still would've enjoyed the Roy Thomas [or was it Gerry Conway?] version), and many, many more.

I really should take those out and look at them again and see what else was planned that never came out.

[Midnight Pelican]

I don't suppose their Titans runs is traded yet, is it?

Sounds like a good read, and I really hate tracking down the singles.

[Chesscub]

First JLA/Avengers. Now this.

I remember reading the letters pages a few years after "Who is Wonder Girl?" and hearing this was coming. I was psyched for it for a while, but it just became another of those "announced but never to be seen projects."

I'm really ecstatic this too is finally coming out. Any Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans issues should be cherished. Everyone who is getting Teen Titans now needs to check this out!

Jeff
(Who is waiting for Darklight and Starchild to return)

[GenXMaverick]

This is THE most phenomenal good news I've had in years. Bar none. I am thrilled DC will have at least one high profile project in celebration of the Titans' 40th Anniversary in 2004. Now, about the 25th Anniversary of the New Teen Titans in 2005...

My namesake was solely a Perez creation--conceived, designed and created by George--and GAMES was going to be the one book where George was finally getting to fully explore all the artistic experiments he was attempting with Jericho.

Add to that we get to see Starfire, Raven and TROIA!!! tear the roof off the mutha in glorious 70mm graphic novel form with tons of P.P.R. to go along with it!

And while Wolfman & Perez are on the subject of "old projects" that were promised but never completed.....

WHERE'S THAT X-MEN/TITANS 2 , GUYS?!!

BRING IT ON!!!

[The Escapist]

Now that the pages will all be completed, it means losing some of this beautiful pencil and preliminary work. At the end of the day, I'll be more thrilled to see the complete work; but still a bit sad to lose the ?in process? pages.?

...

All told, Perez expects the book ? if it has a framing sequence, to run around 150 pages, as it was supposed to be 120 pages as originally convinced, although it could run even longer. ?Marv has some ideas about adding extras on top of the story ? making it like a DVD with extras,? Perez said.

I completely understand where Mike Lovitz is coming from-- I'd really love to see some of this art scanned in NOW, before Perez works it over, so that we could see some before/after and in process materials as DVD like extras as well!

-Dave

[Cartoon Jay]

I had to read this twice before it sunk in.

UNBELIEVABLE!

The Wolfman/Perez Titans remains my favorite superhero series. Who would've thought this was even possible?!? I'm sorry Crossgen ran into so much trouble, but if we get "Games" finished...well, I guess everything happns for a reason.

[grphxkindaguy]

Originally posted by Chesscub
First JLA/Avengers. Now this.

I'm really ecstatic this too is finally coming out. Any Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans issues should be cherished. Everyone who is getting Teen Titans now needs to check this out!

I agree, I loved their run on TT and anything they do now will (hopefully) improve upon that.

PEREZ IS GOD!!!

What does "framing sequences" mean? Is it like flashbacks (like in HUSH)?
Can anyone give me an example where this was done in a recent comic?
thanks!!!

[Cartoon Jay]

Originally posted by Brian Garside

I am really grooving to JLA/Avengers, and when it's done, I hope Marvel and DC can get together one last time to let someone brilliant like Chip Kidd put together a supersized "special edition" with all of the art from the original which George had pencilled (I believe Rob Liefeld owns it now).

That is a fantastic idea!

[sat]

FYI, you can find a bunch more preview pages
and behind the scenes info at

http://www.titanstower.com/source/libntt/games.html

[grphxkindaguy]

Originally posted by Cartoon Jay
I had to read this twice before it sunk in.

UNBELIEVABLE!

The Wolfman/Perez Titans remains my favorite superhero series. Who would've thought this was even possible?!? I'm sorry Crossgen ran into so much trouble, but if we get "Games" finished...well, I guess everything happns for a reason.

As much as Nightwing is one of my favorite characters, seeing his original costume always gives me a chuckle.

What what were they thinking when they gave him that HUGE Elvis collar?

very hokey....

[brett]

Coming from someone who has got to be the biggest Wolfman/Perez Titans fan alive --

You guys have just made my day.

I've seen the book in it's current form and it is ABSOLUTELY stunning!

Now, after what, 15 years we finally get to see it completed! Next Christmas is going to be something special indeed!

The return of the greatest superteam ever created by the two best creators in the business!

It doesn't get any better than that!

Thank YOU GOD!

Dreams DO come true!

[grphxkindaguy]

Originally posted by brett
Coming from someone who has got to be the biggest Wolfman/Perez Titans fan alive --

You guys have just made my day.

The return of the greatest superteam ever created by the two best creators in the business!

It doesn't get any better than that!

Thank YOU GOD!

Dreams DO come true!

Its strange that they release the news of this project, on the day I am finishing up reading the hardcover of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.

I bought it almost 3 years ago and finally got a chance to read it THIS WEEK!!!

[jawaplumber]

NEW TITANS was one of the first DC titles I got into in my teenage years, but to be honest, this is the first I've ever heard of GAMES. I'm really looking forward to checking it out. This is one of the few upcoming DC projects that appeals to me.

[willyd]

check out that mullet on gar!

[O.J. Flow]

I'm just stoked beyond words that we're going to be seeing Perez back doing the character that he does better than anyone:

Danny Chase.

[hondo]

Never thought this would see the light of day either. I'm hoping someone, like the previously mentioned Chip Kidd, collects JLA/Avengers and the original Perez pages from back in the fabulous 80's (WAS it Thomas or Conway, I think Conway) now owned by Rob Liefeld.

Titans was one of the best titles back in the day. The timing really IS good on this right now and YES I would LOVE to see X-Men/Titans 2 !!! Who wouldn't ?

Miller/Simonson on DD ? never heard of it. Kevin Nowlan on Man-Thing (WOW) ??

How about Geoff Johns & George Perez doing a project or story and Marv Wolfman & Mike McKone doing the same ? That would be cool.

When are we gonna see a Titans / Outsiders crossover ?

[1logan]

Perez is the best!!!!! I've always stressed it to everyone!!! So glad to hear that he is back to clear up dangling threads! Can't wait to get it. I really hope Perez doesnt bow out of the hero game now. His smaller stuff like Solus and Crimson Plague is awesome too, but just doesnt hold my attention as well. I see Perez is doing work on the new Common Grounds Image series, I'm gonna have to check that out!

The only GN that I ever heard mentioned but was never done was from Marvel! Early 90's - Nick Fury/Punisher drawn by Jim Lee and I believe written by Carl Potts! i waited and waited for that one and it just never surfaced!


p.s - George please go to MegaCon this year, I have so much stuff for you to sign!

[GenXMaverick]

Originally posted by hondo
Never thought this would see the light of day either.
>SNIP<
Titans was one of the best titles back in the day. The timing really IS good on this right now and YES I would LOVE to see X-Men/Titans 2 !!! Who wouldn't ?

Thanks, Hondo. Here's hoping DC and Marvel finally wake up and do this. It's been 20 years. If they can still do GAMES after 15 years, why not X-Men/Titans 2 dammit?

How about Geoff Johns & George Perez doing a project or story and Marv Wolfman & Mike McKone doing the same ? That would be cool.

George back on the monthly Titans book again?! Hey, if that happens, I can die a happy man! Maybe Dan DiDio will pull a Loeb/Lee with Teen Titans and get Wolfman/Perez for a year?!

When are we gonna see a Titans / Outsiders crossover ?

Not soon enough---I love both books and having Tom Raney draw the Titans is a treat I'd pay very good money to read!