GEORGE PEREZ ON LEGION OF 3 WORLDS, I

[MattBrady]

by Vaneta Rogers

George Perez is no stranger to Crises.

Now DC has tapped him to help out with another Crisis by drawing the Legion of Super-Heroes -- not just one of the teams, but three versions of them from three different universes -- in this summer's five-issue mini-series Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds.

Working with writer Geoff Johns, Perez will be drawing five oversized issues that readers can expect to be filled with characters in what Johns promises is an epic tale. Fans got a preview of the story and Perez's take on the Legion -- as well as a few surprise characters from the 21st century -- in this week's Action Comics #863, where Johns once again incorporated a comic book "trailer" to get readers excited about the upcoming project.

Johns and Perez last worked together on Infinite Crisis in 2005, when Perez did several pages to help out regular mini-series artist Phil Jimenez. And of course, as a veteran penciller in the comic book industry for over 30 years, Perez is also well-known for his role as penciller on Crisis of Infinite Earths.

So now that he's involved in the Final Crisis, Newsarama talked to Perez about the Legion story he's drawing, as well as his upcoming pages in DC Universe #0.

Newsarama: We talked to you way back in 2006 about your hopes of doing a Legion comic once you finished work on Brave and the Bold. Smart Newsarama readers could have just looked at our interviews with you to guess what you were doing next. Has this been in the works that long, or did it take them awhile to find the right Legion comic for you?

George Perez: Well, actually, after the first time I talked to them about it, Steve Wacker was still working at DC, and he was doing the Legion books. And there was talk about certain Legion projects. Some of that fell by the wayside once he left the company. But there were constant talks, and I thought the closest I was going to get at that point was drawing the Legion in Brave and the Bold.

Then Dan Didio told me all these plans for Final Crisis and that the Legion would be one of the sister books. One of the projects I wanted to do even when I was talking to Steve about this was a comic that collected [i]all]/i] versions of the Legion. I thought that would have been a real joy. So when I found out it was the main focus of Legion of 3 Worlds, of course I said that has my fingerprints all over it without my even touching it. And Dan agreed, because I wanted to do it, but also because I'm one of the crazy guys who volunteers for one of these "cast of thousand" assignments. It was pretty much a done deal.

The only regret I have is scheduling, because it was that my intention to fulfill a full year on Brave and the Bold before I jumped onto the next project. That ended up becoming impossible if I wanted to get a head start on the Legion books because of the incredible amount of research that needs to be done.

NRAMA: How long did you research, and what kinds of things were you researching, before you got started on the Legion project?

GP: I spent over a month getting together the number of references that needed to be gathered. Even then, it's still sometimes contradictory because the Legions have gone through so many changes that when they give me a specific request for a character, the references they send me might be contradictory to what the story calls for wherein a character's costume has changed.

NRAMA: The Legion has been around a long time and gone through several redesigns, so what did you do when you ran into a character that has seen a few costume changes? Was there a rule you followed or was it more about preference?

GP: I would bandy it back and forth with the writer and the editor. I'd say, "OK, these are the versions we have here." Sometimes it's a question of what year the character appeared in that costume, and we'd try to find what the most recent costume is. I had to straighten all those contradictions out. It was basically just a lot of talking. Geoff would sometimes refer to a particular look or a particular issue, and he'd say, "This is what I imagine." Yet some characters had gone through multiple changes since that particular issue he was citing, so we had to find a compromise. It's been a lot of work, especially doing the covers.

NRAMA: Do you have any of the covers finished?

GP: I just finished the first cover. What I did when I drew the cover, I had to first send it in as fully penciled to say, "These are the costumes I'm using. Are these costumes right?" And they OK'd it without any changes. By that point, I had researched it so much. It took me a long time to draw the cover, only because I had to research everything. I know this book is going to be chock full of things like that.

NRAMA: Can you tell us what's on the cover?

GP: I literally drew the Legions of three worlds. There's the Abnett/Lanning Legion, the classic Legion that's been appearing in Action, and the current Legion that Jim Shooter is currently working from the original Mark Waid/Barry Kitson era. So all three Legions appear on the cover of issue #1.

The next issue's cover is going to spotlight the villains, and trying to find that consensus as to what the final appearance of any of the characters is going to be will always be a challenge. With the current Legion, I had to find out what they're going to be doing with the costumes by the time this book comes out. The costume designs for this latest Legion, with the exception of what's on the second cover, have not been inside the book yet, because I've only worked on the first issue. So those are always a challenge, because I'm trying to coordinate with yet another group of editors -- in this case the Legion editors -- to get all this stuff together.

But I've been doing these types of maxi-series and mini-series for a long time. So I've gotten pretty good at the ins and outs of it.

NRAMA: That teaser image in Action Comics was pretty intense.

GP: Yeah! I had a lot of fun doing that. By the way, the inker on that, who hasn't been credited, is Scott Koblish. He's inking the series. The only thing I'm inking is covers. In fact, the last issue I did -- issue #10 of Brave and the Bold -- was incorrectly credited to Bob Wiacek inside. They've already apologized to poor Scott Koblish. But anything that is interior artwork for the Legion project will be inked by Scott Koblish. And it's amazing all that detail he puts in. Sometimes he even surprises me. Like in Brave and the Bold, there was a little shot of Superman, and even I didn't draw the insignia when it was that tiny. Well, it was in the inks when he brought it back. A man after my own heart.

NRAMA: I heard from Geoff Johns that he asked you what Legion characters you wanted to draw in this mini-series, and you said, "All of them." Is that true?

GP: [laughs] That's almost the same quote, with exception of the name of the book, that Kurt Busiek had referring to JLA/Avengers. You know -- what members of the JLA and Avengers does George want to draw? And he always says, "All of them."

NRAMA: Yeah, but George -- you hurt your hand on that series! Didn't you learn your lesson from that comic?

GP: [laughs] I learned! I hurt my hand drawing a cover that was too large. And I was inking it in a very, very uncomfortable position for my hand, which really took its toll. So I won't be doing that again.

NRAMA: So now you can do all the Legion characters?

GP: Well, I did the cover! I just finished it. So what won't kill me... will only make me wish it did!

I mean, this is the Frankenstein I created. No matter how many times I think I'm going to subjugate the monster, it always escapes. As many time as I say, "OK, let me simplify this," I end up looking at it and saying, "Yeah, but look at that empty corner... somebody should be there."

I look forward to a lot of other aspects of this story, though. Other than the Legion members, there are just so many details that Geoff has thrown into the mix, including the fact that Superman is a main focus of the story, so there's a lot of stuff in Superman's history to draw as well. So it's kind of fun drawing Jimmy Olsen and Lois and Lana and Perry and all those other characters again.

NRAMA: You said you've only drawn the first issue, but do you know the plot? Are you excited about what's coming in the next few issues?

GP: I deliberately -- even though Geoff sent me an overview some time ago -- I've avoided reading it all, because I like to be surprised too. I haven't the faintest idea what they're setting me up for, as far as the story. All I know is it has to do with Final Crisis, and it features all the Legion of Super-Heroes and Super-Villains, Superman, and -- of course it's going to be no surprise since it's in the teaser -- Prime, formerly Superboy-Prime.

NRAMA: This is the third big crisis for DC readers, and you've been involved in all of them, haven't you?

GP: Yeah! Isn't that crazy? It seems like if this is going to be the Final Crisis -- 'cause I don't know if there's going to be a series after that called "We're Only Fooling Crisis" -- that I seem to have been involved in every major mega-series Crisis that's been around. Obviously, I was involved in the first one, to helping Phil Jimenez out in Infinite Crisis, and now, I'll be involved in one of the sister books to Final Crisis. So yeah, I'm the Richard Chamberlain of maxi-series here. Or the Irwin Allen of disaster movies. Either way it seems to be my forte or my niche in the industry.

NRAMA: You're the go-to guy for crises!

GP: [laughs] Yeah, I'm the guy they call up when they say, "There's a hell of a lot of characters to draw in this story. Who can we get?" So I'm only on the A-list when it comes to that. When they're talking about just one character sitting alone in the desert, they never call me. [laughs]

NRAMA: When we had talked before, you had said you were a Legion fan when you were younger, right?

GP: Oh, yes. I was very much into it. That's one of the challenges. Of course I'm grateful that Geoff is using the classic version of the Legion as the main focal point in the first issue -- taking them from Action. Because it's like, while I enjoyed doing the Legion in Brave and the Bold, it was almost like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. There wasn't something quite right about them because they weren't the same Legion I grew up with. So there's one scene that I did get to draw some of the Legion in the 1980s version of the costumes -- not quite the originals, but then again, Mon-El hasn't really changed his costume all that much -- but getting to draw Matter-Eater Lad in his original green and black and yellow costume... those are the things I hope to be able to put into this story a bit more. It will probably deal with some of their history, so I'll get to draw some of the classic renditions of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

NRAMA: It's amazing to me that you've never really drawn the Legion of Super-Heroes before this, George.

GP: No! I never really have other than covers. I mean, I did draw them in covers when I first went over to DC around 1980 or 1981, but for whatever reason, I never drew Legion. I mean, they offered me the Titans and I had interest in doing the JLA, and Legion... I got to do covers. Of course, I've done them as guest stars. But yeah, it is amazing that two of my favorite series when I was young, when I was really starting into comics, was Legion of Super-Heroes and, weirdly enough, Metal Men. And it's amazing how many times I was able to sneak them in to any story I could [laughs]. The Metal Men even sneaked into JLA/Avengers for no apparent reason other than the fact that I've got to draw the Metal Men!

NRAMA: Who were your favorite Legion characters when you were young?

GP: Well, Dream Girl, because I was a young boy. But I liked Ultra Boy, for whatever strange reason, when I first read him in that Superboy story when he was first introduced, him and Mon-El, because they had actually met the contemporary Superboy. And Mon-El because of that tragedy of almost being considered Superboy's brother, and then lead ends up being his undoing. And Dream Girl just because I thought she was, you know, a foxy character. She reminded me of an actress named Joi Lansing, who played Superman's wife in an episode of The Adventures of Superman. She was actually a policewoman undercover.

NRAMA: So does your Dream Girl look like Joi Lansing?

GP: Well, I'm also trying to make the Dream Girls different from each other. I try to differentiate between characters. Like when I draw the current Superman of Earth-2, I don't want to make it look like it's the same guy only older. I want there to be a stylistic difference, that he is a different man. And it's the same thing with the Legion. There's a challenge to drawing three versions of Cosmic Boy. Sometimes it's a minor thing, like one of them parts his hair differently than the other one does. And of course, with a cast of thousands, faces are going to repeat, because there's just so many faces you can draw.

But I'm trying to keep Kitson's vision of the current Legion -- pay respect to that -- because he was the artist who created those characters. Ditto the more youthful, but not as quite as cartoony, versions from the Lanning/Abnett era, because a lot of artists went in and out of that series, so I try to find some middle ground. And the hardest one, actually, is the classic Legion, because they went from everything from Curt Swan to Keith Giffen. Not only the costumes changing, but they artistically radically changed. You wouldn't recognize, for example, Keith Giffen's Cosmic Boy from Curt Swan's Cosmic Boy, facially. They just don't look like the same character. So my challenge is to be able to draw the character from youth to current status and make it work, despite the fact that stylistically I don't look anything like Keith's work. It should be the same character. And that is the challenge, because so many artists have done so many different versions. There are some artists where there's just no way my character is going to look like theirs -- we're just too stylistically different. But you're going to get a Perez version of all three Legions, trying to filter the other artists who preceded me. I'm just hoping people accept the Perez Legion for what it is.

NRAMA: OK, I asked you who your favorite was when you were a kid. Who's your favorite Legion member to draw now?

GP: I like drawing Dawnstar. The wings are always a lot of fun to draw. And Shadow Lass. There's something about being able to play with the dark and light costume.

NRAMA: Shadow Lass does have such a unique costume among the team members.

GP: Yeah! I used her actually on the cover to put some black background on the cover so some other characters will pop out a bit more. And there's one character that I just found very, very visually interesting. She's actually not one of the current ones, but Sensor, the real snakey woman. I find her a real trip to draw. She's a real challenge, and for right now, I've only drawn her on the cover. But I'm looking forward to the challenge of being able to draw her in context with other characters.

Again, trying to choose among my children has always been a difficult thing to choose for me. They always ask me who my favorite Avenger was, or who my favorite Titan was. And I guess there's a favorite Titan or a favorite Avenger or a favorite JLA member, but only because they're in context with the other characters. You know? I've drawn the Avengers, but I have not drawn Captain America as a solo feature nor Thor nor Iron Man or anyone else. I like them in the context of being part of a larger family. And it's the same with Legion of Super-Heroes.

NRAMA: OK, we talked about your favorite Legion members. Since this mini-series also focuses on the villains of the 31st century, who are you favorite Legion of Super-Villains characters?

GP: I like the Fatal Five, but that's probably because there's more than one of them! And I like Mordru. He's charging in that first teaser page, so you already know he's going to be part of the Legion of Super-Villains. You know, there are villains in that charging scene who were not members of the Legion of Super-Villains originally. Mordru never was, and neither were the Fatal Five. So Geoff is trying to collect a bunch of villains under the banner of Legion of Super-Villains, with Lightning Lord and Cosmic King and Saturn Queen at the forefront, being the ones who are parallel to the founding members of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

NRAMA: How has it been working with Geoff Johns on this comic?

GP: He's been great. He knows so much; Geoff is a real, real DC geek. He absolutely adores Superman. He's a fan of the Chris Reeve movies and the old Curt Swan comics, so that seems to suggest itself at every opportunity in the stories here. He's very respectful to the characters. And he quite obviously knows the Legion. The amount of references he makes in the plots is amazing. It's like, "from this era, from that era, this character..." He just knows what planet every character is from, which is totally amazing. It shows that he really, really loves it, and with him involved, like on a weekend if I'm trying to figure out something, I can always call up Geoff. It was the same when I was talking to Kurt Busiek when I was working on the Avengers -- or Mark Waid on Brave and the Bold. Some people just have this encyclopedic knowledge. It comes in handy, since I haven't read comics in quite a long time. I only read them for research now. So my memory or knowledge is lacking. So it's always good to have an editor or especially a writer who is much more aware of what is going on.

I think a good part of this story does take place with classic characters -- those characters that I grew up with -- so I at least have a good benchmark to start from.

NRAMA: I've heard from other artists that those three writers you mentioned -- and Geoff in particular, since we're talking about this Legion series -- are very collaborative writers, aren't they?

GP: Oh yes! I think one of things that Geoff had on this in order to work with me in a manner that would benefit us both is that I've been involved in setting up story elements when he gives me the plot. So we've been working together that way. I'm known for being a thinking artist. I've been drawing a few little surprises for Geoff and he's just been tickled when I do that.

I think things out. If something doesn't make sense to me as described, I'll try to make sense of it when I'm doing it visually. Like in fight scenes, if he's emphasizing two characters fighting, I have to find out artistically what the other characters are doing. So I shoot around to another angle so I can show other characters involved. I've been doing that from the beginning of my art career. It seems to be a natural thing for me. When I do a fight scene, nobody becomes wallpaper. Everyone's involved. Or even in dialogue, everyone's involved. Nobody just stands. Most people are reacting. Or, they're involved in their own private little conversations in the background, because to me, it's like a director says that every actor has to stay in the scene so that nothing gets distracted because they're no longer part of the environment around them. And I'm very grateful that Geoff trusts me that much. But again, I've got a few years experience under my belt.

NRAMA: Now you also did some pages on DC Universe #0, right?

GP: Yeah! DC Universe has a few pages by me -- the simplest pages I've ever drawn. First, I got to draw Page 1 and Page 3, which was basically Earth in outer space. And in this day and age, I draw circles, and they paint Earth. [laughs] That's all I had to draw on those pages! I guess that makes up for the fact that I had a page with Superman and Tyr fighting in the 31st century, and then followed that up with a double-page spread which was the image that was used in the mock-up teaser for DC Universe #0, which is the Legion battling Shadow Demons. They used part of it -- the pencilled version -- and I was as surprised to see those pencils on there as anybody. I saw it and said, "Hey! That's my penciled cover!" It was just the pencils; it hadn't been inked yet. And they were using that as a teaser. It gave everyone another reason to think, "My God! George is drawing the Legion!" For those who recognize it as my style.

NRAMA: Well, if your interview with me two years ago is any indication, you weren't exactly quiet about the fact you wanted to draw the Legion, George.

GP: Yeah! I told everyone I wanted to do it, but a lot of people still didn't figure out what my "secret project" was going to be. Some people have guessed it had to do with Final Crisis. They were right! But yeah, it was a dream come true for me. I wanted to work with Geoff on a full-scale project for awhile. And I found an inker in Scott Koblish, who is not only incredibly meticulous, but he's also very fast for an inker. In fact, he can ink more than one of my pages in a day, and that I find utterly amazing. I'm out to break him! Inkers who are that fast and that talented, my goal is then to break them. I say, "Oh, you think you're that fast? Let me see what I can do to you now." [laughs] But he just takes every challenge in stride. The guy's amazing.

NRAMA: You said you wanted to work with Geoff on a project. Did you read the current Action Comics story featuring Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes?

GP: Oh, yes! I had to in researching the book. It was fun! It did give me a warm and fuzzy feeling seeing the Legion, although they've gone through a little bit of hard times. But I just thought, OK, this is the continuation of the original Legion -- the Legion that had been kind of abandoned when the two reboots came in. Yes, that is Dawnstar. Yes, that is Cosmic Boy, scruffy as he is. I still have a tough time thinking that's Lightning Lad, but OK. I mean, he looks a little like a seedy Kevin Bacon to me. [laughs] But all the relationships are the same, the references to their past stories are from the era that I remember reading, so that was kind of fun! Again, the only time I read comics is when I have to research comics, so I have a funny feeling I'm going to be doing a lot of Legion reading the next few months.

NRAMA: Why did you want to work with Geoff so much?

GP: Well, he always says such nice things about me, and after working on those pages of Infinite Crisis, I wanted to work with him again. Here's a guy who loves my work from the past, you know? Anyone who's that enamored with the stuff I've done and the things I had a part in -- it was like, OK, let's go full circle and actually work together. Plus, hey ... Geoff sells. Who am I to argue with that?

NRAMA: Now that you've gotten started on the story, are you enjoying finally getting to draw the Legion, George?

GP: I'm having the time of my life. It's a lot of work. I'm spending a lot of long hours on this book. But again, as I've told you more than once and anyone within earshot, I've always wanted to do the Legion, and it's criminal that I haven't. And finally -- finally -- justice is being served, as only a superhero comic can bring it.

Check back with Newsarama tomorrow when we'll have an up-close look at the battle-charged, character-intense teaser image George Perez did for Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, along with some of his commentary about working on it.

[Ace]

The post ZH Star Boy costume is probably my favorite design ever.

I really, really want to see Perez's take on it.

[tinman23]

to say i cant wait for this is a strong understatement

[NeuroZombie]

Killer! My Fave artist of all time and the LSH! I cannot wait!

Of course, being old, I am looking forward to more of the original Legion

[nietoperz]

Dream Girl and Ultra Boy! Perez is a man after my own heart.

[Parademon]

Like many others, I'm not a Legion fan at all really - but Johns and Perez are literally tearing money from my pockets with this.

[SaturnKnight]

What can I add? This is going to be brilliant and beautiful. We all know it's going to be a classic and beloved by fans for years to come.

Now, since George gave us all a heads-up on what he was going to do after The Brave & The Bold... I want him to tell us what he's doing *after* Legion Of 3 Worlds. Pretty please, George?

I know George has said he wants to draw Wonder Woman again. I hope he does!

[KraziJoe]

This mini is sounding more and more like it will be the best mini of the year.

[ClaudioPozas]

No other artist inspired me as much as George Perez. He is truly a master of his craft. On top of that, he is a great professional and a complete gentleman.

[Zombie Uatu]

It's infectious - I'm not a Legion fan at all really, but Perez, like Johns, just has me completely hooked with his enthusiasm for this project.

I have now decided that I will become a Legion fan. My favourite legionairre is Matter-Eater Lad. He probably has the best super power in the entire history of comics.

[Covar]

I'm glad we get to see the DnA legion again. I'm really looking foward to this and just hope that all 3 legions get more or less equal face time.

[KyleV]

GP: Oh, yes. I was very much into it. That's one of the challenges. Of course I'm grateful that Geoff is using the classic version of the Legion as the main focal point in the first issue -- taking them from Action. Because it's like, while I enjoyed doing the Legion in Brave and the Bold, it was almost like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Preach on, George! Preach on!

[vbartilucci]

A fine example of how much you can learn if you pore over an article carefully...

Originally Posted by MattBrady

GP: Well, I'm also trying to make the Dream Girls different from each other. I try to differentiate between characters. Like when I draw the current Superman of Earth-2, I don't want to make it look like it's the same guy only older.

[Samy Merchi]

The words do not exist to confer how grateful I am to DC, Geoff Johns and George Perez for this. Suffice to say, I have not been this excited about a book since Claremont's original run on X-Men.

[Zabardast]

first page!

[MisterBlank]

Originally Posted by ajk1988

first page!

[DrunkJack]

Never been a fan of the Legion, (Waid And Kitson almost had me) but I'll check this out for Perez's Superman and Superman-Prime. Hopefully we get a good knock-down drag-out fight between the two. I want to see Supes pummel that whiney self absorbed asshat Prime into dust, what's great about that character is that he is EVERYTHING he rails against.

Plus, if it gives me a little more of Johns Starman I'll be happy. I love that character in JSA, part meta-fiction part lovable crazy man all fun and often quite effective (His interactions early on with Superman were so human and simple, yet sad and troubling at the same time, you feel sorry for the guy even while you laugh at his silly antics).

[Xero]

Tyroc joined after Wildfire but before Dawnstar so I'm pretty sure he will be showing up if the complete team is there.

Troy Stewart - Tyroc
John Stewart - Green Lantern
Lynn Stewart - ex-wife of Black Lightning

[PyroTwilight]

Originally Posted by vbartilucci

A fine example of how much you can learn if you pore over an article carefully...

That caught my eye as well but I can only assume it's an error and not him spoiling something.

[Vic Vega]

Originally Posted by Xero

Tyroc joined after Wildfire but before Dawnstar so I'm pretty sure he will be showing up if the complete team is there.

Troy Stewart - Tyroc
John Stewart - Green Lantern
Lynn Stewart - ex-wife of Black Lightning

Shoot, how'd I miss that?

There's something kinda cool in the idea that John Stewart's decendant is a Legionnaire.

Who comes from an island of Black Nationalists.

[kinkeshiman]

Isn't that Luthor in the top right?

[doodle]

DC should clone George Perez!

[breakfast]

Seeing any project of Perez's is like having your head explode. In a good way. You can't just glance at one of his pictures and comprehend everything, you actually spend a good few minutes of your life just trying to let everything sink in.

[Peter Svensson]

Originally Posted by doodle

DC should clone George Perez!

They did! He's just currently Marvel exclusive.

[mrfun]

Very excited about this. Love the Legion. Love Perez.