DC Comics recently announced a touching event honoring one of the comic book industry’s most popular and loved artists. DC will be celebrating the 68th birthday of iconic comic book creator George Pérez for the entire month of June by placing a special two-page spread honoring Pérez in each of its issues coming out in the month.
The special piece is illustrated by a slew of all-star roster of artists including Alex Ross, Jim Lee, José Luis García-López, Todd McFarlane, Colleen Doran, Dave Gibbons, Dan Jurgens, and many more, the image features all of the DC characters Pérez is best known for drawing over his career in an homage to his signature style. The image also features Perez himself surrounded by the New Teen Titans and Deathstroke drawn by García-López.
The spread will appear in all of DC’s periodicals on sale in June, to celebrate Pérez’s birthday, which is June 9th. A separate page features a key identifying the characters and artists that participated will also be included. DC provided both images, which can be seen below.
Dan Jurgens designed the initial layout and each contributing artist worked there. Hi-Fi provided the colors for the entire image.
“When I was asked to come up with a design and layout that would honor George Pérez and his many incredible contributions to DC Comics over the years, I was truly honored,” says Dan Jurgens in DC’s announcement.
“I have admired George’s work since I first saw it and have had the good fortune to work with him in different capacities, on a number of projects. More importantly, I’ve been able to see the way George treats fans and readers, always smiling, gregarious and approachable. It was a joy to watch this cover come together and I’m sure everyone who contributed feels the same way.”
Below is the complete list of characters featured in the image along with the artists who drew them. The key that follows will also appear in each issue:
- The Monitor & Anti-Monitor – Jim Lee & Scott Williams
- Trigon – Todd McFarlane
- The Spectre – Alex Ross
- Darkseid – Walter Simonson
- Firestorm & the Justice League satellite – Scott Kolins
- Ares & Hippolyta – Phil Jimenez
- Cheetah & the Amazons – Colleen Doran
- Lady H.I.V.E. & H.I.V.E. agents – Scott Koblish
- Vigilante – Dave Gibbons
- Cheshire – Joëlle Jones
- Brother Blood – Darryl Banks
- Blackfire – Mike McKone
- Gizmo & Mammoth – Klaus Janson
- Shimmer – Bruno Redondo
- Psimon – Mikel Janín
- Neutron & Jinx – Dan Mora
- The Legion of Super-Heroes – Francis Manapul
- The Justice Society of America – Jerry Ordway
- Power Girl & Huntress – Kevin Maguire
- The Justice League of America (and the background) – Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund
- Superboy-Prime & Alexander Luthor – Ivan Reis
- Supergirl – Gary Frank
- Harbinger – Adam Hughes
- Pariah – Daniel Sampere
- Jericho & Kole – Nicola Scott
- The New Teen Titans, Deathstroke & George Pérez – José Luis García-López
DC also announced that in addition to being published in all of publisher’s June titles, the tribute image will be featured as a variant cover for Dark Crisis #7, the finale of the monthly event series, which begins in June.
There will also be a special version of the variant cover up for sale by The Hero Initiative to raise funds for the organization. Pérez is a founding member of charity’s board of directors, where he served as chair of its Disbursement Committee and, at one time, he was its single biggest fundraiser.
Each issue of Dark Crisis features a variant cover highlighting a previous DC ‘Crisis’ event from DC’s history beginning with Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman and Pérez for issue #1.
“George Pérez is one of my favorite comic storytellers of all time. To say he’s a ‘great artist’ is a massive understatement,” says Dark Crisis writer Joshua Williamson. “His work on the original Crisis of Infinite Earths inspired so much of my love for DC Comics. When I saw DC editors pull together this incredible piece with so many amazing legendary artists celebrating George, I won’t lie, it was emotional. And now it’s an honor to have this tribute be a cover to Dark Crisis.”
Since announcing he diagnosis with terminal pancreatic cancer this past December, a slew of tributes have been rolling out to honor the fan-favorite artist. Last month, DC and Marvel joined forces to reprint the classic crossover JLA/Avengers to honor Pérez and support the Hero Initiative. Marvel also paid tribute to Pérez in this month’s Avengers #55.
DC’s birthday tribute is the latest effort to celebrate him in light of his announcement. On April 21 Marvel published a special tribute to Pérez in Avengers #55, and last month DC, Marvel, and the Hero Initiative teamed up to offer a limited new collected edition of JLA/Avengers, which had been out of print for years.
Stay tuned in to GrandAdmiral.net to find out more about this special event and more honoring the great George Pérez.
