#behind the pages

[jerichogender]

Someone requested it, so here it is. This is the afterword George Pérez wrote for the New Teen Titans TBP that includes the Judas Contract (It says at the end that he wrote this in 1998, but I’m pretty sure they meant 1988 since the Judas Contract came out in 1984 and he talks about planning out the storyline five years ago):

[ID: A two-page afterword written by George Pérez. The first page has art on the left side from The New Teen Titans (NTT) of Joseph Wilson, Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Victor Stone, and Koriand’r dressed in their superheroes costumes and charging towards an enemy. The second page has art on the right side also from NTT, just of Joey in his Jericho costume. The background of both pages has a repeating pattern of the Titans “T” logo in the shape of a T inside a circle. The text is as follows:

AFTERWORD

Ah, memories.

Has it really been five years since Marv Wolfman and I sat down in a small restaurant and gleefully plotted the birth and death of a cute little teenage girl? Has it been that long since that fateful meeting in Dick Giordano’s office when it was decided that a famous caped crusader’s sidekick was going to hang up his mask and at last be his own master and that we would also retire a certain teenage speedster? And was it so along ago that Marv and I racked our respective skulls trying to come up with a concept for a new hero for whom we only had a name and a parental history? Has it really been five years since “The Judas Contract”? I’ve always liked the name “The Judas Contract.” When Marv came up with it, I thought that it hand a certain grandeur, a certain significance to it. And when I learned that DC Comics was reprinting the multi-issue saga, my mind flooded with waves of nostalgia, pleasant memories which seem to arise when I think of my original tenure as co-creator, co-plotter, and artist on THE NEW TEEN TITANS.

So it is that I recall how, after two years of establishing TITANS as a bona-fide hit for DC, Marv and I sat across from one another in that diner booth and he told me about this new character he had just invented: a 15-year-old name Terra. She was to be the first new Titan to join the team since the inception of the series, but she would also be the first to die. Thus was “The Judas Contract” born, although it would be over a year before that actual storyline would take place. Other changes were in the offing.

Since the creation of the New Teen Titans, Marv and I had sworn not to make it a junior version of the Justice League of America, which is what the Titans were in the 1960s (I used to call it the Justice Little League). The idea of a group of kid sidekicks banded together to fight crime always invites comparisons between them and their adult mentors. Also, the freedom of using a character fully is compromised when he is being used concurrently in his guardian’s own series. Thankfully, Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire were all-knew heroes created specifically for TITANS (I can still remember the words of artist/editor Joe Orlando when he saw the original design for Starfire: “I think you should make her hair longer.” Boy, did I take that suggestion to heart!) Wonder Girl was never really a sidekick to Wonder Woman and Changeling’s roots to the then-defunct Doom Patrol series were non-hampering. That left Kid Flash and Robin.

Kid Flash was easy. Robin was the tricky one. For over forty years he had been the popular swashbuckling partner to the mysterious Batman. In fact, Batman without Robin was considered as unthinkable as Holmes without Watson, Robin Hood without Little John, Minneapolis without St. Paul! Yet Robin was the team leader, the linchpin of the Titans. When Marv Wolfman, then-Batman writer Doug Moench and I sauntered into Executive Editor Dick Giordano’s office to discuss Robin’s fate, I actually thought we’d lose the rights to use the Titans’ leader. Was I wrong. Goodbye Robin/Dick Grayson—hello Robin/Jason Todd!

Then there was Jericho. Marv wanted to introduce a new member to the Titans to replace the departed Kid Flash. However, he had the character’s name (an unused character who was to have appeared in the original 1960s TITANS series) and the notion that he would be an offspring of the villainous Terminator, but nothing more. After weeks of pounding our heads against the walls, we had all but given up. We couldn’t think of anything for Jericho. Then it hit me. Overnight, I came up with a concept, personality and design for Joseph William Wilson, the newest Teen Titan. Joseph, or Jericho, was the first Titan I ever designed solely and as such he was more of an artist’s character than a writer’s character. By making him mute (and forbidding poor Marv the use of thought balloons for the character), I was forced to convey Jericho’s personality through body language and facial expressions. Such subtle nuances would be been unthinkable for me when I first started the series in 1980, but Marv was so confident in my improved abilities that he accepted my version of Jericho, who was a lot tougher for him to write and was added to the Titans’ roster.

That still left us with Dick Grayson. Dick has an incredibly vocal fan following, particularly among females. There was no way we could keep that character out of the group indefinitely. So, during the run of “The Judas Contract,” Dick Grayson’s new crimefighting identity was established. Nightwing was born. Though neither Marv nor I were originally crazy about his new name, in the long run it seems to have won the fans’ hearts. Those who considered themselves Robin Rooters have proudly followed Dick’s new career as avid Wingnuts.

So here I am, hunched over my word processor, reliving the glorious yesterdays which went into the tales unfolded for you in the following pages. It was a time of growth for me. My maturation as an artist can be traced back to these stories. My new career as a writer was born from many brainstorming plotting sessions through which Marv and I sweated during those days. I am grateful to the Titans and to Marv and to all those who supported the effort.

Thanks for the memories.

- GEORGE PÉREZ

1998

End ID.]

[helljunker]

some behind the scenes stuff

some people might be interested in my processes when it comes to my traditional art. under the read more is a peek into what my journals usually look like

i plan on digitizing it and coloring this through csp, but wanted to shared the original pages planning out the pose

the first three images are my first try. obvs i gave up and switched to another page, which made it easier to plan out the pose on a fresh leaf

most of my pages more or less look like this, with one character taking up the page normally. ive been getting better about using up the entire space but its harder with denser inks like sharpies and permanent ink nanoliners, as shown below

one more random thing, from this post. surprise!! i drew this in my sketchbook first. instead of drawing his entire body again i "lightboxed" the page with my phone and drew his face that way. also fuck hands they are stupid to draw. why do they look like wet gloves. also also cursed bald mike crew.

anyway thats a peek at my journals... i like sharing my process because its fun for me to see how people draw! and if anyone felt the same they could look at this post, heh

[karis17love]

The way all those costumes and drawings are so fricking beautiful, they really look so much better now

LOOK AT MY ICONS

Awww, such a beautiful smile

Here's link:

[itsthislake]

“Icarus.”

it's all about freedom really

Credit goes to An Sifakah for the poem. Enjoy!

Support me on Ko-fi maybe?

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Before production began on Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the main cast played a session as their characters. (It's a shame the big studios stopped caring about bonus features, because there was a time when we would've gotten a whole featurette explaining how the game went.)

[jay-wasstuff]

Behind the scenes: Xenk entering the Orifice!

[obsob]

one small step for. kitties

[alena-draws]

Can you tell I love this guy?

(I'll delete this little edit later, but: I'm still selling prints, among them Trigun stuff, so check out this list if this might be smth for you!)

[almondcroissantsandink]

Faux Leyendecker-esque cover in celebration of The Glass Scientists by @arythusa coming out in print! I got volume one for my birthday and it's crazy to be able to physically flip through a comic I've been reading on and off for years

[biblically-accurate-dca]

immaculate consumption

[frm9pm]

Sometimes I remember they lived through the 90’s which also means boybands

[starsarekind]

Trying out some new digital brushes... Steven "summon the suit" Grant

[65bananba]

spot the kim dokja

[hartteart]

if you hate yourself so much why don’t you hatemarry yourself?

[ramen-flavored]

Team Nelson Murdock & Page are back together 😭

[shrugsinchinese]

My grandchild, probably: “Because the M9 Reunion ending killed my Grandma, okay?!”