The Titans Graphic Novel: Games
The Story Behind The Unpublished Titans Graphic Novel
GAMES: The Premise
|
Unpublished
artwork from the GAMES graphic novel.
Published in the George Pérez Newsletter #1 [2001]. |
[from Comics Scene Magazine #8, 1989 - an article with George Pérez and Marv Wolfman]
And as for Cyborg, the gadget-ridden gladiator will become one of the most valuable players in a series of Games in which the Titans will have little choice about participating. Ironically, it was discussing the strategies they would use in this project, a graphic novel not due to reach store shelves for at least another year, that proved to be what drew artist George Pérez back to the series he helped develop.
"It's hard to explain the graphic novel. It's one of the strongest superhero stories we've ever done, but it also goes from humor to science fiction to horror to so many subjects, it's unbelievable. It's really impossible to describe," stresses Wolfman, outside of the fact that Pérez will paint it himself. "It was the first time we got back together after a while, and it was like all the energy we had had previously was in that meeting. I had a rough idea, but when we sat down together, it just kept growing. It's everything we ever wanted to do with the Titans. I'm not sure how long it's going to be, but George rough laid it out at 120 pages. When we were finished with it, we were absolutely exhausted, and I think working on that is what prompted George to do the book itself because we found the chemistry is still there."
The individual elements, however, are no longer mixed together in quite the same proportions. When Wolfman and Pérez began their partnership, the writer preferred to do all the plotting himself, but upon discovering what "a phenomenal character person George is," the pair began to more evenly share that chore for the remainder of their run.
GAMES: Juggling Schedules
[from Comics Scene Magazine #11, 1990 - an article with George Pérez]
|
Unpublished
artwork from the GAMES graphic novel.
Published in the George Pérez Newsletter #1 [2001]. |
Pérez is now co-plotting The New Titans, plotting Wonder Woman and doing layouts for Action Comics. However, comics fandom hasn't seen the last of full Pérez pencil art. He has a major work due out sometime in 1990: the long-awaited Titans graphic novel, Games.
"I'm working on it right now. I'm trying to produce four pages a week so I'll be done by the end of January," Pérez reports. "They're being inked by Karl Kesel and colored by John Stracuzzi. There's no firm release date. There have been so many that have come and gone that I want to play this a little closer to the vest. That's my fault, nobody else's. By producing on a four-pages-a-week schedule, I'm not forcing somebody else to do their part in a hurry. Karl's not going to get 120 pages to ink all at once: 'You have two weeks!' " he laughs.
GAMES: Still Planning
[From Comic Scene #24, February 1991 - an article with Marv Wolfman]
Games, the long-anticipated Titans graphic novel, will still happen. Wolfman promises it will be worth the long wait.
"It's about 120 pages, and George Pérez has drawn 80 pages of it," he says. "When be finishes it, I will dialogue it, and I sure hope it's soon! It's going to be a flashback now; after George is done, he's going back to add a beginning and ending section with the new characters, because it's not the same group now. It'll be the only time that George has done the new characters, and it'll also be the last time we'll see the old ones. It's a great story. I can't wait-the first 80 pages are gorgeous! It's some of the best work George has ever done."
GAMES: What Delayed It?
[from George Pérez Newsletter #1, 2001]
Tony: I know there was a lot made of the JLA/Avengers fiasco, but there was little made of the Titans graphic novel. From what I've read, you drew nearly 100 pages.
George: A little less than that. I think I drew up until the 70's. A lot of the publicity that didn't exist for that was because it wasn't as political. In case of the JLA/Avengers it was two companies going into loggerhead. In case of the Titans graphic novel it was George Pérez over-committed and couldn't finish the thing. While I was drawing the story a lot of things were happening in the regular series making the story moot. I'm the only person to blame for that book not coming out. No political hay could be made about that story, just one artist screwing up. I just over-committed myself.
[from DC Message Boards]
DC Editor Bob Greenberger: "GAMES was intended as a 96+ page graphic novel that George never finished. He partly never finished it because the story was never to everyone's satisfaction, if I recall. Once the project was shelved, many of the story elements were taken from the GN and used in the monthly. So, when the issue of finishing the book came up at some point, we realized how poorly it would compare with the stories done to date and it was decided by TPTB to keep it shelved. "
Pérez says GAMES is dead
[from George Pérez Newsletter #2, 2001]
Tony: ...Now all we need is the never finished "GAMES" graphic novel to be completed. I can dream right?
George Pérez: And I'm afraid that now that GAMES dream is never going to be more than that. In addition to the presence of dead chracters like Jericho appearing, a major scene in the story took place on the World Trade Center towers. That pretty much ends the speculation for me.
Marv on Reviving GAMES
|
Unpublished
artwork from the
GAMES graphic novel.
Published in the George Pérez
Newsletter #1 [2001]. |
[from silverbulletcomicbooks.com - posted november 17, 2002]
From Peter Milan, (further@further-adventures.com)
Lemme get this straight...there's 80 pages of a Wolfman & Pérez graphic novel just lying around somewhere, and DC isn't interested in publishing it? That sounds like quite the easy sell.
Yeah, Peter, you'd think. It's called Games, and George had drawn approximately 80 pages of its 120 or so pages. I always felt we could get someone else to finish it up. I still do.
[from silverbulletcomicbooks.com - posted february 16, 2003]
As for "Games," the graphic novel George and I began way back when. George drew about 80 pages of the best Titans work he ever did before going into artist's block on the Titans. I kept trying to convince DC to let another artist finish the last 30 pages, but for reasons that have never made sense to me they have always refused to do so. Every so often I bring it up again and the answer is still no. Why? I can't imagine. There are 80 pages done. I'd have to dialogue the job and much of it would need to be inked, but I think even if it now had to be an Elseworlds book - or at least a Hypertime story - that people would flock to buy a hardcover Pérez/Wolfman Titans book. What do you think?
[from cinescape.com - "Titans Lost and Genes Found" Dateline: Saturday, July 21, 2001]
During the course of a one-on-one panel (a concept that left both creators a bit stymied as to how to proceed), Wein and Wolfman discussed their beginnings as teenagers breaking into the comic book business and the path that led them through both major publishers (at that time) and even into the frontiers of television animation. Wolfman also elaborated on the never completed TITANS graphic novel written by Wolfman and illustrated by George Pérez, a project that - like many in the industry - faded into the background and still lingers in the minds of fans and creators alike.
"George drew 80 pages of [an 120 page story] and hit an artist's block," said Wolfman. "He literally could not draw another picture of the Titans. Having been in a writer's block, I totally understand. He just hit a wall on it. I said, 'Let's get so and so to finish it up.' For reasons that have escaped me for fifteen years, DC just decided to write it off. I would love to finish it. It was the best Titans story we had ever come up with." Although that project may be doomed to never see the light of day, for Wein and Wolfman, the future looks particularly bright. After decades of creating highly regarded comics, they have sold their very first feature film, and the convention attendees were some of the first to hear about their new take on superhero movies.
GAMES: Behind the Story with George Pérez
[Courtesy of Modern Masters Volume two: George Pérez, TwoMorrows Publishing 2003]
|
Unpublished
artwork from the
GAMES graphic novel.
Published in the George Pérez
Newsletter #1 [2001]. |
Realizing that the Titans graphic novel storyline really did have a time limit wherein it would remain valid, they said, "Let's use it for #50." Rather than waiting until I could finish it while working on Wonder Woman, we spread it out into a multi-issue story arc. DC still wanted a graphic novel-I was paid in advance for a graphic novel-so it meant starting one all over again. By this point Barbara Randall- who became Barbara Kesel, who is now my writer on Solus - Marv Wolfman, and I decided it would be best to come up with a story that wouldn't be tied directly into continuity. So we came up with the idea of Games, which was a big cat-&-mouse game involving King Faraday, an obscure character from DC's history [originally appearing in Danger Trail #1-5, 1950-51], and using different types of games as motifs with New York as a giant game board.
For example, we had Raven in the Cloisters in a dilemna with floating statuaries, like a gigantic chess game. The brickwork on the floor of the cloisters was in a grid like a chessboard. Jericho was caught in a type of card game where the cards all represented works of art and his field of battle is the Gugenheim Museum.
There was a lot of research that went into it. There was also a scene that took place on top of the World Trade Center. And since the World Trade Center was endangered, you can see why I have real mixed feelings about ever having that book printed now. Although Marv and I have talked about the idea that the World Trade Center could be erased and redrawn as another building, there's just something that bugs me about the idea of erasing the World Trade Center from my artwork.
It ended up being a very complex story I was the initial plotter-Mary was my co-plotter in this case-I was coming up with the ideas, the visuals, how things were set up, and the conclusion of the story. It kept growing and growing and as I was drawing it I was also trying to work on a regular monthly series. I take blame for the book not being completed, but DC has to take some of the blame because they were the constant serpent in the garden tempting me all the time, offering me all these great other little jobs until it got in the way of my finishing the book. [laughter] I was getting a lot of great assignments. I was the golden boy of DC Comics, but I was also stupid enough not to know when to say no. Many times the editors offering me the work bad no idea where I was in my regular work, so they were assuming that "yes, I want to do it" meant "yes, I am able to do it." I made a lot of stupid decisions like that until Games became late, late, late. I was paid, paid, paid, but nothing was being given.
Eventually, since I was no longer doing the Titans series by the time I was only half-way through Games, things were changing that threatened the impact of the story. The killing of Jericho in the regular series made any threat to Jericho in the graphic novel pretty much a non-issue. To my mind it started becoming an empty story. There was no sense of real danger any more.
What started out as a proposed 64-page story ended up becoming a 100-and-something-page story-I think it was 120 pages by the end of the plotting, of which I drew nearly 80. I was starting to lose focus and it was at the start of a really bad time in my career where I was becoming the king of the incomplete projects.
With what happened with Games and later War of the Gods, I was becoming known for unfinished projects and being unreliable in meeting a deadline. It would be a few years before I could recover from that professionally. The sheer irony is that during the worst part of my professional career as far as books being late or unfinished it was also the most profitable time of my career! [laughter] I earned more money during that time, but I did not have any real satisfaction during those years.
Never Say Never: GAMES is a Go!
[courtesy of http://www.comicon.com/pulse/ "WOLFMAN & TITAN GAMES BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO" Summer 2004]
You asked for it, DC Comics heard and is finally delivering a project years in the works, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s unfinished New Teen Titans graphic novel, Games. Announced at Wizard World Texas, Games is a story Titans enthusiasts have been clamoring for. Pérez told THE PULSE, “Marv Wolfman and I will finally be finishing the other major aborted project that fans have been asking about for years. I learned that all the original artwork (about 60 or more pages) is owned by one man and he is more than willing to give them back to me so I can ink the pencilled pages and tweak those already inked. This gives me a major head start for a planned December 2004 release. Tom Smith will join the party as color artist.” We caught up with Marv Wolfman for a quick few questions about the project.
THE PULSE: Is it still called New Teen Titans: Games or does it have a new name? If it has a new name, what is it? How many pages is it? What is the projected release date?
MARV WOLFMAN: Wow. A lot of questions disguised as one. I have no idea at this stage if it will be called The New Teen Titans or not. That would harken back to our original title so it would be good, but that's DC's decision. When it comes time to name it I'd probably enter in a vote for NTT, but we'll see. Our plan is to do it as 120 pages, as it was originally intended, but if, as he draws out the last pages, George needs more or less, I'm sure the book will adjust accordingly. I believe the release date is next winter.
THE PULSE: Most people have heard bits and pieces about this unfinished graphic novel. What happened originally that caused the delay in finishing the art on Games?
WOLFMAN: As George said at the time, after he drew 70 or so pages he found he just couldn't draw another Titans page. It blocked on him even as I was going through a writing block. For his own sake, George had to go onto other projects. It's the same as me doing primarily non-super hero stuff after I wrote Crisis. That burned me out for super-hero stories.
THE PULSE: What is New Teen Titans: Games? When does it take place in terms of the [then] Titans history?
WOLFMAN: Games is a pretty much stand alone story, intended for 1986 or 89 (I don't remember which now) that used the characters that George and I created plus Danny Chase, the Titans fans favorite whipping boy.
THE PULSE: Who are the New Teen Titans in this story?
WOLFMAN: All the regulars: Nightwing, Starfire, Troia, Raven, Cyborg, Changeling, Jericho and Danny plus some of the more popular secondary characters.
THE PULSE: Was this drawn from the original script or did you rewrite/update anything? What about the art - is it all the originals and just the additional pages or was some of that redone?
WOLFMAN: Originally I thought George had drawn 80+ pages because I had seen pages numbered 80, but it turns out that he had only drawn 70+ pages and had skipped a few pages here and there. Obviously, George will go about finishing the pages so here will be the original 70+ pages and new ones drawn in '04. Knowing it would take George a few months to do the 120 pages, I never dialogued any of them back then because I wanted one constant voice throughout not interrupted by other writing or changes in mood. So, when he finishes all 120 pages I'll sit down and start dialoguing them. As of right now there are no plans to redraw any of the original pages, but that might change as George gets into it. That is wholly up to him.
THE PULSE: What's the story about? Why call it Games?
WOLFMAN: That would be telling.
THE PULSE: How does it feel to finally have this project see print?
WOLFMAN: I won't say until after it's actually done, printed and on sale because after 15 or so years of trying to get this job finished I still can't believe it will ever get out there. But, needless to say, I am elated that we are going to be working on it. George and I both thought at the time that it was one of, if not the best Titans storylines we'd come up with. I just hope we weren't fooling ourselves. For more personal reminiscences about "Titans: Games," go to my website beginning Monday, Nov. 24th.
GAMES: Update
I spoke to George Pérez at the 2004 Dan Diego ComiCon. So what's up with GAMES? George believes it should be hitting stands in the last quarter of 2005, just in time for its 15th anniversary. Sixty-some pages are pencilled and inked from those years ago. Some pages are pencilled but not inked. And there are 40-plus pages that need to be pencilled from scratch. Al Vey inked the original 60 pages, but a different inker will be used for the remainder; Al Vey's inking style has changed too much in the last 15 years. [Update: the new inker is Mike Perkins for the remaining pages]
I asked if the story itself would be changed at all with whatever continuity glitches that may have arisen. George mentioned that the story itself will be pretty much as-is. Even the World Trade Center sequence will remain, since it had already been completed. I asked about a particular plot point that drastically effects one of the Titans supporting characters [some of you will know what I speak of].... that will also remain in the story. "It was too important to the story to leave out," George said.
I also asked George if he had to change his artwork much to match his 'old' style. He said that his style hasn't changed as much as he thought in the last 15 years... so it wasn't much of a problem.
George also talked a bit about the new framing sequence, which will be in a 'contemporary' setting. "Will it be the Geoff Johns team?" I asked. George only said it would be 'contemporary'. Hmmm... The brand-new framing sequence will be 6 pages.
GAMES: Gone Again
From George himself on February 20, 2006: " Well, it's time for an all-too-infrequent update on what's going on at the International House of Pérez. I've read quite a number of posts on various message boards asking such things as"When will George be starting on THE BRAVE & THE BOLD?", "Will GAMES: THE TITANS GRAPHIC NOVEL ever come out?", "Is he working on the DC character turn-arounds for DC's official bible?" "Will that art be made available to the buying public?"
"[...] The official status of GAMES is a bit more tricky. With all the post-IC work I have lined up, I don't see how I will have the time to get back on the graphic novel. Quite honestly, and honesty can be quite brutal, I wouldn't hold my breath on it ever being released. I know that my wonderful friend and co-creator Marv Wolfman is still guardedly optimistic on the resurrection of this project (a lot of that positive thinking having been fueled by me two years ago when I stated my intent to complete the art), but my subsequent exclusive contract with DC has prompted the company to utilize my talents on more current projects aimed at forming DC's future rather than just basking in the nostalgia of its past. The completed art in GAMES is over 15 years old, although it does hold up pretty damn well, in my opinion. I guess it could conceivably be restarted yet again, but it seems to become more unlikely with each new DC assignment in each passing new year. For that, I am sincerely sorry-- For Marv, for inker Mike Perkins who signed a Marvel exclusive since inking ten of the un-inked pages, for Al Vey, who had inked the earlier pages over a decade ago, for color artist Tom Smith, for the fans who have waited so long and whose hopes may be dashed yet again-- and, finally, for me. It would have been nice to put closure to the project. Oh, and for those who suggested that some other artist or artists finish the project, I suggested the same thing years ago. Unfortunately, DC only wanted this as a Wolfman/Pérez Titans story; so, without me, it's not getting done. An unfortunate Catch-22, I'm afraid. Still, there is always that small glimmer of hope. After all, what if I'm done with all my IC stuff and there's still no B & B work ready? You never know."
George on the Titans Graphic Novel, GAMES on May 22, 2006: "There are still 50-something pages to be drawn. It's an enormous story. And as much as it's something I want to do, it's on indefinite hold. And I know they hate me saying it -- and Marv hates it even worse -- but I can't see it ever getting finished. With all the work that I'm being given by DC, there's no way I can fit the Titans graphic novel into my schedule. So it's on indefinite hold, and I can't see a day when that's ever going to be removed. [...] Where are they going to schedule it on my schedule if I'm going to be doing monthly titles and filling up whatever free time I have on other projects? I think it's flattering -- the book was a go when I wasn't exclusive. Once I was exclusive, they want me to do so many things. When I wasn't exclusive, they thought the Titans graphic novel was the only thing they could get from me for awhile. Signing the exclusivity seems have to killed the Titans graphic novel."
GAMES: The Ultra-rare Ashcan
From Andy Mangel's "Pérez Archives"
NEW TEEN TITANS: GAMES ASHCAN 2001
Publication is 80 pages, plus covers
Self-published by a fan, printed by color photocopy.
Features entire 71 pages of art for unpublished graphic novel, pencilled by Pérez,
with first 30 pages inked by Pérez and Al Vey
Also includes 8-page plot by Pérez, based on the mutal plot with Marv Wolfman.
Limited to 15 copies for creative team and select audience only.
GAMES Unpublished
Pages from Sketch Magazine #10
[2001]
to view as larger image, click on
each page
|
|
| |
|
