Post-Pérez Titans: Why he left, Marv's plans & George's opinions on the
post-Pérez Titans
Why Pérez Left
[George Pérez Interview from Wizard #35 1994]
What caused you to leave Titans?
I left, finally, because I was a victim of the book's success. In order to handle the work-which by then was only layouts, not finished pencils-I was, in my mind, hocking stuff out. And the sales were still going through the roof. I realized I could do less than my best work and the book would still sell. That's good financially, but it didn't give me any gratification as an artist when people could only judge me by what I considered mediocre work.
I can't just take the money and run. My wife often criticizes me: "What's the matter, George? Are you afraid of success?"
The next thing I did was Crisis an Infinite Earths, again with Marv.
Wolfman Talks About the Post-Pérez Plans
[Marv Wolfman Interview -Amazing Heroes #50, 1984]
Michael Hopkins Talks to the co-creator and writer of the Teen Titans: Marv Wolfman
[…]
After the first four issues, featuring the Raven-Trigon confrontation, the Baxter Titans future includes Starfire's return to her home planet, the origin of Lilith (from the 1960s Titans) the Olympian Gods (from #s 11 and 12), and the long-awaited origin of Brother Blood. "Interweaving through all of it is a brand new character," Wolfman says, ''for whom I don't have a name yet, I just gave George an outline for it and he liked it. It's a character who'll come to culmination in next year's annual,"And what about this character in terms of powers, etc.? "The only thing I can say is, essentially, he's an angel [laughs], It's strange, but when I first came up with the character, I didn't connect him with Brother Blood, I just came up with the thought of the character himself, how it works and all the various ramifications, Then, as I started weaving it in an overview of the Titans for the next 17 months or so, I connected it with Brother Blood, It worked so perfectly off the origin as we had it conceived and the storyline that was set up in issues #40 and #41; it was unbelievable, as if everything had been exactly planned. He's an addition, but he meshes in perfectly.
It's really complicated, how everything is connecting. The book is moving in real strange directions, stuff that I wouldn't have expected. The Baxter book is, at long last, after four years, the Titans book as I would like it. We're doing major stories, not just the Titans vs. Dr. Light. or whatever.
Pérez Talks About the Titans Without Him
[Comics Interview #50, 1987]
ANDY: What's the true story behind Kole and Azrael? Did you create those characters?
GEORGE: I actually designed it entirely differently. There is a drawing I did of Azrael that doesn't look anything like Jose Luis Garcia Lopez's version of Azrael. Originally, Marv came up with the idea of an angel at the time I was still on the book. Then, when I left the book, I thought it would be unfair for Jose, with his design sense, that every character he does is based on a George Pérez design, since Azrael was never printed. So I let him design Azrael, and while he was on the book, he was also entitled to design Kole. Even though Kole was printed in CRISIS before she appeared in TITANS, that was because of the timing - I had gotten the xerox of Jose's pencils. Jose designed both of them. Azrael was originally designed looking totally different, and Jose came up with his own version; he never saw mine - No one has seen mine except for Marv.
ANDY: Was Kole created to die?
GEORGE: Yes. I told Marv, "If we create another Teen Titan, then we better create a woman who's going to survive." So far, he's created one new male Titan, he's alive. Creates two female Titans, they both die. (Laughter.) Something he has about these girls - he's constantly, you know, killing them off.
ANDY: When you designed Azrael, did you design her with the Harlequin Romance dialog in mind?
GEORGE: Marv wanted a very, very emotional face. Again, it wasn't all that different from the way I designed Jericho. Jericho was also made for expression. The operatic thing, that got a little carried overboard. I am not as much a lover of deep purple prose, where people are acting like raving idiots over a lover. I mean, to me, love is always as much of the head as of the heart, if you do it right. And that bugged me. But again, that's the character. The character was supposed to be a flying wimp. (Laughter.)
[…]
ANDY: You just brought up the point that "'we sure could use some laughter in the TITANS. " You claimed that you didn't feel the TITANS would go down in quality when you left the book. How do you feel about the TITANS post-Pérez?
GEORGE: I think one thing that's really absent is the real camaraderie and rapport Marv and I had together on the book. Marv and I are not the same person bound at the hip - we have different points of view - and it was that feeling of compromise, of getting our own identities in there, that made the TITANS what they are. I think the sole burden being on Marv, he comes up with fine stories, but the art never carries it; the characters never act in character and, in turn, they can't be written as much in character. It's not the same. It's like trying to breathe life into a statue - as opposed to building it from the heart out.
ANDY: What do you think about Kory 's marriage?
GEORGE: I disagreed with that. I would probably have done a lot to argue against that particular story, and particularly against the resolution. Whether I would have won, I don't know; again, with Marv and I, it was always a series of compromises. But I definitely would have fought that. I found a lot of that story bothersome. And again, on the importance of the timing of it, everyone. . . all the other characters were going through hell at the same time, so it just seemed like more melodrama upon melodrama. And Marv was heavily involved in CRISIS, which is why I think his writing suffered during that period, and I think he admits that.
ANDY: You also gave Donna Troy this amazing amount of sensitivity and grace. What do you think of the new, selfish Donna, who throws people through walls at the drop of a hat?
GEORGE: A lot of that, again, was the artist's fault, Marv says to have this person get thrown, and they get thrown against the wall, she would never do that - but, then again, I know Donna and I would never have allowed that to happen. Eduardo Barretto doesn't know the character. He's a fine artist - a very fine artist - but he does not know the characters. When I did the cover of that particular issue, I had Dick Grayson against a glass mirror. I would never have him against a broken wall - he couldn't go through that, he'd be dead! I know the characters, There's a certain logic in the characters. Eduardo doesn't know them as well. And that's one of the reasons I'm coming back.
ANDY: Did you and Marv plan for Dick to be under Brother Blood's influence from issue #22 of the original TITANS series to issue -
GEORGE: Marv said he did plan it, I believe he did. Unfortunately, he forgot to mention it when he started that storyline. Again, if I had known it, I would have asked about it. Eduardo didn't ask, he didn't know and, frankly, didn't care at that point - so he did what he was supposed to do. As a good artist, he does what he's supposed to do, because he's not the co-creator. He doesn't question, as I do. When I was on CRISIS, I questioned. I always question a script if it doesn't make sense to me. And work hard to make it make sense. So Man' did have it planned that way, but neglected to have it mentioned early enough so people wouldn't think it was coming out of the blue.
ANDY: Did you have a hand at all in creating the Vanguard or the Hybrid?
GEORGE: Absolutely none. None at all.
ANDY: What did you think of John Byrne's TEEN TITANS story for ACTlON?
GEORGE: I think it's great. I think it's grand. I love it. The faces on the girls bothered me a little, 'cause again I've got too much of a personal stake in them. I'm sure if I drew some of his characters he'd have a preference - like how he'd draw Superman, as opposed to how I would draw Superman, that type of thing. But I loved it. I thought it was fresh and vital; a lot more fresh and vital than I'd seen John in a long time. I think he did a marvelous job there. He also kept them looking young, which is really nice; they would look young and cute. Some people complain about Donna dressing the way she did but, hey, she's a teenager. And she's entitled to dress that way sometimes, and she was in her own house. She wouldn't go to business that way, but I felt she looked pretty. Kory I think was a little too hard looking; I told that to John, but Jose took care of that. I think John did a marvelous job on it. I was very pleased. And he makes Gar look nice and young again.
ANDY: Yes. They were happy...
GEORGE: Um-hum!
