Teen Titans Creator Not Forgotten

[allaboutduncan]

Comic artist George Perez (one of the best in the biz in my opinion) was part of the team that made the Teen Titans so famous in the 80's. He created Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven (along with many of the supporting heroes that we'll see in Season 5 of the cartoon). As I was reading an interview, itwas nice to see that DC structured his contract so he is continually paid for his work.

quote:Speaking of the Titans cartoon, not only does it provide Perez a revenue stream (“Basically, whatever DC gets, Marv and I each get ten percent. It gets to a nice amount when you start talking about toys, the upcoming videogame, and of course, it’s pro-rated, depending on the characters we created, but that’s pretty much everybody except Robin and Beast Boy”), but it’s also earned him a legion of new fans.

“I can go to virtually any grammar school in the country and say that I co-created, Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire, and I’m a rock star to a whole new generation of kids, who look at me, wide-eyed, with open mouths,” Perez said. “When I used to do appearances in schools or other non-comic specific function, I would usually say I wrote and drew Wonder Woman, even though Wonder Woman’s sales nowhere equaled the New Teen Titans, but more people knew who she was. Now, I just say, Teen Titans, and most people know what I’m talking about, or, if they don’t, their kids can tell them.

This is such a huge problem in the comic industry, especially for artists. Stan Lee of Marvel gets all the credit (and money) for creating characters like Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. However, the artisits responsible for creating the look of the character is virtually ignored. Artists like Jack Kirby (FF, X-Men) died poor and their families still receive nothing from the huge amounts of many that many of these charaters now make.

[tekken1701]

Perez was definitely one ot the pivotal artists doing the titans "back in the day". Karate Kid was always one of my favorites! That great artwork and storytelling is part of the reason I hate the Pokemon-oriented bastardization of the Titans for the cartoon. Basically, any cartoon my 11-year old likes..I REFUSE to.