George Pérez passed away on Friday, May 6, after revealing his stage 3 cancer diagnosis in December. He created the epic DC maxiseries Crisis on Infinite Earths with writer Marv Wolfman, as well as working with Jim Starlin on the Avenger event that was partially adapted. Everyone has a comic that introduced them to Pérez, but his most enduring work came from his and Wolfman's New TeenTitans run in 1980.
Comic book companies aren't always kind to the creators they have in their employ, particularly as those creators works have become either big tentpole blockbusters seen by millions across the world or TV series that run for multiple seasons. There are no shoutouts, either in the form of a famous cover, landmark, or object named after a particular creator. Stan Lee, the creator of the X-men, and Chris Claremont, the writer of the X-men, have both had short appearances in movies. It was true for Pérez, who had a couple of appearances in the TeenTitans Go episodes from 2021.
The first is a silly take on how Wolfman and Pez came up with the New TeenTitans. The deadline is near. Both men have voices that lend themselves to a certain charm as they banter back and forth. In the beginning of the episode, Wolfman says that the pair must come up with a way to change them, and that they must save DC Comics from certain financial doom.
The two men cycle through concepts of what their new incarnation of theTitans will be in a series of silly skits. The Teen Tight-Hands is a clear take on the Ninja Turtles that sees the super-team as giant, talking hands who fight a villain called the Stapler. The strangest and funniest of the bunch shows the organs controlling Superman the same way the crew of Star Trek controls the Enterprise. Once they've shot down all their options they've created a sketch of the team out of their back pocket.
In the second episode, the Creative Geniuses go to their city's Comic Con and are immediately met with enthusiasm by Wolfman and P.E9. Robin, Starfire, and Raven have no idea who they are, but the two men who created them give their friends and the audience a quick primer on how they turned the team of heroes into a hit. When that isn't enough, Pérez and Wolfman will take the TITANS to a comic book world modeled after the original comic book world, where they will wear their original comics costumes.
Stan Lee and Wolfman are two of the funniest real life guest stars of Of Titans Go. They are having fun being a pair of trickster demigods who have taken delight in messing with the TITANS over the years. Their time inGeniuses is shorter than the one named after them, as theTitans leave them to explore the convention. When the Titans have to fight Control Freak, they use a mecha made out of animated versions of their voice actors, and when all seems lost, Pérez and Wolfman return to form a big sword that delivers the killing blow. They end the show by taking the characters and their actors to the comic book version of the show, where they are chased by a giant chicken.
This is a thing that happens. The show has always been delightfully strange, but this is one of its more fun moments.
The show never shied away from the past. The series has taken shots at everything from the American college system to pyramid schemes, and has used its 11-minute episodes to inform young viewers of the media that predated them. B.E.R.'s annoyingly catchy 80s rock-style song, The Night Begins to Shine, and rap group De La Soul have been put in the spotlight. The fact that the series has been able to call back to the past in a way that feels educational rather than cynical is one of the best things about it.
Everyone learns about history in their own way, and with how long that TeenTitansGo has been running, it's possible that two appearances on the show will be the way many learn of his. Even if that isn't the case, the show still allowed him to proclaim himself a genius.
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