Marvel’s Avengers artist Javier Garrón explains how the massive Mephisto army revealed in issue #55 was influenced by the legendary George Pérez.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from Avengers #55, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
Artist Javier Garrón said that the massive Mephisto reveal in Marvel’s Avengers #55 was inspired by legendary writer and artist George Perez.
Garrón spoke with Marvel about the moment in Avengers #55 when Mephisto introduces Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to a gigantic army of different multiversal versions of himself. Garrón said that the artwork was specifically inspired by Pérez and the work that he did for Marvel. “As for process, for me, it’s all structure,” Garrón said. “You lay out the foundations and build up from there. What’s that in this case? In this case, the goal was to fit as many Mephistos as I could. I’m a huge, massive George Perez fan. Even though I can’ t even aspire to be 1% as good as he is, I try my best to pay tribute to him. Infinity Gauntlet or his Avengers run.”
Garrón continued, “So, I started sketching bodies in the double spread, fitting as many as I could. One extra notch there was that every Mephisto should be different: taller, smaller, wider, slimmer, human-shaped, half-human shaped , not at all human-shaped… You start from the foreground and make your way to the background, adding bodies each time more in the distance, until those shapes are too small to add any differentiating detail. characters that were on the page: I managed to fit 79 main, recognizable figures. I wanted more! I must admit I was a bit disappointed in myself. But the clock is also running, the deadline looming and you have to move forward.”
The reveal in Avengers #55 comes after a demonic-looking dog appears in front of Nighthawk and some of the Avengers. The dog transforms into Mephisto, who then unveils his army, which includes versions of himself that take after Loki, Howard the Duck, a giant Kaiju, Cyclops and many more. Mephisto departs shortly after the introduction but promises the Avengers that they’ll “see them again soon.”
Pérez was one of the artists who worked on 1991’s six-issue Infinity Gauntlet series alongside Ron Lim, inkers Josef Rubinstein, Tom Christopher and Bruce N Solotoff, letter Jack Morelli, colorists Max Scheele and Ian Laughlin and writer Jim Starlin. Perez first worked on The Avengers in the 1970s. He departed from the property for a time but returned again in the 1990s. In 2003, Marvel and DC launched the infamous JLA/Avengers crossover series from Perez and writer Kurt Busiek.
Avengers #55 comes from writers Jason Aaron and Javier Garrón, color artist David Curiel and letterer VC’s Cory Petit, with cover art by Garrón and Curiel, with variant cover art by Peach Momoko and Ernanda Souza. The issue is on sale now from Marvel.
Source: Marvel
Read Next
About The Author