MOTOR CITY COMIC CON: GEORGE PEREZ

NOVI, Michigan -- George Perez is just beginning work on the new The Brave and The Bold series from DC Comics, but he's already cast an eye on his next project.

"After my first year on the book, there might be a Legion of Super-Heroes story," Perez said Saturday at his panel at Motor City Comic Con. "That was my favorite comic as a kid. The editor is stumping to catch me a year down the line."

In other notes from the panel:

* Perez said he has completed five pages on the first issue of The Brave and The Bold and that DC wouldn't solicit the book until three issues were completed.

"This is my first monthly title since CrossGen," Perez said. "It's a common misconception, but this is not a Batman and... title, although Batman is in the first issue."

Batman and Green Lantern will be featured in the first issue, with Green Lantern and Supergirl in the second.

"The first six issues are self-contiained with a good cliffhanger at the end," Perez said. "The first story arc will be A-listers because we want to go strong out of the gate."

Perez said he would be interested in drawing the Metal Men, Zatanna and the Sea Devils.

* Bob Wiacek will ink the book, with Tom Smith coloring.

"He's worked on some of my Avengers pages," Perez said of Wiacek. "He puts everything into his work, and he keeps my faces intact, which is very important to me."

* Perez's exclusive deal with DC runs through 2010. He said it was tough call between DC and Marvel because he would have been working with Neil Gaiman on The Eternals.

"I miss the Marvel characters and I miss working with Tom Brevoort," he said. "DC offered a deal that just a little better."

* Perez's involvement in Infinite Crisis turned out to be much greater than his original commitment of five pages and covers.

He said the scripts were extremely compact, and that one character, Mr. Twister, was spared his demise simply because Perez couldn't fit it on the page.

* While he didn't know if Infinite Crisis would get the Absolute treatment, Perez said that the upcoming Infinite Crisis hardcover will include corrections of some of the errors made in the creation of the mini-series, i.e. coloring mistakes.

"It makes up for the rushing out of the last two issues," Perez said. "They're not just collecting it, they're making it better."

* Perez on the proliferation of trade paperbacks and their impact on single issues: "If a story an be done in one (issue), it should be done in one. It shouldn't be forced for the purposes of a trade."

* Perez said he is not hopeful that Teen Titans: Games, the graphic novel written by Marv Wolfman that was temporarily resurrected.

"DC doesn't want me to be part of a nostalgia book," Perez said. "They want me to be part of the new DC and help forward the momentum."

* Perez said he does not anticipate returning to his creator-owned Crimson Plague. "It was too much of a money-losing proposition," he said.

* Perez said he appreciated Cartoon Network's Teen Titans animated series. "It brought in a new generation of fans," he said. "And the royalties were phenomenal."

* Asked about his work habits, Perez said he usually gets going in his studio by 8 a.m. and that he likes to watch the syndicated justice shows like People's Court while he works.

Perez said that one of the disciplines he's developed is putting all his reference away at day's end. "I had 12 pounds of reference on JLA/Avengers," he said.

* Perez on Internet comics message boards, which he said he doesn't like to frequent: "I wish all of us -- pros and fans alike - would exercise a little more common courtesy."