More on George Perez

 After nearly 50 years, it's tough for me to remember these events exactly, but I first recall meeting George Perez at Jim Glenn's home in Brooklyn in 1975 (maybe '76). Jim and I had just published the second issue of our fanzine, Factors Unknown, and up until then, it had consisted only of stuff Jim and I had done, including our creations the Hazardman and the Symbiote. I don't remember where Jim encountered George (and his friend Tom Sciacca) but they were there to show us some pages to publish in the the next issue.

George's work was already at a near-professional level (and far better than anything Jim or I had done) and we readily accepted it. George even did a piece for the back cover, centrally featuring my Hazardman character (and he's never looked better). Shortly after that, Sal Quartuccio joined us in co-published Hot Shots #1, featuring a book-length story written and drawn by George, starring the She-Devils, a team of female agents. I had the honor of doing all the tone work on the art (right on the actual boards as it were).

That got George noticed by pro artist Rich Buckler, who hired him as an assistant--and that got George noticed by the editors at Marvel. His career took off rapidly, with assignments to marquee titles like Fantastic Four and Avengers. He never looked back after that.

I am very proud to have had a small part in introducing this talent to the world...and I am extremely sad now at his passing.

In Memoriam: George Perez

 There's so much I could say about George Perez, who died on Friday at the age of 67 after a battle with cancer, but I need time to work it all out in my head (and my heart). He was still a teenager and I was barely out of college when we met, so I have to work through a lot of memory and history.

I'll get to it.

Sad News

 Yesterday we learned that one of my oldest friends in the comics business, who I met when we were both still just fans, is seriously ill.

I met George Perez when I was co-editing a fanzine called Factors Unknown and he submitted work to two of the three issues we published. He was already a far better artist than either I or my co-editor Jim Glenn and within a few months he was working as an assistant to Rich Buckler, and within another year, was doing his own art on a character he co-created at Marvel, the White Tiger.

He went on to become one of the most important artists of the 1980s and '90s, with seminal work at both Marvel and DC, notably on The Avengers and The New Teen Titans, which he co-created with Marv Wolfman. He was responsible for a resurgence in interest in Wonder Woman, when he revamped her for the post-Crisis DC universe.

Complications from diabetes forced George into retirement a few years ago.

Now, he has announced on his Facebook page that he has stage three pancreatic cancer, with a prognosis of six months to a year. He has decided to forego any therapy and let nature take its course.

Beyond his talent, George is beloved in the comics community for his humor, his friendliness, his charity. No "star" has ever been more open and available to his fans. At conventions, he would usually skip appearing on panels or even single interviews, preferring to sit at a table in "artists alley" and greet fans who asked for autographs and sketches. No one ever went away disappointed, even if all they wanted was a few minutes talking with a great artist.

I hadn't seen much of him since he moved to Florida a decade or so ago, but I cherish the time we had together. My prayers are with him and his wife, Carol, that they have longer together than the doctors are predicting.