George Pérez
George Pérez (/ˈpɛrɛz/;[2] June 9, 1954 – May 6, 2022) was an American comic book artist and writer, who worked primarily as a penciller. He came to prominence in the 1970s penciling Fantastic Four and The Avengers for Marvel Comics. In the 1980s he penciled The New Teen Titans, which became one of DC Comics' top-selling series. He penciled DC's landmark limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, followed by relaunching Wonder Woman as both writer and penciller for the rebooted series. In the meantime, he worked on other comics published by Marvel, DC, and other companies into the 2010s. He was known for his detailed and realistic rendering, and his facility with complex crowd scenes.[3]
For another person, see George Perez (baseball).George Pérez
June 9, 1954
New York City, U.S.
May 6, 2022 (aged 67)
Sanford, Florida, U.S.[1]
Eagle Award, 1979, 1980, 1986, 2000
Inkpot Award, 1983
Jack Kirby Award, 1985, 1986
Inkwell Awards SASRA, 2022
Carol Flynn
Early life[edit]
George Pérez was born on June 9, 1954,[4][5][6] in the South Bronx, New York City, to Jorge Guzman Pérez and Luz Maria Izquierdo, who were both from Caguas, Puerto Rico, but met after settling in New Jersey while searching for job opportunities. They married in October 1954 and subsequently moved to New York, where Jorge worked in the meat packing industry while Luz was a homemaker. George's younger brother David was born in May 1955. Both brothers aspired at a young age to be artists[4] with George beginning to draw at the age of five.[7][6]
Career[edit]
Early career[edit]
Pérez's first involvement with the professional comics industry was as artist Rich Buckler's assistant in 1973,[6] and he made his professional debut in Marvel Comics' Astonishing Tales #25 (Aug. 1974) as penciler of an untitled two-page satire of Buckler's character Deathlok, star of that comic's main feature.[8] Soon Pérez became a Marvel regular, penciling a run of "Sons of the Tiger", a serialized action-adventure strip published in Marvel's long-running Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine and authored by Bill Mantlo. He and Mantlo co-created the White Tiger (comics' first Puerto Rican superhero),[9] a character that soon appeared in Marvel's color comics, most notably the Spider-Man titles.[10]
Pérez came to prominence with Marvel's superhero-team comic The Avengers,[11] starting with issue #141. In the 1970s, Pérez illustrated several other Marvel titles, including Creatures on the Loose, featuring the Man-Wolf; The Inhumans;[12] and Fantastic Four. Writer Roy Thomas and Pérez crafted a metafictional story for Fantastic Four #176 (Nov. 1976) in which the Impossible Man visited the offices of Marvel Comics and met numerous comics creators.[13] While most of Pérez' Fantastic Four issues were written by Roy Thomas or Len Wein, it would be a Fantastic Four Annual[14] where he would have his first major collaboration with writer Marv Wolfman. Pérez drew the first part of writer Jim Shooter's "The Korvac Saga", which featured nearly every Avenger who had joined the team up to that point.[15][16] Shooter and Pérez introduced the character of Henry Peter Gyrich, the Avengers' liaison to the United States National Security Council in the second chapter of that same storyline.[17] Writer David Michelinie and Pérez created the Taskmaster in The Avengers #195 (May 1980).[18]
Personal life and death[edit]
Pérez was married to Carol Flynn. He had no children. He had a brother David, and a niece and nephew.[76]
In October 2013, Pérez revealed that he would soon undergo laser and injection surgeries to address hemorrhaging in his left eye that had effectively made him blind in that eye.[77] By the following June, the procedures were not yet completed, but his condition had improved to the point that he was able to resume his work.[78] In May 2017, he was admitted to a hospital with chest pains due to a heart attack while traveling to a convention, and had a coronary stent fitted.[79] By January 2019, Perez was dealing with multiple health issues, including diabetes and problems with his vision and his heart.[75]
In December 2021, he revealed that after undergoing surgery for a blockage in his liver, he had been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. Given a prognosis of 6 to 12 months, he chose not to pursue treatment.[80][81][82] In early 2022, both DC and Marvel included tributes to him and his work in their comics,[83][84] and jointly approved a limited-run reprint of the 2003 JLA/Avengers story he illustrated (long tied up by disagreements between the rival publishers), as a benefit for The Hero Initiative.[83]
Pérez died on May 6, 2022,[85][86] due to complications from pancreatic cancer.[7] His friend Constance Eza wrote the next day that the 67-year-old artist "passed away yesterday, peacefully at home" with his wife Carol and their family by his side. An open memorial service was held at MegaCon Orlando on May 22.[86]
The 2024 film Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One was dedicated in his memory.
Pérez won a 1979 Eagle Award (with Jim Shooter, Sal Buscema, and David Wenzel) for Best Continued Story for his work on The Avengers #167–168 and 170–177.[87] In 1980 he won the Eagle Award for Best Comicbook Cover for Avengers #185.[88] He won the Eagle Award for Favourite Artist (penciller) in 1986.[89] Pérez received an Inkpot Award in 1983.[90]
In 1985, DC Comics named Pérez as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great.[91]
His work (with Marv Wolfman and Romeo Tanghal), earned The New Teen Titans #50 a nomination for the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Single Issue.[92] His collaboration with Wolfman earned Crisis on Infinite Earths the Jack Kirby Award for Best Finite Series in both 1985 and 1986.[93]
Pérez has won several Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards.[94] He won the "Favorite Artist" award in 1983 and 1985 and "Favorite Penciler" in 1987. In addition, he won the "Favorite Cover Artist" award three consecutive years 1985–1987. Crisis on Infinite Earths won the award for "Favorite Limited Series" in 1985.
Pérez worked on several stories which won the CBG award for "Favorite Comic-Book Story":
In 2022, Pérez was awarded the Inkwell Awards Stacey Aragon Special Recognition Award (SASRA) for his lifetime achievement in inking.[95]