George Pérez — one of the most famous and prolific comic book artists of our time, with work in both DC and Marvel — has died.
The famed penciller passed away Friday at his home, surrounded by friends and family — this according to his official Facebook page, which announced the sad news. Perez was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, to which some outlets are attributing his death.
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The tribute reads, in part … “Everyone knows George’s legacy as a creator. His art, characters and stories will be revered for years to come. But, as towering as that legacy is, it pales in comparison to the legacy of the man George was. George’s true legacy is his kindness. It’s the love he had for bringing others joy – and I hope you all carry that with you always.”
Perez is, perhaps, best known for his work in DC … although he technically got his start with Marvel, contributing drawings to the ‘Avengers’ series and ‘The Fantastic Four’ in the ’70s.
It wasn’t long, though, that he transitioned to DC — where he did some of his most iconic artwork to date … including helping launch “The New Teen Titans” in ’85 alongside writer Marv Wolfman. They added key characters to the squad that would later become widely known and beloved on Cartoon Network in the 2000s — namely, Starfire, Cyborg and Raven.
The new comic became a smash hit, but Pérez wasn’t done leaving his mark with DC — in addition to ‘TNTT,’ he also helped draw what became a divisive comic book series entry … “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” for which he drew much of the main art in the mid-’80s.
‘Crisis’ was big because it kinda put an end to the whole concept of the multiverse — which was running rampant at the time in comics — and unified all the DC superheroes in world/universe/earth … and killing A LOT of the main costumed crusaders along the way.
In fact, so many heroes got knocked off … that DC eventually had to reboot everything altogether just to crank out new storylines with some fan faves still in the picture.
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In any case, Pérez helped helm the comic book giant through some of its most formative years — and his work will be long referenced and remembered. He was 67.
RIP