A lot of icons from my youth seem to be passing away with frequent expedience it seems lately. Just last week, the great Neal Adams passed away. I got to meet him at a con a couple of years ago. Despite having read a very large amount of the stuff Adams did over the years, the only thing I had for him to sign was a reprint of one of his Green Lantern/Green Arrow books. I was so embarrassed when I approached him with the issue thinking he'd be mad not coming to him with the real thing. But he couldn't have been nicer.
Well, today, I saw the news on Facebook that another beloved comic book creator from my youth passed away last night, George Perez. I knew that George's time on Earth wasn't for long. Just a few short months ago, he announced having stage IV pancreatic cancer. So, I had some time to prepare for this. I just wasn't prepared for that time to be today.
The resume of George Perez isn't just a Who's Who of comic book characters. It's more of an Who Aint'? Because he's done them all. The Avengers. Justice League of America. The New Teen Titans. The X-Men. He's also responsible for the artwork of my all-time favorite comic book story- Crisis on Infinite Earths. And that's where I want to pay tribute to George Perez.
It was father's day weekend, 2007. Charlotte, NC at HeroesCon. It was the first comic book convention I went to as a married man and the first Con I had been to in probably a decade. My best friend Todd and his wife met with my wife and I there. And at times, we'd go off while the wives sat and talked.
I saw that George Perez was one of the guests and I always wanted to confront him about doing the unthinkable: killing my beloved Supergirl off in the pages of CRISIS #7. Since at the time I didn't have any of the number of comics that I have now, I needed to find a copy of CRISIS so I could get it signed by Perez. I seriously thought about buying a copy of #7. But in all honesty, my favorite cover was that of CRISIS #5 in which there are about probably 50 portraits of many of the major players on the cover. And I just loved how Perez drew faces.
So I buy my copy, march over to his booth and I see that he's doing special signings for a donation to ACTOR, now known as the Hero Initiative. It's a charity for providing healthcare, housing and other needs for those who worked in the comic book industry but made next to nothing from their work.
At the moment, I arrived, George was working on something that was going to be auctioned off later for the charity. I told him that I wanted him to sign my issue of CRISIS with the admission that he had killed Supergirl on it. George and his handler told me that he would do it if I came back at 2pm. So I made sure to pledge $30 as a donation if he'll do it. He agreed and I went back to enjoying the Con.
Well at 1:55, an announcement went over the intercom that Mr. Perez was too busy with commissions that he had to cancel the signing. I looked at my wife heartbroken thinking I missed my chance. My wife on the other hand figured since he made a promise to us, maybe he'll follow through. It couldn't hurt to try. So we raced over to try.
George's handler must have seen me coming cause she tried to shoo me away. But I had mentioned that I still intended to donate to the cause if he would just sign it. George put down his ink pen and gracious said '30 bucks, right?' I upped it to $40. He smiled and told me that I had a deal. At this point, my friend Todd came up and for 15 minutes we were the center of George Perez's attention. He talked about how hard a decision it was for them to kill Supergirl. But since the DC universe was being reset, they could always bring her back. We talked about Teen Titans since that was Todd's favorite. At one point, for some reason, Todd had mentioned Roy Thomas and George pointed behind us and said 'Well, there he is. Tell him I told you to sign your program."Which Roy did!
Anyways, for 15 minutes, I got to hang out with George Perez and I've never forgotten the experience. I talk about it often and fondly. I show my issue off with joy as not only did George Perez confess to the murder, he drew a sketch of the S-shield on the cover as well. So I actually own an original sketch from Perez as well.
I think one thing about that meeting means so much to me was that I got to do it with my best friend. Sadly, Todd lost his battle with mental illness over a decade ago. God, I still miss him. Now, I will be missing George Perez as well.
Rest in Peace Todd and George and Neal...
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