It’s sadly been revealed that comic book artist George Pérez has died at age 67. He had a major influence on DC Comics during the 1980’s, and illustrated the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event. As such, this is definitely a devastating loss for DC fans.
He previously revealed on Facebook late last year that he’d been diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer. At that time he wrote the following statement:
“On November 29th, I received confirmation that, after undergoing surgery for a blockage in my liver, I have Stage 3 Pancreatic Cancer,” he revealed. “It is surgically inoperable, and my estimated life expectancy is between 6 months to a year. I have been given the option of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, but after weighing all the variables and assessing just how much of my remaining days would be eaten up by doctor visits, treatments, hospital stays, and dealing with the often stressful and frustrating bureaucracy of the medical system, I’ve opted to just let nature take its course and I will enjoy whatever time I have left as fully as possibly with my beautiful wife of over 40 years, my family, friends, and my fans.”
While he worked with DC on events like the aforementioned Crisis on Infinite Earths, he also had a hand in Marvel Comics as well. His career began as an assistant to Fantastic Four artist Rich Buckler and he later made his artist debut in an issue of Marvel’s Astonishing Tales. By 1978, he joined the creative team behind The Avengers and helped co-create comic book characters that are still remembered to this day – such as Taskmaster.
George Pérez continued having a massive impact on comic books going forward over the years. This included DC’s New 52 launch in 2011. As such, he has had decades of influence over so many iconic superhero stories and characters. He and his work will always be remembered.