CRISIS OVER ON FINITE EARTH
The ink well has run dry for comic book artist George Perez at the age of 67. Joining Marvel in his late teens, he gained recognition in the 70s for his work on staples such as The Avengers and Fantastic Four and honing his own heritage into co-creating the first Puerto Rican superhero, the White Tiger. He switched over to DC, where he introduced new characters to the Teen Titans squad. I remember in the day there was a Teen Titans show on Cartoon Network that had some of his co-creations, and nowadays that gang is seemingly CN’s SpongeBob-esque cash cow.
One of Perez’s personal favourite jobs was illustrating the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover story, which wholly restructured DC dynamics by collapsing the Multiverse into a single Universe and killing off so many characters its body count was comparable to a modern DDP year. He was a key name in the 80s reboot of Wonder Woman, but lassoed himself back to Marvel following disputes with DC. He returned to DC one last time in the aughts. Yep, he had more nonconsecutive stints at DC than Grover Cleveland.
Even if superheroes aren’t my personal cup of tea, I’ve much respect for the craft behind the comics – drawing page after page of detailed people to tell a story, and doing it well, on a fast-paced schedule. Given Perez was even adept at drawing complex crowd scenes, he undoubtedly seemed at the top of his field and marks a sad loss for comics fans.
Perez was already retired due to health reasons before proffering deadpoolers that greatest of gifts – the ol’ December “I have pancreatic cancer and am refusing treatment” announcement. The man known for his crowd drawings attracted quite the audience at the DDP – 51 teams picked him, enough for a Drop 40 spot. He was near unanimously picked among the top teams, and thus has little impact on the title race. Among those who land a joker are The Beatles Are Dying In The Wrong Order and Drunkasaskunk. The boozy Glaswegian now joins the elite cadre of DDP players who have accumulated 1000+ points over their career.
George Perez
9 June 1954 – 6 May 2022, aged 67
51 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 + 40 = 11 POINTS, 🃏 (x6) 22 POINTS)