George Perez

 I had planned that today's post would be to recount my daughter Randie and I going to Acme Comics in Greensboro NC to celebrate that annual celebration, the Christmas for nerds known as "Free Comic Book Day". 

Kudos to Jermaine, the beloved "Lord Retail" and his staff for a professionally run FCBD event which between some books inside and some art from the vendors outside extricated about $60 from my wallet. So much for "free", am I right?  

Randie and I returned home to our Fortress of Ineptitude with our bounty of comics both free and paid for to enjoy an afternoon of reading when a check in online brought the sad news that George Perez had died at age 67.   

It was not unexpected.  George announced last year he had pancreatic cancer and had decided to let nature take its course.  

Although we knew this was coming, the arrival of this news still was a blow. 

A fan favorite artist of comic book fans going back to the 1970's, George Perez was described as a really good guy that no one ever said a bad word about. 

Except maybe for the inkers who were tasked to inks Perez's pencils where in put in a serious amount of detail into every page, every panel.  

George's forte was the team book where he had the unique ability to bring together a diverse group of heroes and make each character distinctive and vibrant. 

George faced the end of his life with uncommon grace and good humor. The decision to forego the rigors of chemotherapy and other cancer treatments was one of choosing quality of life over it's duration.  

The first instinct in facing cancer is to do what the doctors tell you to fight for every last second at all costs. George decided the quality of his last days was more important that their number. 

When the end is inevitable, the only question is how do we meet it.  

George Perez passed away peacefully at home with his wife Carol and family at his side. We really cannot hope for better than that. 

But George would want us in this moment of grief to focus on his life and his art. 

And what an incredible life he led and what wonderful art he produced. 

Let's close out this post with some art from perhaps George's most epic project, JLA/Avengers, the ultimate team up the greatest super heroes from both DC and Marvel