George Perez, a groundbreaking comic artist whose work on the pages of DC and Marvel Comics reverberated in films like Wonder Woman and the Avengers movies, revealed on Facebook he’s suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer.
Perez, 67, famous for legendary comics including DC’s New Teen Titans and Crisis on Infinite Earths for DC, and for his work with Marvel’s Mightiest Heroes, retired in 2019 for health issues, including blindness in one eye from diabetes.
He revealed to his followers that he was given the fatal diagnosis on November 29.
“It is surgically inoperable and my estimated life expectancy is between 6 months to a year,” Perez wrote.
“I have been given the option of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, but after weighing all the variables…I’ve opted to just let nature take its course and I will enjoy whatever time I have left as fully as possible with my beautiful wife of over 40 years, my family, friends and my fans.”
On that matter, Perez says he hopes to arrange one last autograph signing, “wherein I can be photographed with as many of my fans as possible, with the proviso that I get to hug each and every one of them. I just want to be able to say goodbye with smiles as well as tears.”
He added, “…oddly enough, I’m feeling the Christmas spirit more now than I have in many years.”
“Maybe it’s because it will likely be my last. Or maybe because I am enveloped in the loving arms of so many who love me as much as I love them. It’s quite uplifting to be told that you’ve led a good life, that you’ve brought joy to so many lives and that you’ll be leaving this world a better place because you were part of it.”
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