George Pérez fans are seeking a Presidential Medal of Freedom for the terminally ill artist.
"For over half a century, Mr. Pérez has been one of the most graceful, guiding lights in American popular sequential art and design, as per his work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics and many other sequential storytelling companies since the 70s," a Change.org petition addressed to President Joe Biden reads. "His superior dedication to his craft and his boundless powers of execution and awe-inspiring, artscape-creating majesty have both defined and expanded what it means to be a talented draftsman and artistic luminary, an ingenious molder of intellect and popular storytelling as well as a true visionary of both the written and visual medium in the International arts."
"Mr. Pérez is one of the most influential living sequential storytellers of all time, and his place as a proud, American-born man of color with a global influence that can be readily evidenced in every venue of popular arts from Film, Television, Graphic Design and all multimedia would make him a perfect choice to be a recipient of the highest honor that you can bestow upon a civilian---the Presidential Medal of Freedom," the petition concludes.
Pérez is known for his work on titles like JLA/Avengers, The New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman, Action Comics, Infinity Gauntlet, Fantastic Four and more. After a lengthy career, Pérez formally retired from comics in 2019, citing health issues and declining eyesight. "I’ve had a wonderfully good run doing exactly what I have wanted to do since I was a child," he said at the time. "Now I can sit back and watch the stuff I helped create entertain whole new generations. That’s a pretty nice legacy to look back on. And so much of that is thanks to all of you, the GREATEST fans in the world. I am humbled and forever grateful."
Two years later, in December 2021, Pérez announced he'd been diagnosed with stage III pancreatic cancer. "It is surgically inoperable and my estimated life expectancy is between 6 months to a year," he wrote. "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 possible with my beautiful wife of 40 years, my family, my friends and my fans."
Source: Change.org