Comic book artist George Pérez has announced his retirement from the field at the age of 64. George drew so many popular comics — the kind publishers keep in print due to an undying demand for the material — that it will feel like he's a current presence in the industry. That will be the case for the rest of his life and long after. In a statement published on Facebook and elsewhere, he wrote in part…
…please don't feel sorry for me about all these life and career changes. Thankfully I earn more than enough income through royalties to have a comfortable life wherein I may never need to work again. Unless, of course, something really tempting comes along and I'm given sufficient lead time. Hey, you never know.
Long story short, I will be just fine. I've had a wonderfully good run doing exactly what I have wanted to do since I was a child. 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.
I guess his many fans would take this all as sad news but I think it's wonderful that a guy like George can retire and have that comfortable life. Artists from earlier generations in comics did not always have that available to them when, as in George's case, health issues arose. They did not receive royalties or in most cases, any form of pension or health insurance, way back when. A guy who did the quantity and/or quality of work George did but did it a few decades earlier could easily have wound up living in poverty once he could no longer produce pages.
Something a lot of people forget about producing comics is that they're hard work. They're even usually hard work when you do them poorly. Writing scripts at the pace that the industry has often demanded…filling pages with drawings…that can take an awful lot of hours per week. I've met an awful lot of the writers and artists of comics' first and second generations. Whenever I met one of their wives, as often as not, she would tell me, "I was always so worried about his health…staying up 'til all hours getting work done…even dragging himself to the board [or typewriter] when he was sick…"
Usually, like George, they loved the job — and I know George a little. He's a great guy and he wasn't kidding about "…doing exactly what I have wanted to do since I was a child." No one ever put more effort and passion into each page. I wouldn't fault him if he'd retired just because he felt he'd worked enough in his life. He deserves to live in leisure, maybe in a big mansion full of servants who wait on him hand and foot. It would also be nice if it was on a street full of similar mansions for the folks who had to ink all those lines he drew.