Anybody that knows me or follows my blog, will understand that I’m a comic book fan. I’ve been reading and collecting comics for decades, so over that time, I’ve learnt a few things, which have included Neal Adams and George Perez.

Growing up and teaching myself about comics, I discovered and identified Neal’s and George’s art, before I could recognise their names. As a kid, the names of artists were not important to me, only if I liked their artwork. And for the record, I liked them both.

To me, and thousands; if not millions of people around the world, these two men were amazing storytellers. Their passion for their medium, shone through in their art, but also through interviews, attending conventions, and their community work. Neal and George also worked for different publishers, not just DC and Marvel.

Both men challenged what a comic book could be, by drawing strong, but flawed characters; introducing new and exciting characters that would push social boundaries; incorporate more mature themes to comics; redefining the way the body and muscles were drawn; but also being top quality storytellers.

Neal and George helped to build worlds, where a small boy, from a small town, from a small country, could escape to and dream that all things were possible. From intimate and personal stories; to race against time, globe trotting stories; to reality-crushing and cosmic stories, they could do it all.

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Sadly, Neal passed away on 28th April, aged 80; while George passed away on 6th May, aged 67. My condolences to their families and friends.

Just like many other people I admired and respected; like Stephen Hawking and Stan Lee, I always thought I would meet Neal and/or George. It would have been at some sort of comic convention, where I would shake their hand, thank them for all of their amazing work, and then apologise for saying something they would have heard thousands of times before.

That can never happen now.

In New Zealand, we have some mighty trees called tōtaras. They are symbolically important, because they are massive, straight, quite light, and resistant to rot. Bascially, they’re forest giants. Māori would use them to make large wakas (canoes), but also carve the tōtara to decorate maraes.

These are not my words, but they convey my thoughts and feelings:

KUA HINGA TE TOTARA I TE WAO NUI A TANE

THE TOTARA HAS FALLEN IN THE FOREST OF TANE

THE TOTARA IS A HUGE TREE THAT GROWS FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. THE GREATNESS OF THE TOTARA IS A METAPHOR FOR WHEN SOMEONE OF IMPORTANCE PASSES AWAY.

Simply put, Neal and George were tōtaras.

Whenever I see their artwork, until the end of my days, I’ll push away the thoughts of sadness and anger; and just be grateful that I’ll be looking at 2-D representations of what love looks like: the evidence of someone doing a job that they love.

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Thank you Neal. Thank you George. Thank you for your art, stories, imagination, and passion. You are both immortal now.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week.

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