Name: George Pérez
Date/Time: 3/3/2001 4:52 AM
Subject: Official at last.
Body: Although this should come as little surprise, it’s now official: CRIMSON PLAGUE is cancelled. Issue 2 was the
last issue.
First of all, I want to apologize to everyone who will be hurt, angered, or otherwise disappointed by this news. I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to address this matter, but there were several individuals and
innocent parties who were going to be affected negatively if I announced CP’s cancellation any earlier.
I also want to thank those who defended me when certain fans decided to vent their anger within these boards. While I do not condone the use of profane language on a public forum and cannot personally abide sheer rudeness, personal attacks and lack of courtesy toward others, I can certainly understand a fan’s feelings of betrayal. But, believe it or not, no one’s more hurt and disappointed about all this than I am. When all the figures came in on the released issues of CRIMSON PLAGUE, my personal loss was in excess of $20,000. If I continued working on the book with the sales figures being what they are, I was looking at a
projected grand total loss of $50,000 for the entire series. There are a lot of reasons for this: One was the loss of Gorilla’s initial funding which forced us to work without pay and finance the books ourselves.
Another was the general doldrums of the industry. Another was the loss of production time caused by our
scrambling to get ourselves reorganized and prioritizing paid work in favor of getting further ahead on our
respective books, but at least helping to finance them. However, in my own case, health problems forced
me off the profitable AVENGERS series and thus obliterated my main source of income that helped me keep
the regrettably unprofitable CRIMSON PLAGUE afloat, albeit in a leaky boat.
Signing on as Senior Artist at CrossGen was a golden opportunity I couldn’t pass up. They offered me a
more relaxed schedule with a good salary and, quite importantly, a medical benefits package that was
superior to the ones offered by either Marvel or DC (who would both require greater page outputs to
qualify for coverage). Originally, this would have allowed me the resources to continue CRIMSON
PLAGUE—until fate intervened.
CrossGen had already allowed me the freedom to work on the long-awaited JLA/AVENGERS project that was
aborted on me almost two decades ago. And, as some of you may know, it has finally been green-lighted by
Marvel and DC. I begin working on it in April for a late 2002 release (at the earliest), getting an extended
leave of absence from CrossGen in order to work on it exclusively. With these two profitable projects
finally in place, and with the chance to not only get myself out of heavy debt, but to actually come out
financially ahead, there was just no getting around it. CRIMSON PLAGUE had to go.
Some have said that I don’t owe anything but the quality of my work to any fan. However, in this case I
think I do owe something more. I owe all of you an explanation. I’m just sorry it took so long in coming.
However, the one person I owe everything to is my wife, who has watched patiently, but concernedly, as my
pet project, while emotionally and creatively rewarding, was wearing us both down physically, emotionally
and financially. For those who will never pick up another thing I draw or write, I’m sorry to lose you. But,
at the end of the day, my duty to my wife, to my household, far outweighs any fan’s disappointment. And
whether you agree or approve of my decisions in that regard—quite frankly, is unimportant. I’m just sorry
that your ire was fueled to such fiery intensity by my silence.
I’m assuming that this part of the Gorilla website will be removed eventually, although I’m not sure what this means for the entire site itself. There are 15 pages from the third issue that have been drawn that perhaps I’ll have printed somewhere someday, just so they find some audience. So, to DiNA:, Shannon, Bernie, Kevin, Cross, Nick and all of you who’ve seen me through the tough times: Thank you. You have my eternal gratitude and affection. I hope that my work on CROSSGEN CHRONICLES and JLA/AVENGERS will help soothe whatever disappointments and inconveniences I’ve caused you.
Take care,
George Pérez
