It’s been a tough year for comic book fans. We lost two of the world’s greatest artist within weeks of each other in 2022: Neal Adams and George Perez. The two artists were a generation apart, in fact, it was Neal Adams who gave George Perez his first criticism (and it was harsh!). Instead of taking it the wrong way, Perez worked harder and learned to draw better.

George recalls from the pages of Comics Interview #50:

The first criticism I can remember, that nearly devastated me, was from Neal Adams. ‘Cause Neal is blunt up front, very intimidating. A real pussycat deep down, he is a man that because of his reputation – and particularly at the time – is a little hard to know, but he really does want people to succeed. After I became pro, and I met Neal at a convention, there was no man I’ve ever met who was as happy to see me succeed as Neal was. Neal remembered me, remembered the criticism… But Neal remembered my work and was really happy that I succeeded. I took a lot of the stuff he told me – as a child, which I was – I took a lot of criticism harshly, and didn’t know what to do with it. A lot of technical terms he used, I didn’t know what the hell he meant. (Laughter). But a lot of the stuff, in hindsight, I utilized later, sometimes subconsciously. And Neal was the very first harsh professional criticism I ever received, and I was devastated.

Some of other famous artists who died in 2022 were Tim Sale, famous for his unique style on Batman: The Long Halloween,
Carlos Pacheco, famous for Avengers Forever.

I’m also sadden to see the deaths of Kevin O’Neill and Garry Leach, both British artists who worked with the great Alan Moore for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Miracleman, respectively.

For the full list, head over to Comic Book Creators Who Died in 2022.