Did You Now? Comic legends Neal Adams and George Perez contributed to Star Trek

Neal Adams and George Perez had ties to Star Trek.

Over a week ago, famed comic artist and writer Neal Adams passed away. About a week later, another famed comic book artist, George Perez, also passed away. To many comic book fans, especially DC fans, both men were icons. Adams’ work is some of the most spectacular in the game for Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow, while Perez for his work on Teen Titans.

Adams was 80, and Perez was just 67.

While both men have acclaimed DC and at times, Marvel comic artists and writers, both men also dabbled in the world of science fiction, contributing to work on various Star Trek books throughout their long careers.

For Adams, he worked on read-along comic books produced by Peter Pan Records, who were producing a series of Star Trek audio stories. Adams did work on the “The Time Stealer” series, which he wrote and illustrated.

For Perez, he did work on DC’s Star Trek line in the 1980s. He worked on some of the covers for the Star Trek series, which ran for about four years from 1984 to 1988. Perez worked on the book early in the run. He also did work on DC’s Who’s Who in Star Trek, as well as the Star Trek and Planet of the Apes crossover in 2014’s The Prime Directive.

It’s good to remember Star Trek legends exist beyond the camera

Sometimes we don’t pay enough respect to those outside of the uniforms. For a lot of people in the 70s and 80s, Adams and Perez were among the only ways fans could experience new Star Trek stories.

It’s not like today, where there are five shows in active production, airing on Paramount+ or even like in the 90s when at any one time there were at least two Star Trek shows airing weekly. Directors, writers, producers, and even comic artists have long kept the brand going, even when the rights holders themselves had no idea what to do with the series.

Adams and Perez were two of my favorite artists, and it’s a shame we’ll not see any more of their work. Yet, the work they did will live on forever, and we’ll forever be grateful for them.