Please Read...

[slym2none]

My condolences.....





-slym

[BloodOfHeroes]

Sent to me by a buddy who recognized Bloodshot.

R.I.P., Mr. P.

[Knightt]

I read your words in regards to Mr. Perham's passing in Wizard magazine. I was very touched, Kevin. You captured in a few paragraphs a multitude of emotions and after having met you on a few occasions and seeing/feeling your love for your time at Valiant and it's characters... I cannot imagine your sadness. I mourn Mr. Perham's passing and at the same time... you are one of the good ones and among some of my favorite people on the planet, my heart goes out to you as well for your loss.

Rest Well Mr. Perham...

As some of you know, James and I met when we were 12 years old. He was my best friend during that period and we were as close as any brothers for much of the last 30 years. And by that I mean that we laughed and cried and argued and lived together. For the bulk of my run at Valiant, James shared the apartment with Carol and me along with our little boys. It was a neat split-level deal in an old pencil factory and he had his own space. But he could still pace across the catwalk and pontificate about all the things that were wrong with the industry and how nobody cared.

Or we would just make up stupid comedy bits like Jimmy P and the Plesiosaur. I played the plesiosaur, in case you were curious.

We saw the first Star Trek movie together on opening day December 7th, 1979. We went to middle school, then high school together. We bought comics at The Comic Kingdom in Detroit and read them while we ate at Burger Chef (that's right, CHEF-- who's old enough to remember those?)

No one, and I mean no one ever loved the characters at Valiant more than he did.

I miss him terribly already because I know I can't pick up the phone and hear him speak, even if it was to tell me everything I ever did wrong in our books and how I let fill in the blank phone in the script and ruin such and such a title. I'd gladly listen to him tell me how I abandoned the company when I moved to California if I could hear him talk again.

But I can't.

And that makes me feel very sad.

He was four days older than me and the two of us would have turned 43 in a few weeks.

Even when our lives were hectic we would reach out at birthdays. That's gone now.

He loved to make people laugh-- especially female people. He loved anime and his posse at Valiant/Acclaim, many of whom went on to Wizard.

Here's a picture that our friend Charles Lister took years ago.

I hope you all think as fondly of his memory as I do.

Kevin VanHook

http://kevinvanhook.com/jamesubway.jpg