Friday, May 21, 2010

Namesake Missing

Stephen Perry, Thundercats writer

(I had to change the picture -- that Thundercat character with a big sword suddenly seemed really inappropriate for this subject.)

Got a note from agent about this -- apparently, the Steve Perry who wrote for Thundercats and comics around the same time I was writing kidvid, thus confusing fans, has disappeared from his home in Zephyrhills, Florida, along with his two roommates.

For the record, I never wrote any episodes of Thundercats.

The police aren't saying much, but they have, according to a rumor in the story, found some body parts and Perry's van in the next county over ...

Somebody called my agent to see if he was me.

The Thundercats Perry has been in poor health, had cancer, and somebody had recently stepped up to help him out.

It's a strange story, and it has that ring of something-not-quite-right about it. Morbid curiosity compels me to follow this one ...

Update: The reason two of the three disappeared wasn't because they were dead or kidnapped: Allegedly, the roomates did him in -- at least they have been found and are in police custody.

I didn't really know the guy -- we exchanged emails once when he dropped me a line talking about us being mixed up. Never met him, but how terrible is it that his passing is going to have "grisly murder" and "dismembered corpse" connected to it.

5 comments:

Dan Gambiera said...

That first link set off my browser and anti-virus program's warning bells.

Steve Perry said...

Yeah, there's a big pop-up flash ad that opens. I deleted that link, the second one seems okay.

jks9199 said...

Must be more than a little weird to read something like that about someone with "your" name, in a very similar profession... When I was in college, I read one day about the death of a guy I was very loosely acquainted with -- but who had the same name as a good friend of mine. Kind of disrupted my homework that night...

There's a cop in California whose name is the same as mine. No relation, and we've never met. I don't even know if he's aware of me; I tripped over him by accident doing one of my periodic "do I have any special fans" web searches on myself.

Steve Perry said...

Update: Police are confirming that Perry was murdered and they are still holding the roommates.

You can read the bio provided by his sometimes-partner, comic book artist Steve Bissette, here:

http://srbissette.com/?p=9077

Not a pretty story. Perry had an unhappy life. Hand-to-mouth, in and out of relationships, several children who didn't know him as a father, ending in bladder cancer, pain pills, homicide and dismemberment.

People are still confusing the two of us in postings on the web. If you come across one of these, you might mention that we aren't the same guy. I've been doing that, but it's kind of like bailing against the tide ...

Ed said...

....and something about a winning lotto ticket .... "friends/roomates" + winning lotto maybe didn't mix?