Artist Tony DeZuniga needs your help.

DeZuniga, who co-created Jonah Hex and has been responsible for thousands of beautiful images, is in critical condition in a hospital in the Philippines, and his family has reached out to the comics community.

His wife Tina has said:

It’s really tough since Tony doesn’t have insurance here. The medication is very expensive and hospital bill is paid cash 90% Our daily bill is around $1,500 even if we have some money it’s drained out already. I have a house here but the process of getting a loan would take time and I can’t be gone long away from the hospital.

As for Tony’s condition, I will give you a brief history and update – he had a stroke in the morning of Tuesday last week (we’re 16 hours ahead) The stroke damaged the brain. it has bleeding inside and they need to open up the brain but with so much medication they were able to stop the bleeding but the brain was swollen so they need to take the pressure out so they need to insert a tube to release the pressure but since I don’t want them to open up it created an hernia. His condition is so unstable. He got infection that they need to treat, his pneumonia, need to be watched because he’s having problem breathing and blood pressure on top of the heart. With too much medications his stomach bleeds. One on top of the other. Anyway. Any little help will be greatly appreciated.

Here I am with Tony, a great artist and a great guy, back in 2008.

If you’re wondering whether you should help, perhaps Neal Adams can sway you:

For everyone who receives this, Tony DeZuniga was the first Filipino artist whose work was accepted by an American Publisher. And it was he who opened up the door for Alex Niño, Nester Redondo, Alfredo Alcala, Rudy Nebres, Dusty Abell, Ernie Chan (Chua), and a dozen other artists.

Tony has returned to the Philippines and is in dire straits. May I ask you for a donation to help him and his family out in this time of need? Lack of medical insurance is the band of our existence as freelancers. For those of us who have medical insurance, we know the peace of mind it brings.

Please, whether as a favor to me, or to help a fellow comic book artist, or for any other reason you can do it, please find a way to send an amount of money that you feel you can afford.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

If you find yourself moved to help out, please use PayPal to send funds (as I just did) to tonydezuniga@yahoo.com, which will go into Tony’s daughter’s account.

Please give whatever you feel you can. Thank you.