Spider-Man 2099 Creator Peter David Relaunches Medical GoFundMe So He And His Wife Can "Live Without Being Homeless And Broke"
After months of struggling with medical bills because Medicaid has denied continued payment for his treatments, Marvel Comics Spider-Man 2099 creator, DC Comics writer, and Star Trek novelist Peter David is relaunching his medical bills GoFundMe in a desperate plea for cash.
It appears as if corporate work in the arts leaves its most beloved creators in the dust as Peter David’s wife has announced that she’s putting up a new GoFundMe for the writer after medical bills have begun to pile up. Despite years of service to companies like Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Simon & Schuster with a prolific catalog, it provided very little for Peter David to be able to survive once a medical crisis hit given the current state of the American healthcare system.
Part of the problem with an author like Peter David is doing tie-in work gets a fee but does not provide much in terms of royalties because the work is “work for hire” as contract labor, and he doesn’t own any of his own creations. David’s creator-owned work, such as Fallen Angel or Sir Apropos of Nothing, never reached anywhere near the height of sales as his work on books like The Incredible Hulk or Spider-Man 2099 or in novels like his work on Star Trek.
His wife posted on the matter to GoFundMe:
From Peter's wife, Kathleen…
“We are starting this up again due to circumstances beyond our control. The short version is we are swimming in medical debt due to Peter being rejected for Medicaid – which was one of the few things that had been going right. As many of you know, insurance will only pay so much and so far. Once one has used that up, one depends on the social services to allow one to live without being homeless and broke. That is what Medicaid has been doing for the last two years. Yes, as of November, we started our third year of this journey.
Overall, it has been a time of frugalness and counting our blessing where we can. Your contributions will go towards the bills we have, and are, accruing. This gives Peter and me much piece of mind. And gives me time to worry about other things that really need more of my attention.
The job hunt continues. Got close twice but then it went internal, so I was used as a statistic. I have also learned new ways to say you are old without saying it. I continue to try to find work that I can do. I am down to one day a week at Micheals so that is a princely $120 I get every two weeks. Understand I am grateful for the job, however, it doesn’t pay a living wage even if I worked 20 hours a week.
Caroline applied for several internships in Animation including Disney and Dreamworks. She is working very hard in school and enjoying the animation program at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). These past few years of her father's illness have been tough on her, but she is pushing through.
Please pass this GoFundMe around so it will be seen by many eyes. We appreciate those who have previously donated, and we appreciate those who are donating for the first time. Peter is floored by the support. I don’t think he knows how beloved and admired he is. Thank you.”
This situation is nothing new for the Davids, in a tragic tale after so many years of work.
In 2017, Peter David revealed he was in disastrous shape financially even after decades of service to these mainstream comic companies. He wrote on his blog at the time:
Many years ago I had a television series on the air called "Space Cases." And I made a lot of money that year. I mean a lot. And I had a ton of money sitting in my bank account ready to send to the IRS on April 15th. It was all good.
And then the day that I was going to send the check, I swung by the nearest ATM to withdraw some cash and was astounded to see that half the money in my account was gone. Why was it gone? Because my then wife withdrew it in order to pay for a divorce lawyer, which was how I found out my marriage was dissolving. So the money never went to the IRS because I had to use the remainder to hire my own attorney.
Over the years, I never managed to land another project that would pay me that much. I had lots of people make promises–I even did the work for some of them–and none ever came up with the money. Meanwhile I tried to make payment arrangements with the IRS but they didn't last, because throughout the year I'd send in the payments but then on April 15 I had no money to pay the income tax because I'd already sent them all my spare money.
Then they seemed to just forget about it. Which was great.
Except recently they now seem to have remembered. And they want all the money, plus penalty and interest, or they are going to financially destroy me.
How much? $88,000.
At the time, he raised $45,555 of that on his original GoFundMe and said he got help from online friends to pay off the debt.
His situation only got worse from there, however, as his health began to deteriorate in the early 2020s. He suffered kidney failure, a heart attack, and numerous strokes making it difficult for him to work at all and adding a ridiculous healthcare bill to his problems. Once again, he opened a GoFundMe.
Over the years, the original GoFundMe has raised $300,614. While it seems like a lot, going through the updates to see the amount of surgeries, dialysis, doctor’s appointments for infections that he’s gone through, the money evaporated rather quickly.
The current iteration of the GoFundMe has raised $13,507 as of this writing, and Fandom Pulse encourages readers to contribute and to offer prayers for Peter David and his family.
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I am really interested in supporting you financially please send me a message to help
Bro wrote half of the Dreadstar series too. Thanks for posting this. I’ll gladly kick in.