Because of the debacles over "War of the Gods" and "The Infinity Gauntlet", Pérez began to gain a reputation as a creator who could not finish projects as planned. Furthering that impression, he worked with independent comic book publishers Malibu Comics, drawing "Break-Thru" and "Ultraforce" (both titles were part of Malibu's Ultraverse imprint), and then working at Tekno Comix drawing "I-Bots". However, despite being paid well by both publishers, he had no enthusiasm drawing the characters, and lost interest in drawing the titles.