Michael Turner

So I'm taking a break in my series of Wondy articles to talk about something considerably more important than comics that ship late and stories that don't go anywhere.

On June 27th, 2008, superstar cartoonist Michael Turner died from complications related to bone cancer, which he had been battling for years. He was thirty-seven years old.

Teen Titans #1

With the possible exception of Jim Lee, Michael Turner was the single most popular cover artist working in comics today. More than Alex Ross. More than J.G. Jones. More than Steve McNiven. Whatever one might think of his style, it was distinct, consistent, and wildly popular.

Turner basically put Top Cow Comics on the map in the mid-90's with Witchblade. In high school, I had a huge poster of his character "Fathom" on my wall. In college, I had pin-ups he did of various characters on my wall and a poster of the cover to Identity Crisis #4 - featuring Wonder Woman - on my door. Which, I suppose, goes to show that one didn't have to be a horny straight teenager to appreciate the way he rendered women.

Witchblade #1

Wondy vs. Dinosaurs.

Identity Crisis #4

There are lots of things that you can say about his art, and I'm not going to pretend that I was always in love with it. But there was always an energy surrounding the things he drew. His drawings looked cool. Take a look at his drawing for the cover of the upcoming Uncanny X-Men #500. He was one of the few artists who could make me feel like I was ten years old again, just in awe of how cool everything looked.

Uncanny X-Men #500

Incidentally, there seems to be some curse surrounding talented cartoonists named "Michael." In 1996, the insanely talented Mike Parobeck died at the age of thirty-one. Just last year, one of my favorite cartoonists in the business - Mike Weiringo - died at forty-four of sudden heart failure. I'll probably cook up entries for both of them in the future, because they really were great talents and the industry is poorer for their absence.


But this is about Turner, so take a look at the sample of his work here. As far as I know, the last interior work he did was at DC on the Superman/Batman storyline that introduced the new Supergirl. Rubbish story, but gorgeous art. Check it out sometime if only to gaze at the amazing pictures.

Supergirl