On Monday morning, I visited the Jim Lee blog 'Gelatometti2' and read an entry posted by Joel (Gomez ?). The point of his post was that comic book artist sensation and superstar, Michael Turner had succumbed to his illness.
Mike came on my radar from a pencil illustration he had done for some Image Comics art book. It was a drawing of the Cyber-Force character called Ballistic. My buddy Martin was showing it around to the the guys at our school and everyone thought it was sweet.
The Ballistic pinup held an Image Comics feel, but was uniquely cool with incredible gray-tone pencil shading. The standard 'Image' style at that point, was the X-Men style of Homage Studios.
With that 1 pinup he was on our radar. Our, being my crew of homies at that time. He then drew either a Ballistic mini-series and/or a Ballistic vs. Wetworks cross-over -- perhaps both. That work was a more run-of-the-mill Image comic, inline with any of the books being drawn by any of the rookies at the Image studios of that time.
And then came Witchblade. The pre-Witchblade hype and special releases, followed by the arrival of the book. And with that came the arrival of the new Top Cow style. The cross-hatching went away, but intricate lineup and awesome detail remained. For the female heroines, heavy mascara and eye-shadow were now popular, as were plump, glossy lips.
Mike drew the heck out that book and he became a super-star. For many fans eclipsing his studio head Marc Silvestri.
...and this brings us to either the '94 or '95 San Diego ComicCon. On the opening day of the show, I was there with my buddies and ran by the Top Cow booth. Both Michael Turner and his inker D-Tron were just sitting down behind an picnic table, getting ready for a signing and sketching session with fans.
Me and my friends sorta new D-Tron from when he was involved with the short-lived Bay Area comics company called Retrospect Comics -- at that time, D-Tron was Duy Truong. After chatting with D-Tron for couple minutes, Mike joined in with us as he serviced a few fans with sketches or answers to questions, etc. There was no HUGE lines or anything, it was mostly just dudes hanging out.
Remember that this time-frame is still when San Diego con was at its best for meeting the creators you wanted to show your work to, or make friends with. At San Diego shows before this one, I held ample face-time with Marc Silvestri, Frank Miller, John Byrne, Art Adams, Jim Lee, Matt Broome, Whilce Portacio and Dan Fraga.
Mike and D-Tron were selling stapled sets of like 5 full-size photocopies, I think, from their Ballistic series. So I bought one and Mike offered to draw a sketch on that back of it. I asked for Witchblade, and he was like 'okay cool', and my buddy Martin poked me and pointed at his own mouth... which prompted me to ask Mike to make sure he gave her his trademarked luscious lips.
Mike smiled, like 'of course I'm going to do that', and then he asked me, "how's that?" And it was awesome, I made some comment that they look like inner tubes. And he smiled with a chuckle -- and it was cool.
He was a good guy, and as that show went on, it would become apparent that he was no longer a one of the guys at Marc Silvestri's studio, he had crossed over towards becoming an industry superstar.
As the show went on to the busier days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the lines got longer, the throngs of fans got more excited to meet him, the collector's were more desperate to get his autograph.
I saw Mike at many shows between the years of 1994 and 2008. I recall being in Vegas, in December '96. At that point he was a confirmed big star and was still cool and approachable. I think in March of '05 we spoke, and I relayed in insider video game story that he was an integral part in (along with one of my co-workers), which made him laugh.
I will his miss artwork and the fact that he was one of the good guys. Like my friend and Viz co-worker Kevin Chan who passed at 2 weeks before turning 37, Michael Turner passed in his 37th year and I truly feel that going that young is a tragedy on many levels.
God Bless you Mike.
Mike came on my radar from a pencil illustration he had done for some Image Comics art book. It was a drawing of the Cyber-Force character called Ballistic. My buddy Martin was showing it around to the the guys at our school and everyone thought it was sweet.
The Ballistic pinup held an Image Comics feel, but was uniquely cool with incredible gray-tone pencil shading. The standard 'Image' style at that point, was the X-Men style of Homage Studios.
With that 1 pinup he was on our radar. Our, being my crew of homies at that time. He then drew either a Ballistic mini-series and/or a Ballistic vs. Wetworks cross-over -- perhaps both. That work was a more run-of-the-mill Image comic, inline with any of the books being drawn by any of the rookies at the Image studios of that time.
And then came Witchblade. The pre-Witchblade hype and special releases, followed by the arrival of the book. And with that came the arrival of the new Top Cow style. The cross-hatching went away, but intricate lineup and awesome detail remained. For the female heroines, heavy mascara and eye-shadow were now popular, as were plump, glossy lips.
Mike drew the heck out that book and he became a super-star. For many fans eclipsing his studio head Marc Silvestri.
...and this brings us to either the '94 or '95 San Diego ComicCon. On the opening day of the show, I was there with my buddies and ran by the Top Cow booth. Both Michael Turner and his inker D-Tron were just sitting down behind an picnic table, getting ready for a signing and sketching session with fans.
Me and my friends sorta new D-Tron from when he was involved with the short-lived Bay Area comics company called Retrospect Comics -- at that time, D-Tron was Duy Truong. After chatting with D-Tron for couple minutes, Mike joined in with us as he serviced a few fans with sketches or answers to questions, etc. There was no HUGE lines or anything, it was mostly just dudes hanging out.
Remember that this time-frame is still when San Diego con was at its best for meeting the creators you wanted to show your work to, or make friends with. At San Diego shows before this one, I held ample face-time with Marc Silvestri, Frank Miller, John Byrne, Art Adams, Jim Lee, Matt Broome, Whilce Portacio and Dan Fraga.
Mike and D-Tron were selling stapled sets of like 5 full-size photocopies, I think, from their Ballistic series. So I bought one and Mike offered to draw a sketch on that back of it. I asked for Witchblade, and he was like 'okay cool', and my buddy Martin poked me and pointed at his own mouth... which prompted me to ask Mike to make sure he gave her his trademarked luscious lips.
Mike smiled, like 'of course I'm going to do that', and then he asked me, "how's that?" And it was awesome, I made some comment that they look like inner tubes. And he smiled with a chuckle -- and it was cool.
He was a good guy, and as that show went on, it would become apparent that he was no longer a one of the guys at Marc Silvestri's studio, he had crossed over towards becoming an industry superstar.
As the show went on to the busier days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the lines got longer, the throngs of fans got more excited to meet him, the collector's were more desperate to get his autograph.
I saw Mike at many shows between the years of 1994 and 2008. I recall being in Vegas, in December '96. At that point he was a confirmed big star and was still cool and approachable. I think in March of '05 we spoke, and I relayed in insider video game story that he was an integral part in (along with one of my co-workers), which made him laugh.
I will his miss artwork and the fact that he was one of the good guys. Like my friend and Viz co-worker Kevin Chan who passed at 2 weeks before turning 37, Michael Turner passed in his 37th year and I truly feel that going that young is a tragedy on many levels.
God Bless you Mike.
posted by Skull_Leader at 10:35 AM
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