I know this won’t mean much to most of you, but I just found out Mike Wieringo died the other day. Mike was a comic book artist; he was only 44-years old, exercised regularly, was a vegetarian, and yet he died of a heart attack. To say it’s a shock is quite an understatement.
I first came to know Mike’s work when he was the artist on Sensational Spider-Man, back when I actually bought comic books instead of just talking about them. I was never really a big fan of his stuff – it was a little too cartoony for my tastes at the time. But I developed a true appreciation for not just his work, but for him as a person, when I stumbled across his website a year or two ago.
He came across as having such a genuine enthusiasm for what he did, and as being a warm, friendly person with a good sense of humour and a great imagination. He’ll be missed.
I first came to know Mike’s work when he was the artist on Sensational Spider-Man, back when I actually bought comic books instead of just talking about them. I was never really a big fan of his stuff – it was a little too cartoony for my tastes at the time. But I developed a true appreciation for not just his work, but for him as a person, when I stumbled across his website a year or two ago.
He came across as having such a genuine enthusiasm for what he did, and as being a warm, friendly person with a good sense of humour and a great imagination. He’ll be missed.
2 comments:
To me it was a painful shock too, bro. I had a similar reaction to yours when I first saw his work on Sensational Spider-Man, lo a decade ago already, but since then he's become one of my favorite artists, and I would be swayed to purchase whatever he was working on. Only last week I read Spider-Man/Fantastic Four #4 and was I showing Sequoia how great his art is.
I actually never properly visited his weblog, more fool me for missing out on the thoughts he was sharing with the world. I did recently read the Modern Masters volume that focused on him, which only made me appreciate him even more as a person, not to mention an artist.
Right now it's still unimaginable that I live in a world where I'll no longer be able to look forward to Ringo's next project. Mere months ago I was rereading all his Robin issues and gawking over his excellent lay-outs and cover work, wondering how cool it'd be if he'd return to that book to show off how much he's improved since those early days. It's unfair that someone so talented and so genuinely nice has been taken away so cruelly.
I miss him, more than I could've guessed, for someone I've never met nor talked to.
Hey, bro! Good to see you pop up again! How's everything going? Married yet?
Yeah, Ringo wasn't a huge influence on my taste in comics; more of a periphery figure. But it's so strange that someone so full of life could suddenly just be ... gone. It's especially jarring reading his last blog entry, where he talks about having to get the electrician in. Life goes on, even when it doesn't.
Like I said, glad to see you pop up again. You're the only one I know who gets anything out of my mouthy comics posts, of which there are far too many ; )
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