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That’s very sad. Best wishes to his family.

It’s almost - vile - when we’re losing talents at such a young age. Mike Weirngo, Mike Parobeck and now Michael Turner. His legacy of work will live on, but it’s a shame there won’t be any new work for us to love. I own the SUPERGIRL statue based on his design and now everytime I see it, I will think of this talented man, gone far, far too soon. My condolences to his loved ones.

I have not read too many of Mr. Turner’s work, but those that I did, I’d admired his artistic talents.

Any death that takes away anyone from the comic industry (or other) at a young age is a tragedy.

He will be missed by his legions of fans and colleagues.

I was no fan of Mr. Turner’s work, but I’m sure he was a swell guy, and regardless, that’s WAY too young for anyone to go.

That’s really awful.

I liked his style… and his taste for details…
I was inspired by his work…
It is really very sad and difficult to believe it….
I miss him along with other artists and thousands of fans around the world.
Atula…..

wow… i had no clue he was that young.

R.I.P.

I was never really a fan, but it’s still sad to see him pass away.

I have a friend who’s a huge Michael Turner fan, this is really going to depress him.

Like his work or not, this is a tragedy. The one thing we can all do as a result of this loss is to take stock in what we have and how fortunate we are. Life can suck sometimes but consider the consequences.

My condolences go out to his loved ones.

This news has struck me with a sad pain.

A talented man who had done so much to work around his illness and thrive in the face of adversity.

Sadly, I never liked his artwork.
Well, at least not his FIGURE drawing
His design sense and composition were pretty good.

Still, even though I had my negative feelings towards his art, I always felt a sense of awe that he was able to fight the pain and the disease and crank out more work than most guys in their top form.

And every so often, I’d find myself looking at a cover (for Fathom or something like that) and think… “Y’know, fix the figure and this would be a GREAT piece of art”.

His departure is very sad, indeed.

~P~
PTOR

I’ll second the “I didn’t like his work, but nobody deserves to go that young” sentiment.

Cancer sucks.

I always enjoyed his work and he will be missed

It’s always a tragedy when someone so young and vibrant is robbed of their life.

RIP, that’s awful news. A lot of public figures have died this year so far, and he’s one of the few young ones that went far before his time.

He was without a doubt one of the most inspiring artists to work in comics. His work kept me in comics even while the rest of the industry struggled with providing quality. He will never be forgotten as his fantastic work will always live on. His work on Fathom is as good if not better than anything around. But beyond that he was an incredibly friendly and humble guy. I once waited in line for his autograph for 2.5 hours. Later at another convention I saw him standing at his booth and just went up and spoke to him. After gushing like a school girl for about 5 mins I said “Wow, this is incredible. I waited a couple hours to speak to you before”. He then pointed over his shoulder and said “Yeah I’m gonna be doing a signing”. I looked and saw a MASSIVE line of people all waiting to speak to him and yet, even with that huge group waiting, he still took the time to speak to me and talk about comics and art. He was a humble, good natured and ridiculously talented person. There is a lump in my throat even writing this. Rest in Peace Mike.

how trashy do you have to be to knock someone’s work who’s no longer here, and then have the gall to wish your condolences? just say nothing at all, or is your own existence so small the ” magical interweb ” the only way your little peasant voice can be heard? god bless you mike, every interaction i’ve had with you has been a true pleasure, and a shining example of what a professional in any field should be. your art and heart will be greatly missed!

( originally posted as anonymous by mistake )

My God, cancer is so evil. What’s so brutally ironic is that there was always a strong sense of life in his artwork.

Jmperry, what do you want people to say? If they didn’t like his work, it would be insincere to say otherwise, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t say something. Personally, he wasn’t my favourite artist (I found some of his eyes kind of odd), but it’s still sad.

it’s insincere to speak at all, if the only thing you give is a backhanded compliment. for example, what if i where to say, upon hearing of your passing, ” as far as daves go, he wasn’t my favorite dave ( i found some of his comments on message boards rather bland and annoying ) but i’ll miss him.” not trying to be a jacka$$, but why say anything? i guess as someone who met mike, and had several opportunities to interact with him and the whole aspen family, i’m kind of taking this one personally. and the old addage of if you don’t have anything nice to say has wrong true to me my whole life. and nice is not throwing in little personal and in my opinion, petty jabs at the deceased.

Jmperry, I think you are taking this too personally. I didn’t have to be a George Carlin fan (although I liked a lot of his stuff) but that doesn’t mean I can’t think his passing is sad. Your making snide comments about other posters doesn’t do anything to help Turner’s memory.

Besides, saying you weren’t a fan of all of his art is a critical judgment on his art, not a comment on Turner as a person. Saying “I was never a big fan” is not the same as trashing his reputation.

dave, first of all, i wasn’t taking a personal shot at any poster, and forgive me if my using your name in my example was seen as such. i could have easily said tom, rick , or bob. the whole point of my gripe is everyone else taking shots @ a person, who can no longer defend themselves. i just think a critical judgement, as you put it, while valuable in some situations, is downright tacky and disgusting when you’re posting on a thread that happens to be an obituary. simple people do simple things i guess. and let me follow that up by saying it’s just my opinion, so i can hide behind that like everyone else does. i don’t want to turn this into a pissing match, when it should be a remembrance of the life of someone’s son, brother, nephew and friend.

jmperry, that’s kind of my point. You have to separate the man from his work. It’s sad to see someone go, but it would be equally insincere to say that he was your favourite artist if he wasn’t. My comments were both sincere - I thought his work was very dynamic, but I did find the way he drew eyes odd. I’m sorry if that seems tacky. (Disgusting seems like an overstatement, IMHO).

My point is that saying he wasn’t your favourite artist isn’t “taking a shot,” it’s just being honest, if that’s the case.

The brightest flame burns quickest. If half of the biographies I read were true, he lived a lot of life. We should all be so lucky.

so why not comment on the man and not his art, dave? again, this is an obituary, not a discussion of the merits of his structure of eyes and anatomy. the best way i can explain my position is this; if you were in front of his or anyones family who had just passed, would you comment on the way they did their jobs, or offer sympathy for the loss? if you can actually say you would do the previous and not latter, you and everyone else who would do the same needs to reevaluate themselves as humans. and again, let me follow that with the catch all, make every thing cool phrase” in my opinion”. this is giving me such tired head.

Perry, the only one shitting up this comments thread is you.

michael, this discussion is quite pointless. you can’t argue with idiots, they bring you down to their level and precede to whip your ass with their idiocy / michaelness.

For what it’s worth, I agree with JM Perry. The thing to do at a time like this is simply offer condolences, or keep silent.

met him in texas twice. signed anything anyone wanted (although in clear pain) and always had a smile on his face and a kind word for all. ill miss him dearly. gods rest son

I’m glad that it sounds like they were at least able to honor him some at Wizard World.

“so why not comment on the man and not his art, dave? again, this is an obituary, not a discussion of the merits of his structure of eyes and anatomy.”

Because 1) I didn’t know him personally, although I still find it sad. 2) i’m being honest.

“the best way i can explain my position is this; if you were in front of his or anyones family who had just passed, would you comment on the way they did their jobs, or offer sympathy for the loss? if you can actually say you would do the previous and not latter, you and everyone else who would do the same needs to reevaluate themselves as humans. and again, let me follow that with the catch all, make every thing cool phrase” in my opinion”. this is giving me such tired head.”

But you have to understand that this isn’t the same as being in front of someone’s family. It’s a specific forum mainly dealing with his professional career. Many (if not most) of the people on a forum like this would not have met him personally, would have only had contact with him through his work. And I think it would be more insincere to say “oh yeah, I loved everything he drew” if it wasn’t true. I wrote that his figures were dynamic/full of life, which was true for me, but I also found his eyes odd. That’s simply my experience. That’s not criticizing him as a human being. Everything here I’ve read sounds like he was a cool guy.

This is a great loss not only in the world of the comic book industry but to world. Michael Turner was not only a talented Writer/Artist but a talented human being I had the privelage to meet him at the Novi Comic convention in MI some years ago and was enthusically impressed at the humbleness and the great attitude of such a person. We talked about art, comics and whatever that involved art we discussed, my gratitude and condolence goes out to this great man’s family, he will be truley missed, but I can’t be really all that sad because I know by the way this man carried himself and treated those that he came in contact with that he is gone to a much better place than here. He is an example of the way we all should carry ourselves and treat one another with the utmost respect, Michael Turner lived that.

(If you didn’t appreciate his work, you needn’t “lie” and claim him as your favourite artist - just pass on your sympathy and be done with it. Prefacing your condolences with “Oh, I wasn’t a fan but…” smells like trying to maintain some kind of online non-fanboy cred.)

Had the pleasure of meeting him when he came to Australia for Supanova a few years ago - RIP.

I was shocked an dsurprised by this… I remember when he stopped doing Fathom the first time he was diagnosed with cancer, but I thought when he returned to comics that the cancer was in remission and he was over the worst!
Today I read that it just kept coming back…
Jeez…
I hope that Aspen comics and all the characters that he created keep thriving in memory of him and all he’s given us…
Rest in Peace, Michael Turner…

I met him when the Witchblade/ Fathom/ Tomb Raider crossover came out, and I enjoyed the few minutes I had to speak with him. I’m sorry to see yet another talent gone.

Michael Turner is and will always be one of my favorite artists. I am truly saddened by his passing. I didn’t know him personally but it’s so nice to know, based on the posted comments, what a great person he was. May he finally rest in peace.

“(If you didn’t appreciate his work, you needn’t “lie” and claim him as your favourite artist - just pass on your sympathy and be done with it. Prefacing your condolences with “Oh, I wasn’t a fan but…” smells like trying to maintain some kind of online non-fanboy cred.)”

I was simply being honest, myself. I can’t say for anyone else.

Dave you are a d!ck. Enough already.

Rest in peace Mike, you were truly an inspiration.

“Reardon
June 30, 2008 at 12:42 pm

Dave you are a d!ck. Enough already.

Rest in peace Mike, you were truly an inspiration.”

agreed….