I hardly ever read the newspaper anymore. Sometimes I skim and every now and then I get the urge to delve in. Today, Kay (Andyś Mom) and I were reading the New York times and a local Phoenix newspaper. After talking about the local art shows and joking about tools with SUVs paying 100 bucks to fill their gas tank, I put down the paper and started making breakfast. Kay kept reading.
¨Whoś this, only 37 and he died?" She asks. I barely comment.
¨Some Michael Turner.¨She continues.
¨Michael Turner, Michael Turner; that sounds familiar, I think I-"And then it hits me. She´s talking about Michael Turner, the comic book artist for Fathom, Witchblade, dozens of covers for Superman and Batman, Justice Leagues, Super Girl and so many more.
She´s talking about my idol.
I tore the paper right out of her hand. It was true, it was him. Mike Turner had died.
When I was 13, I used to draw from his comic books. Very early in my artistic ¨carreer¨, I found Turner, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to draw like he did, to get those provocative angles and beautiful curves, and the style, oh the style! I wanted to know how he came to seeing the world that way.
I´ve had very few teachers and fewer still who cared enough to actually teach me, but though he had no idea (and now never will), he had a profound effect on me as one of my earliest and longest standing teachers to date.
I´ve heard my parents and people my parents age talk about the days their idols died, about how it affected them, about how they cried, or yelled or fasted or fucked their idolyic homage to them. I never quite got it. I respected these people they were talking about and knew them well, but I didn´t get. Mike Turner´s death hit me like a ton of bricks. He had bone cancer. He died of a complication during treatment on June 27th. He´d been battling the bone cancer for eight years, producing stunning work the whole time, all while being upbeat. Thirty seven fucking years old. How the fuck does the Universe account for that?
When I look through comic books, I immediatly look for the writer and artist, and his name is what I´m always hoping for. If it was drawn by Mike Turner, you knew it was worth it. Hell, you recognize his covers out of the corner of your eye. Thereś no mistaking Turner.
I never quickly read through a comic drawn by Mike Turner. I always linger on the pages, re read his frames and try to memorize the images as best I can, hoping I´ll take something from it.
I´m not an accomplished artist yet, not really. I´ve had my shows and my jobs and all that, but I´m not there yet and I have miles to go. So if you´re reading this, and aren´t familiar with Mike Turner(and if you are), don´t take my art as a reflection of his work. I´m nothing like him and I have none of the precisions that he´s mastered. I am however a loyal fan, someone whose anticipated his covers and kept his comics, one whose respected and envied his work. I´m someone who...well shit, I´m someone who´s mourning their idol today. I think this is the first.
Of Michael Turner, I can say he was one of the greats in the fields. His work in Identity Crisis was masterful, as were all of his pieces. His covers struck you and his frames kept you in the book´s own little world. I just can´t believe that there won´t be any new Turner comics in the future, no new editions, no new covers, no new frames. Granted, he´s done a lot of work, but I just can´t believe that the comic book world has lost Turner.
You truly will be missed.
Here are some links about his death that you might like to read:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-turner4-2008jul04,0,449513.story
http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/06/28/rip-michael-turner/
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16993
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-turner4-2008jul04,0,449513.story?track=rss
More importantly, take a look at the website for his comic book company, Aspen Comics. You can see some of his work there and see what the hell it is I´m talking about.
http://www.aspencomics.com/
