Michael Turner (1971-2008)

With all the transitions I had been going through in the last year, I had been away from comics enough to not be aware of the goings on. After I settled in a small town in Texas with my new gig, I found a comic shop and caught up with the goings on only to find out some sad news. Michael Turner, creator of Fathom, one of the original pencilers of Witchblade and founder of Aspen comics which brought us Soulfire, has passed away from cancer.

I met him once at a convention when I was trying to get him to sign some of my comics that he had drawn. The thing about him that I remember is that he actually looked at me and talked to me. Usually those convetions are packed and when an artist does signings he just looks down at what he's signing, signs it and moves on to the next thing without even looking up. Not Turner. He looked at me, asked my name, shook my hand and talked to me. I remember talking to him about drawing. He told me that he could draw whatever he imagined in his head. He was a great talent and he had a style that redefined how superheroines should be drawn. I'm sad I won't see any more of his covers in my comic shop and I know I'll treasure the works of his I have.