RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Mike Wieringo dies from sudden heart attack

The comics industry lost a luminary this weekend - Mike Wieringo passed away Sunday of a sudden heart attack. Details are still sketchy as of this time, but according to close sources, the acclaimed artist had chest pains at some point during the day and called 911, but the responders did not make it in time.

Wieringo was 44 years old. He was a vegetarian, and "one of the healthiest ones of us in the bunch," as his longtime friend and collaborator Todd Dezago described him. Currently, there are no details about services or a funeral.

Wieringo worked every day, updating his blog and website with a constant stream of sketches at MikeWieringo.com. His last sketch was posted on Friday.



Today's sketch is a return to the world of TELLOS and the two main characters of that story and realm, KOJ and JAREK. I've been doing quite a few sketches of the characters from the book lately as regular visitors to this site know… and that's for a reason. Todd and I have been hoping to have a BALTIMORE COMICON exclusive…. something… to offer this year for the show. We had been talking about having an original prose story written by Todd with spot illustrations by me- but time is growing so short and there would be so much design work to be done for the story before I could create the illos that I think that's going to have to be shelved as an idea. My Marvel work makes that close to impossible at this point. So I'm thinking that an exclusive sketchbook that we would offer for sale at the show may be the way we have to go. With that in mind, I worked up today's sketch of 'the boys'. We're also hoping to have copies of the TELLOS COLOSSAL HARDCOVER with us in Baltimore… but I'm beginning to wonder if that will even be a possibility. I've been checking the Diamond shipping lists, and I was assuming that the book would be shipping on the 15th since that's the date offered for availability from AMAZON.COM… but it's not on Diamond's list. Perhaps the 22nd will be the date… I hope.
So… plans are still up in the air at this point.

In the mean time… I'll keep sketching. For now, though- it's back to work.

This is Entry 411.

Mike

Wieringo was born June 24th, 1963 in Venice, Italy, and first caught the attention of comic book fans when he joined writer Mark Waid on DC's The Flash with issue #80 in 1993. Together, the two co-created the character Impulse, the future speedster brought back to the present. Wieringo (or, 'Ringo as he was better known by then) moved on to Robin at DC, and then moved to Marvel, where he settled in on Sensational Spider-Man with writer Todd DeZago.
The pairing with DeZago was something of fate, as the two co-created and launched their creator-owned property Tellos, which saw several projects and miniseries published over the years. Ringo moved back to DC for a run on Adventures of Superman, and then, in 2002, reunited with Waid for a run on Fantastic Four that was perhaps best known for fan outcry when Marvel announced that they were going to replace the team. Marvel quickly reversed their decision, and the two completed their run on the series.

Ringo then moved to Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man with writer Peter David, and most recently, completed a Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four miniseries written by Jeff Parker. His next project had not been announced, although, as readers of his blog knew, he was very excited at the prospect of doing more Tellos work, with an eye on being able to debut something at next month's Baltimore Comic-Con.

Mike was a regular face at East Coast conventions for years, and was known to both fans and pros as one of the friendliest, and most approachable guys in comics. Heck, he was, I think, the first "pro" I ever met, back when he had just started drawing Flash. I remember asking him for a sketch at a small convention in High Point, North Carolina, he said, "Sure - what of?" And I told him it had to be the Flash - but not with the mask on, with the mask pulled back, showing Wally West. Mike looked thoughtful for a few minutes, gave me a look, and got to drawing. A few minutes later, he gave me the sketch (still framed and in my office) and I thanked him. It wasn't until later that my wife pointed out that he'd drawn me in the mask, instead of Wally. That's the kind of cool guy Mike was. And with the North Carolina comics community being pretty tight-knit, Mike and I got to be pretty good friends after that. He was a great friend, and a friend of the site - all too happy to help out years back when Mike Doran and I needed headshots for the then-version of Newsarama. We looked a little dorky, but I think that was Mike making a little joke that included all of us.

He loved what he did.

Matt Brady

ps - I see we're getting some database errors from the traffic with this news. Heh - it was the news of Mark and Mike being kicked off of the Fantastic Four that melted down our server when it happened a few years back. Mike was the most humble guy you'd ever meet, but I think he's at least getting a smile out of that.

oh shit, thats terrible

he's good people. and one of my favorite comic artists.

That's a shame. I was not a big fan, mostly because I thought he often got assigned to books that his style was wrong for (see, e.g., FF). But he definitely had talent and, on the right book (ex: Spider-man) he turned in some great art.

And it just goes to show that when your number's up, its up. He lived a very healthy life to die so relatively young.

His Flash rawked. I wish he'd stayed longer.

I picked up the first Tellos trade for his art, and while the plot didn't captivate me enough to buy the following books, it still looked awesome. Same with what I've seen of his FF... G-man only dislikes it because he has no soul.

He was a vegetarian, and "one of the healthiest ones of us in the bunch,"

Those two dont go together!

Newsarama: So, guys, it's been more than three months since the passing of your dear friend and collaborator Mike Wieringo. While the three of you had had your thoughts posted about Mike days after his death, what brought about this special tribute project in February's Spider-Man Family #7?

Todd Dezago: From my understanding of it, it was Nate (Cosby, Editor Extraordinaire and Keeper of Spider-Man Family). Having worked with Mike several times himself, Nate felt that Spider-Man Family would be the perfect place for a tribute type of story that, rather than a sad and mournful tale, would, like Mike himself, be more fun and upbeat; a light-hearted kinda yarn. Not knowing me (at the time... we've met since then), Nate sicced these two monkeys on me.

NRAMA: Will it contain stories that you guys and Mike had talked about, pitched to Marvel before, what? After all, Mark and Mike had earlier pitched an Aquaman project which was turned down by DC, right?

TD: Well, sadly Aquaman will not be in it. But it will be crammed with guest stars and cameos from all over the Marvel Universe! This story actually is something that Mike and I had hoped to do, at some point, as a miniseries, when we would reminisce about our days on Sensational Spider-Man. Both of us were fairly nostalgic jerks and Mike longed to draw all of those colorful characters again. When the idea for this project came up, Karl, Mark and I thought that it would be a great way to revisit the characters that Mike loved to draw in Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four in a wild romp led by one of Mike's favorite characters--The Looter!

NRAMA: Taking a trip down memory lane and reminiscence about works that you'd each done with Mike, shall we? Mike first gained prominence working with Mark on DC's The Flash (Vol. 2) and even co-created Bart Allen aka Impulse with you in The Flash (Vol. 2) #91. Looking back, what struck you the most about his work back then?

Mark Waid: It’s exuberance. It’s joy. The fact that Mike could flat-out tell a story without cheating the reader or resorting to pin-ups and clumsy dialogue to convey what was going on. Mike redefined the way comics showed characters like the Flash.

NRAMA: This was before Kingdom Come with Alex Ross, Empire with Barry Kitson, Superman: Birthright with Leinil Yu, Legion of Super-Heroes again with Barry, and 52 with various other artists. Did working with Mike change the way you write as a storyteller? Obviously the two of you clicked well enough for you and him to do Fantastic Four years later…

MW: ...and I wouldn't have touched that book with a ten-foot pole if not for him. The magic of working with Mike--and I'm sure I speak for all of us--was in his fearlessness, in the delight he took in drawing things he'd never drawn before. Teaming with Mike always meant that I could swing for the fences as a writer, month in and month out, with complete confidence that he'd raise the level of the game.

NRAMA: Speaking of FF, what brought about this partnership again after all those years?

MW: Editor Tom Brevoort. I wasn't really interested in the assignment--too intimidated, too distant from the characters--until Tom said that he's signed Mike. I'd have worked with Mike on anything.

NRAMA: Did you learn anything from him this time around?

MW: Among other things, that he made the characters human. That they were expressive and vibrant in a way they hadn't been in a long time.

NRAMA: Todd, as mentioned, you and Mike teamed up on Sensational Spider-Man in the mid-90s. What did you find so engaging about working with him back then to eventually move on to co-create your and Mike's fantasy epic, Tellos?

TD: From our first phone conversation back in '95 over what we were going to do in Sensational Spider-Man, Mike and I just clicked. We had similar upbringings, similar lives. We had many of the same interests, aspirations, and sensibilities about what we wanted to do with our stories, the kinds of stories we wanted to tell, the fun and fantasy we wanted to bring back to comics.

NRAMA: Karl, both you and Mike first worked together on Spider-Boy, part of the first wave of Marvel/DC crossover event called Amalgam. According to Marvel’s Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, Mike wasn't the first choice for the project as it would have gone to Humberto Ramos if he had not turned down the assignment. For you, what was it about Mike that made you want to write for him and ink over his work?

Karl Kesel: To start with: this is the first I’ve ever heard Humberto’s name mentioned in relationship with Spider-Boy. I love Humberto’s work (one of his first jobs with [me was] on a Superboy fill-in that I wrote), and I’m sure he would have done an amazing job, but I never knew that he had been offered the job before Mike was. I’m sure he was offered the job, I’m just saying that no one ever told me!

To my mind, Mike was the obvious choice for Spider-Boy because of the energy and optimism in his work. Of course I’d seen (and fallen in love with) his work on Flash, but actually working with him was a revelation. That story was crammed with characters and in-jokes, panel after crowded panel, and Mike hit it out of the park every single time. That book was actually a big turning point for me. I had so damn much fun on that book that it made me determined to have that much fun on all my assignments. It really crystalize for me what kind of comics I wanted to do. And Mike’s work on that book was a huge part of that epiphany.

NRAMA: As you developed your own sense of storytelling and pacing, you once said that no one influenced you more than Mike. And you've inked his work more than any others in the business. How much have you learnt from him?

KK: I can’t begin to count the ways. Probably the most obvious is how I lay out panels on a page— the way I overlap them or not is something I learned/stole directly from Mike. His storytelling is always so clear and understandable— something that’s a dying art in this business, sadly-- and at the same time very dynamic and visually interesting. Plus, his characters are constantly engaging and alive-- people you want to spend time with! I try to incorporate all of that into my own work. Not as well as Mike did, of course, but I’m hoping after inking hundreds and hundreds of his pages, something rubbed off.

NRAMA: What was it about him and his work that made Fantastic Four such a fan favorite and critically-praised title at that time?

KK: In my opinion, one of the reasons FF was such a stellar title at the time was that Mark, Mike and I all constantly impose impossibly high standards on ourselves. Mark and Mike aim high and always deliver, and I just tried to keep pace and not drop the ball. (Is that enough mixed metaphors for you?)

As for Mike’s contribution to FF, in particular: he was amazingly good at capturing a sense of wonder in his work, of being able to present things so that the characters (and by extension, the readers) saw things-- if not for the first time, as if they were seeing it for the first time. That sense of wonder is core to the FF, and it gets lost or forgotten far too often.

NRAMA: In your eulogy, you said that your last conversation with Mike touched on the topic about Mike's style, which was ""The Look" that all editors wanted to give their characters, but somehow, suddenly, that had changed." Nevertheless, you gave it a thought after that and had decided to tell Mike the next time the both of you talked that his art was about "hope, not hopelessness." How are you portraying this "hope" through your art in the story that you, Todd and Mark are telling in SMF #7?

KK: All I can say is that I think Mike and I enjoyed working together because we had some very similar, basic views of what good comics are, and at the core of that is the belief that no matter how dark the journey, there needs to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Comics should be something that make you want to jump out of bed every morning filled with the sense of life’s possibilities, not something that makes you want to pull the covers over your head in despair and dread. All of which is a long-winded way of saying that while I’m not trying to copy Mike’s style in any conscious way, I believe our common outlook gives our mutual styles a certain kind of connection. And I’d like to think a sense of hope is a big part of that connection.

NRAMA: Wrapping things up, guys, what can fans and readers look forward to in Spider-Man Family #7? Do you think Mike would have been proud if he were able to read it?

MW: I sure hope so. I'll say this--he certainly would have appreciated and been touched by how much love has gone into this story, and what I've given to it can't hold a candle to the talent that Todd and Karl have infused in every page. I'm lucky to have worked with Mike, but I'm just as lucky to be allowed to stand in the company of his friends.

KK: I think Mike would have been very proud of his friends for putting this comic together, but even more, I think, he would have been insanely jealous because he would have wanted to draw it! It’s the sort of fast-moving, fun story that he loved. And when he got to draw stories like this you could see his joy in every line in every panel.

TD: I think Mike would laugh and laugh. And he woulda been very happy that this was a fun, funny, and just plain old-school entertaining kind of story—a wild ride of a comic book that you get on for awhile and then share with your friends. That's what comics should be...!

Wha? Completely missed this at Newsarama. Thanks for posting it.