Mike Wierigno Passes Away

[the_ultimate_evil]

MIKE WIERIGNO PASSES AWAY

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.

http://www.newsarama.com/Chicago_07/Ringo.html


wow, the guy was a fantastic artist

 

[sinewave]

that sucks. rest in peace.

 

[Dangerous]

Holy crap that sucks. He was a talented guy, rest in peace.

 

[Artist_Chick]

oh my gosh.....this is some heavy news

R.I.P. buddy...

 

[FreeRadical]

I loved his art work in Robin, The Flash and Spider-man.

Rest in peace.

 

[GoldenAgeHero]

nOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. omg rip he drew one of the best spidey's ever.

 

[Johnny Blaze]

Wow, this is a major shock.

He was one of my favorite artists too. His run with Waid on FF was one of the best comic runs of the modern era. He will definitely be missed.

 

[SuperFerret]

Damn.

RIP Mike.

 

[DV8]

one of the best pencillers to ever come out of the 90's . . . . man, what a terrible waste he was so young

 

[imdaly]

This is horrible, horrible news.


R.I.P. 'Ringo

 

[J. J. Jameson]

HOLY CRAP! Ringo?! Not Ringo!! His Spidey art for Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was gorgeous.

Only 44...

Rest in peace, and best wishes to his family

 

[Lord Valumart]

damn that really sucks

his run on FF was what really got me to love the art RIP

 

[bunk]

I loved training boards stuff he did for Wizard. It was more useful than any other artists'.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

I never even met the guy, but i feel like i was just punched in the gut.

 

[Dew k. Mosi]

Wow, this is a major shock.

He was one of my favorite artists too. His run with Waid on FF was one of the best comic runs of the modern era. He will definitely be missed.

I completely agree. Sad.

 

[Ben Urich]

Wow, this is a major shock.

He was one of my favorite artists too. His run with Waid on FF was one of the best comic runs of the modern era. He will definitely be missed.

Quoted for truth.

 

[ermmm_no]

Man I loved his stuff on Robin, Batman and Superboy.

R.I.P Ringo.

 

[The Last Meatbag]

Not cool, RIP Mikey

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

That is sad,i hope he rests in peace.

 

[WalterKovacs]

he was the reason i ever got into fantastic four...

Rest in Peace, Mike. Your work inspires me to this day.

 

[K.B.]

This was the news that started my day, both shocking and sad.

Ringo was a great artist and a fav of mine and he will be missed.

 

[The Lizard]

Ringo was a pioneer of the "graffiti-style" art seen in superhero comics. I don't like some of the later artists that adopted it, but Wieringo's style was a good balance between realism and the manga-type exagerations.

RIP, Mike.

 

[PLAS]

RIP Mike

he was one of my favorite artists

 

[O'Haire]

Nothing but shocked when I read this yesterday. I enjoyed his weekly sketches in his blog and Deviant Art. He was always such a nice guy when he would post comments over at the Drawingboard forums.

RIP Mike.