Remembering Michael Turner
BY THE POLSKI SAMURAI I JULY 8, 2008
On June 27, 2008 comic book artist Michael Turner died from his long-term battle with cancer in Santa Monica Hospital, California at the age of 37. At the time of his death I was attending Wizard World Chicago observing the Top Cow and Aspen booths with Turner's works of Witchblade and Fathom being displayed by the gross. Unfortunately I missed the news until later that week. Turner was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, bone cancer, in 2000 which resulted in him loosing 40% of his pelvis. Even with plenty of treatment and radiation, the cancer still persisted which resulted in taking Turner's life.
Noticing how Turner exemplifies his human anatomy by utilizing small to large feathering techniques along with thick outlines of muscles definitions, I was always impressed how he brought his own style into comic books. Smooth outlines but ridged inside textures separated each character from one another but also contributed to the common structure. Turner made an impression on comics in his very short but influential career by delivering memorable imagery and unique poses.
Turner contributed to several comic book publishers such as Marvel, DC, Top Cow, and Image. His brief legacy quickly became recognized by fellow artists and fans alike. He started his own publishing company in 2003, Aspen MLT. Through Aspen, Turner and several other noteworthy artists collaborated with Marvel an DC and created new titles such as Fathom and Soulfire. Some of his covers stand alone as some of the most impacting issues at the turn of the century. On a personal note, one of my all-time favorite comic book covers was the variant issue of Civil War #3.
Some more of his notable works included the covers of:
Justice League of America
Civil War
Witchblade
Fathom
X-Men
Superman
Hulk
Many artists and writers in the industry had nothing but positive things to say about Turner. Every one of them were impressed by Turner's outlook on life even though the cancer was engulfing him. I came across a couple blogs and MySpace pages from these artist and one of them really stood out. Image founder and artist, Marc Silvestri, wrote an insightful blog about his friend and was nice to hear some words regarding a tough loss:
Marc Silvestri remembering Michael Turner
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