Michael Turner Dies

Michael Turner, one of the best comic-book artists of my generation, died last night after a long battle with cancer. He was 37.

I played poker with Mike after one of Jim Lee’s Comic Con parties many years back. I knew of him from his incredible work on Witchblade back then, and I watched as he left Top Cow and formed his own company, Aspen Comics, after that.

He was an incredible athlete, and I winced when I learned he’d contracted cancer in his pelvis back in 2000. When I saw him a couple years later, though, he looked wonderful, and I’d hoped he’d beaten it. It kept coming back though.

He was always a great guy with an easy way and a wide smile, and he fought long and hard against the cancer that ultimately took his life. It’s a shame he won’t be with us longer, and we’ll all be poorer for that.