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Michael Turner
Born April 21, 1971(1971-04-21)
Crossville, Tennessee
Died June 27, 2008 (aged 37)
Santa Monica Hospital, California
Nationality American
Area(s) Penciller, inker, writer, publisher
Notable works Fathom
Witchblade

Michael Layne Turner[1](April 21, 1971 – June 27, 2008)[2] was an American comic book artist born in Crossville, Tennessee and primarily known for his work on Witchblade, Fathom, Superman/Batman, and various covers for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was also the president of the entertainment company Aspen MLT.[3]

Contents

Biography

Michael Turner was a pre-medicine student at the University of Tennessee.[4] Shortly before graduating, he moved to Aspen, Colorado,citation needed then to San Diego California, where he taught martial arts.citation needed It was in San Diego that he developed an interest in comics.[4]

Turner was discovered by Marc Silvestri at a convention, and hired by Silvestri's Top Cow Productions as an artist.[3] He initially did background illustrations for Top Cow titles before co-creating Witchblade. In the summer of 1998 he debuted the creator-owned Fathom, having also worked on his new series Soulfire. As well as an artist, Turner was an award-winning water skier, held an instructor level red sash in martial arts, and was an avid video game player. In March 2000, Turner was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, a form of cancer, in the right pelvis. He was treated at UCLA Medical Center with surgery in which he lost a hip, 40% of his pelvis, and three pounds of bone. The surgery was followed by nine months of radiation therapy.

Turner departed Top Cow in late 2002 to found his own comic book publishing company, Aspen MLT Inc. (where MLT stands for Michael Layne Turner), located in Santa Monica, with a studio in Marina del Rey, California. The release of comics from Aspen was delayed by a year-long lawsuit with Top Cow Productions over the rights to Fathom, and over the rights to the unreleased titles Soulfire (initially called Dragonfly) and Ekos, both of which Turner had begun development on before leaving Top Cow and before his diagnosis of cancer. Aspen and Top Cow settled the lawsuit out of court in 2003.

In 2004 Turner contributed covers to various DC Comics titles, including The Flash and Identity Crisis. He also provided cover art and co-wrote the "Godfall" story arc that ran in the three main Superman titles in early 2004. He also illustrated the six-issue "Supergirl from Krypton" story arc in Superman/Batman.[4] His creator-owned title Soulfire also began publication in 2004, and Fathom resumed publication in that year as well, though this time with Aspen MLT rather than Top Cow.

On August 6, 2005, Marvel Comics announced the signing of Michael Turner to a work-for-hire deal for a six-issue project and covers. This would turn out to be at least the variant covers for the miniseries Civil War and the new Wolverine ongoing series Wolverine: Origins.[4] In addition Turner had been announced as the artist on Ultimate Wolverine.

He created online comic adaptations for the NBC television series "Heroes".[5]

Death and tribute

Turner died June 27, 2008 at the Santa Monica Hospital in California, of complications from bone cancer.[2] He is survived by his mother Grace Crick, his brother Jake Turner, and his fiancee Kelly Carmichael.[1] Fathom (Vol. 3) #1, which was published on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, featured a tribute to Turner in the form of a stylized blue ribbon in the upper right hand corner of its cover, and its first page was a memorial to him, including a photograph of him at his drawing board.[6]

Bibliography

Full Issues

Covers

Variant incentive cover for Justice League of America #12.
Variant incentive cover for Justice League of America #12.

DC Comics

  • Teen Titans #1 variant cover (DC Comics, July/2003). Two covers were published for this issue in a 50/50 split. The Turner cover was also later used for the first trade paperback of the series.
  • Action Comics #812-813, Adventures of Superman #625-626 & Superman #202-203 (DC Comics, January-February/2004). 6-part story arc "Godfall" running for two months in the three main series of Superman, with covers and script (co-written with Joe Kelly) of Turner. The art (pencils, inks and colors) of the six issues were handled by other artists of Aspen MLT.
  • Superman #205 (DC Comics, 2004). Variant cover for the second issue of the For Tomorrow story arc in this series. Jim Lee, the story's artist, also drew one variant cover for an issue of the Turner story arc in Superman/Batman (in addition to his duties as regular artist for the Supergirl story).
  • Identity Crisis #1-7 (DC Comics, 2004). Turner drew all covers for this series.
  • The Flash #207-211 (DC Comics, 2004). Turner drew five covers for this series written by Geoff Johns, who also works in a creator-owned project with him, the series Ekos.
  • Wildstorm Winter Special (DC/Wildstorm, November/2004). Cover with the characters Zealot, Apollo, Midnighter, Jack Hawksmoor and Deathblow.
  • Supergirl #1-3, 5 (DC Comics, 2005). Turner drew variant covers for the first issue of this new series, featuring the Kara Zor-El Supergirl's return to continuity in his Superman/Batman story arc.
  • Justice League of America #0-12 (DC Comics, 2006-2007). Turner drew various covers, shifting between regular and variants, for the first thirteen issues of the series.
  • Superman/Batman #8-13,26 (DC Comics, 2004/2006). Turner drew a first and second print for #8 as well as a variant for #8. He drew one of two covers for #10, the other being drawn by Jim Lee. He drew two covers for #13. He drew both covers for #26, the issue dedicated to the passing of Jeph Loeb's son Sam.

Marvel Comics

  • Wolverine: Origins #1 variant cover (Marvel Comics, 2006). The "regular" cover of this issue was done by Joe Quesada.
  • Civil War #1-7 (Marvel Comics, 2006-2007). Each issue of the miniseries has three covers, one "regular cover" by series penciller Steve McNiven, one "variant cover" by Turner, and one "sketch variant cover" by Turner.
  • Civil War #1 "Aspen Comics exclusive variant cover" (Marvel Comics 2006). Turner also did another cover featuring Iron Man, Captain America, and Wolverine printed as an Aspen Exclusive Variant, much like Civil War: X-Men #1.
  • Black Panther #18, & Ms. Marvel #1 (Marvel, 2006). Turner drew variant covers for these two comic-books, that had both regular covers drawn by Frank Cho.
  • Ultimate X-Men #75 (Marvel Comics, 2006) To introduce Ultimate Cable in 2006, Marvel commissioned Turner to the cover for the first book of the story line.
  • Incredible Hulk #100 (Marvel Comics, 2006) Turner drew a "green hulk" variant as well as a "gray hulk" variant for this issue.
  • Onslaught Reborn #1 (Marvel Comics, 2006) Turner drew a "B" cover with Rob Liefeld drawing the "A" cover for this issue.
  • Black Panther #23 (Marvel Comics, 2006) Currently Turner worked on covers for the Black Panther tie in to the Civil War, starting with #23
  • Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #1-5 (Marvel Comics, 2007) Turner drew the variant covers for this entire series in a 50/50 split with the various artists of the individual issues.Leinil Yu, Ed McGuinness, John Romita, Jr., David Finch, and John Cassaday respectively.
  • Ultimate Wolverine Turner was set to pencil the covers and interior art for this series, written by Jeph Loeb
  • Sub-Mariner #1 and #5 Turner draws the regular cover for these issues.
  • World War Hulk Turner drew an Aspen Comics exclusive variant cover for the first issue available at AspenComics.com
  • Hulk #1 (Marvel Comics, 2008) Turner drew a "RED" variant cover for the first issue that was only available to advance ticket holders of Wizard Magazine's 2008 Wizard World Comic Convention in Los Angeles, CA.
  • Uncanny X-Men #500 (Marvel Comics, 2008) With Greg Land and Alex Ross providing 50/50 variants, Turner drew a chase variant cover featuring some of the most notable male members of the mutant team for this milestone issue, while Terry Dodson utilized female members for his variant.[3]

Image/Top Cow

  • The Darkness #7 variant cover (Image/Top Cow, 1997).
  • The Darkness #11 variant cover (Image/Top Cow, 1997). Part of the Witchblade/Darkness family ties crossover. 11 Variant covers by various artist including Michael Turner.
  • Witchblade #27 variant cover (Image/Top Cow, 1997).
  • Witchblade #50 variant cover (Image/Top Cow, 2000).
  • Witchblade #86 variant cover(s), Jay Co Convention Color Exclusive, Limited to 500. Also, Jay Co Convention Sketch Exclusive. Limited to 500. (Image/Top Cow, 2004).
  • Witchblade #100 variant cover(s), Michael Turner & Keu Cha Cover, Wizard World Chicago 2006 Gold Foil Edition. Limited to 750., Wizard World Chicago 2006 Blue Foil Edition. Limited to 375., Wizard World Chicago 2006 VIP Edition. Limited to 1,000., and Fantastic Realm RRP Edition. Limited to 250. (Image/Top Cow, 2005).
  • Witchblade #103 Michael Turner Cover, and Michael Turner Sketch Incentive Cover. Limited to 1 in 3.(Image/Top Cow, 2005).

Notes

  1. ^ a b Nelson, Valerie J.; "Comic-book artist Michael Turner dies at 37"; Los Angeles Times July 4, 2008
  2. ^ a b Gustines, George Gene. "Michael Turner, 37, Creator of Superheroines, Is Dead", The New York Times, 6 July 2008
  3. ^ a b c "Comic book artist Michael Turner dies at 37", Associated Press (2008-07-04). 
  4. ^ a b c d Nelson, Valerie J. (2008-07-04). "'Popular and influential' comic book artist; Published the best-selling 'Fathom'", Chicago Tribune. 
  5. ^ AP, June 5, 2008, "Comic book artist Michael Turner dies at 37"
  6. ^ Fathom (Volume 3) #1; September 2008

References

  • Jim McLauchlin, "Up from the Depths", Wizard Magazine #112
  • "Playin' It Cool", interview with Michael Turner, Wizard Magazine #115

External links
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