Aug 25, 2007
Travelblogue

   I had full preparations last week to post my post WizardWorld Chicago Convention pics and regale you with my triumphant trip the weekend of August 10-12, but something unexpected cut my legs out from under me.

   That something was the untimely passing of Mike Wieringo. I read the press releases, and the tributes, and thought I could absorb it and go on with whatever work I was doing. After all, I can't claim to have known him aside from one brief hello at one convention or another. However, the following two days, I'd found myself having a difficult time accomplishing anything.
Talking to some other freelancers last week, I found that I wasn't the only one.

   Forty-four years young with the talent to continue creating more artistic magic for decades to come. Brought to a halt by something as arbitrary and ordinary as a heart attack. In Freelancerville, we don't get many reality checks like this one.

   I first remember 'Ringo's art from the now-defunct Malibu superhero comic Solitaire. He'd done a cover that was a grabber even so early in his comics career in the early '90's. Later, I'd picked up his run with The Flash, no pun intended, with future superstar scribe Mark Waid taking a secondary character and putting him front and center in the DC Universe. I'll admit I don't buy every comic by every artist I admire, as ours is a somewhat expensive habit, comic collecting. With 'Ringo's amazing productivity, creativity, and especially his adaptabilty, it would be inevitable to run into his work again and again over the years.

   Jump ahead to 2003. He and Waid reunited to take on The Fantastic Four, a title I've always had a soft spot for. Unfortunately, for me, the timing was such that Crossgen i/e Corporate Comics (why have all your characters wear a company logo?) had run out of money and squeaked by through layoffs, pay reductions, etc. which left a lot of us artists low on funds. I could at least afford the introductory Waid/Wieringo nine cent issue. It would be rough waters for a lot of us returning to the freelance pool, as we had to compete with not only each other, but all the newbies who stepped in our shoes.

   Anyway, I'm dredging up old crap that's best left alone. Fact is, I didn't buy comics for a few months, but my cousin, who shares my tastes, started raving about the Fantastic Four comic, particularly when Ben Grimm dies, goes to Heaven (?) to meet his creator who remarkably resembles Jack Kirby. Well, I had thought: "I'll wait for the trade since I missed so many issues already". But the day I went to the comics shop, I couldn't resist picking up the latest FF to get reacquainted with old friends. From then on, Waid and Wieringo had me hooked! Although Waid had put a lot of his energy into the FF, reinventing himself after his own personal Crossgen debacle, 'Ringo added countless touches of warmth and sensitivity to the figures, faces and settings, even amongst dangerous situations, daring to emphasize the family aspect of the FF in this age of "Badass-ness". When their second year had begun, they did something I thought impossible: They surpassed John Byrne's legendary run, making it "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine" once again, for the first time since Stan & Jack!

   When saddled with a previous writer's plot device, a lot of creators tend to shed said device soon as possible. Not this time. The plot device? Reed and Sue now had a time/dimension-displaced daughter Valeria, midwifed by Chris Claremont. I have to admit I hatedhatedhated the idea of inserting a second child into the title through comic book 'magic', particularly with Claremont going back to the well of creating characters through time displacement, a favorite hook of his.

   But with a few graceful pencil lines, Mike Wieringo made Valeria both a lovable and legitimate character! Thanks, Mike! And thanks for all you've given us in these short years! Wherever you are, I hope your at peace.

   Now for some fun...
 
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