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Posted by:

brandon_destefano

Date:

June 30th, 2008 2:46 PM

Header:

Goodbye Michael Turner...

Bulletin:

Although this may not be the best forum for expressing my grief over the passing of an amazing artist and person, I really have no other place to do it...

It's been three days since I heard the terrible news that Michael Turner lost his battle with cancer and I am still in utter shock regarding it. I received a call from a friend to inform me of the what happened and upon hearing I found myself at a loss for words. I hadn't seen Mike since the Baltimore Comic-Con of 2006 and had heard that complications from his cancer had returned to plague him, but I had never though it possible for it to overtake him. I may have been deluding myself -- this horrible affliction seems to win more often than not -- but truly believed that he would triumph over it again and return stronger than ever.

I would not presume to say that we were friends -- I'd never been to his home in LA, hung out at a birthday celebration, or even talked to him on a regular basis -- but every time that I did see him, he always called me by name and asked how everything was going. Some of my fondest con memories were of times sharing a beer and laugh over a game of pool in the hotel bar at the Pittsburgh Comic-con and at Wizard World Chicago, where Mike came out from behind to the Aspen Booth (where perhaps 100 people were waiting for an autograph) to say hello and pick up my sketch book to give me a sketch later that evening before returning to sign for is adoring fans.

His art inspired me to seek out a career in comics and his kindness inspired me to continue to pushing forward in the face of adversity. He truly was an amazing artist and he is one of the few who actually define the word "superstar." In is my sincere belief that he is upstairs now, painting the heavens for all of us.

Goodbye Michael Turner, you will truly be missed...

PS. F*CK CANCER!

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