I'm back from Wizard World Chicago! I had a great time at the show. It was my first time in Chicago or more accurately Rosemont, IL. I had my first taste of legitimate Chicago style deep dish pizza at Giordano's (twice!) and a couple of great meals at Gibson's and Red Light. I even made it downtown a couple of times and saw some of the Chicago landmarks. Dark Knight Returns and Wanted were both filming in town this past weekend and D managed to get a few pictures of the Dark Knight filming during a boat tour of the city.
On a much sadder note, I just learned that artist Mike Wieringo died on Sunday from an apparent heart attack. He was only forty four years old and by all accounts exercised regularly & ate healthy. Mike was one of the first pro comic artist I met as a young fan in a tiny hotel show in Roanoke, VA and gave me my first con sketch. His was the first piece of original art I purchased. Mike was ALWAYS one of the nicest, most humble creators at any show. He handled himself with dignity, an open kindness, and had an obvious love of comics. His sketch blog produced pieces that were more beautiful and fun than many finished works. In many ways he was one of the guys that inspired me to pursue a career in comics. I know I wasn't the only one he inspired.
Some of Mike's friends wrote much more eloquently than I what he meant to the world and you can read their words here, here, here, here, and here. In looking at Newsarama, I can't think Mike would have been genuinely surprised to see he prompted 27 pages and over 600 response posts. None of the rest of us are surprised in the least. My heartfelt and inadequate condolences to his family and loved ones. You will be missed, sir.
1 comment:
Filip - Glad you had fun in the nois that is ill, and it was great getting to meet you at the convention. Hopefully I'll get to talk to you about the business a bit more in the future, but mainly I wanted to say thanks for your time.
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