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Very sad news being reported at Newsarama: Veteran artist Mike Wieringo died yesterday of a sudden heart attack at the age of 44.

Known as “Ringo” by his friends, Wieringo was probably best known for his run on FANTASTIC FOUR with Mark Waid, but was a much in-demand penciller as well as a much loved industry figure. REcent works included FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN and SPIDER-MAN AND THE FANTASTIC FOUR.

He also maintained a blog where only days ago he posted pencils from TELLOS, his Image series created with Todd DeZago which he was hoping to return to at some point.

Our own dealings with Wieringo were sadly few but always warm — those who knew him always spoke of him with fondness, and our sincere condolences go out to his family and friends.

UPDATE” In addition to the Newsarama thread linked to above, remembrances from collaborators Todd Dezago, Mark Waid and Karl Kesel are now up here.  I wish I had known him better, but I can hoenstly say I never heard a bad word about ‘Ringo, and I can’t begin to imagine the loss those who were close to him are experiencing. It is a sad day for the whole comics world.

1 COMMENT

  2. This is…I really loved Mike’s work, and his blog was a daily stop for me. My thoughts go out to those who knew and loved him.

  7. Very sad news, his blog always gave me a big smile – what a talent! I will remember him from one of his final posts, ” In the mean time… I’ll keep sketching.”

  10. Damn, I am sorry to hear this. I had the privilege of meeting ‘Ringo at Heroes Con and telling him how much I loved his work — especially his and Mark Waid’s run on the Flash, one of my favorite series of my 40 years reading comics.
    Very sad.

  14. I totally agree on this. Such a sad loss. Mike was a true talent in this industry, and no one ever had a bad thing to say about him. I always loved seeing his work because it had such an energetic feel to it, and it showed how much he truly enjoyed his work.

  16. It’s true that Mike was a real talent with a real style that he could call his own. Most important is that Mike was a real nice person. He was always glad to see you at a show, he always made time to talk to the fans of his work and he really cared about others.

    Comics were the common bond that tied us all to Mike. There’s good in comics and Mike was proof of that.

  17. I got to know Mike when we both lived in Richmond. He really was a top-notch guy and I honestly never met anyone professionally or personally who had a bad word to say about him. It’s simply stunning and disheartening that someone we expected to be around for decade more and to run into at cons is simply gone so suddenly.

  19. I woke up Monday morning to stumble into my studio with a cup of coffee and answer emails while waking up. The first one was from Tim Townsend, and it carried the report from Newsarama: “The comics industry lost a luminary this weekend – Mike Wieringo passed away Sunday of a sudden heart attack.” I was stunned. Unbelievable. It felt wrong somehow, like I was still half asleep or hadn’t read the news correctly. He was only 44.

    I had only known Mike through emails and conventions, but he was an inspiration to all of us in comics and the kindest person to talk to. His personality shown through in his art; innocent and playful, dynamic and heroic, passionate and stylized in such a way as to make it all look effortless. So much so, he posted a sketch a day on his blog. A sketch a day! He inspired me to do the same. I lasted maybe three days. He loved what he did, and it showed through in everything that he did. His drawing looked fun.

    I was lucky enough to ink him on one occasion, on this Batman and Robin commission. I posted it here http://sowhatsothere.blogspot.com/ I don’t really have time to ink comics much any more, but when I was asked “wanna ink Ringo?” I jumped. Of course I did! And I’m glad I did. I got the chance to touch a piece of his art, one page in a huge body of work that has touched us all. Thanks Mike. You were one of the best.

    Someone once said of Mike, “he draws like we all wish we could draw.” That sums it up perfectly for me. The only consolation is the work he left behind. It’s bound to continue to inspire artists and amaze children for generations to come.

  20. Man, what a blow…… He was an awesome artist and just a super sweet, encouraging, nice guy. I’m by no means claiming I knew him all that well, but the first time I met him was at a con in Philly a few years ago, and we spent a good deal of time at dinners that weekend. And in one particular case, the first dinner we went out with friends, and he sat across from me, bald, white, red goatee, earrings, boots with flames, metal, and buckles, and our pal Jamar Nicholas, black, dreads and one of his colorful trademark button down short sleeve shirts (if I recall). He had no idea that Jamar and I were good pals as I think he had just met Jamar for the first time that weekend as well. For him as a spectator, it was like north meets the south in the 50’s as Jamar and I looked the farthest from friends as you could imagine (but it was at a comic convention, so go figure!), and he was speechless as we poked fun at obvious stereotypes on both ends of the spectrum that would raise an eyebrow if you weren’t in on the joke. But it speaks to how sweet a person he really was that he was that shocked. Well, that and his clear love of animals, and especially his cats. We all had a laugh when we told him were pulling his leg and we really liked each other. And he and Jamar forged a great friendship after that.

    He and I shared what we were working on from time to time, and probably the coolest thing he had done for me personally besides going out of his way to comment on my work (good and bad) as sort of a wink and a nod was to throw me into a scene in the Fantastic 4. I don’t recall the issue number, but it was early on in his run, and The Thing was in a movie theater dealing with a bald loud mouth jerk. I was that loudmouth jerk!

    Anyway, I know there are people hurting way worse than I am with their own words for him, but I just wanted to share some stories. He was a great person, and deserves to be remembered as such.

  21. I don’t know that I’ve cursed a longer, bluer, more bitter streak than I did upon learning this news. So much of what passes for art in the mainstream nowadays leaves me completely cold, but Wieringo’s never did. I looked forward to decades more of his work, and held a secret hope that one day he might illustrate something I wrote. I hope the rest of the industry, rather than allowing this void to fester, instead steps up their game to compensate; that would be the finest tribute they could offer to one of their brightest shining lights.

  23. I will miss seeing a new sketch from ‘Ringo everyday. He was my favorite artist and I’ve always wanted to draw just like him. He is a huge influence to me. My deepest condolences and prayers to his family and friends.