I learned earlier today that my friend Mike Wieringo died this weekend. Lots of folks who shop with us know Mike’s work. Over the years he was the penciller on lots of great comics, from the Flash, to Superman, to the Fantastic Four, to his and Todd Dezago’s creator owned fantasy series Tellos.

I can’t claim to have been as close a friend as others who have posted elsewhere online, but I wanted to share my thoughts of Mike, just to let folks know that we haven’t just lost a great comic artist, we’ve lost a truly kind, gentle, and wonderful man.

I met Mike when I was 19 or 20; I was working for Dan Breen, back when he owned the business and it was called the Second Foundation Bookstore. Mike came in with some of his studiomates, picked out some books, and came to the register. I noticed his name on his credit card, and was dumbstruck: Mike Wieringo was my favorite comic book artist, and I had no idea he was local! I introduced myself and stated that I loved his work, and played it pretty cool. I didn’t want to seem like too much of a fanboy.

Mike Wieringo with a fan at Free Comic Book Day in 2003.

Mike was great. He was kind, humble, and very appreciative of the fact that I was a fan. Having seen him interact with lots of people over the years, I know now that he would have been just as nice to me if I had gushed at him about his work.

Over the years, Mike was a consistent customer in the store, and I was a consistent fixture behind the register. Over the course of the fifteen years that I went from a part time summer clerk to the owner of the store, I always enjoyed talking to Mike every time I saw him in the store. Even if I was completely bogged down in orders or bookkeeping in the office, I always made a point to come out to see Mike if I heard his voice.

At some point I started to think of Mike more as a friend than a customer or colleague in the industry.

Mike reading a comic by Claude, one of our regular customers.

He was always fun to talk to: sometimes he’d hang out in the store for 45 minutes or an hour before mentioning that he needed to get back to his work. We talked about my plans for the store, his upcoming projects, our cats, the last season of Deadwood, all kinds of stuff.

He was very generous with his time: He did a couple of signings in the store despite his frequently crushing work schedule, and each time stayed longer than scheduled to meet the demand of fans who wanted signatures and sketches. We have a lot of customers who are young kids, and lots of them brought their own comics for Mike to read at the last signing we had. He read them all and was very encouraging and complementary to the kids who drew them.

He loved comics: Mike was maybe the most omnivorous comic reader I’ve ever encountered. We shared interests in several artists, and would both gush over them when a new book came out. Despite the fact that Mike was a comics professional, he never stopped being a fan.

He loved animals: If you looked at Mike’s personal work, you’d know this without ever speaking to him. He considered his cat Charlie his best friend. He was a vegetarian, and while his health was certainly a concern, part of the reason was that he simply loved animals too much to eat them.

He was the kindest, most gentle person I knew: I don’t know what more to say about this; it’s hard to pick an example because his kindness and friendliness were present in every single conversation I ever had with him.

I miss Mike.

Links (The high traffic volume is causing database errors at Newsarama and seems to have affected Mike’s site too, so try back later if you can’t get through now):

Newsarama Story: Mike Wieringo Passes Away.

Mike’s brother Matt will be posting updates at Mike’s website: MikeWieringo.com

Remembrance by Mike’s friends:
Mark Waid, Todd Dezago, and Karl Kesel
Scott Kurtz
Jeff Parker
Jamar Nicholas
A lot of folks loved Mike, so I’m sure I’m missing people here.

Mike and me.

Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics