Mike Wieringo


Michael Lance Wieringo, who sometimes signed his work under the name Ringo, was an American comics artist best known for his work on DC Comics' The Flash, Marvel Comics' Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, as well as his own creator-owned series, Tellos. In 2017, the Ringo Award was created in honor of Wieringo. It is presented at the Baltimore Comic-Con to recognize achievement in the comics industry.

Early life

Michael Lance Wieringo was born in Vicenza, Italy, on June 24, 1963 to Cecil E. and Shirley Dean Wieringo, who live in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has a brother named Matt.
Wieringo became interested in comics through his father, who was an avid reader. Wieringo began drawing comics when he was 11. He studied fashion illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University, though he began to consider drawing comics as a profession, and showed his artwork at comics convention during his college years. Soon after graduating, he determined that that field was "dying out". Realizing that he did not possess the fortitude for commercial illustration, he decided to draw comic books.

Career

Early work

Wieringo's first professionally published work was Doc Savage: Doom Dynasty #1, published by Millennium Publications in 1991. Editor Mark Ellis had to overrule his partner to give the fledgling artist his first assignment.
Wieringo took his samples to the 1992 San Diego Comic Con, where he met DC Comics group editor of creative services Neil Pozner, who showed Wieringo's art to other DC editors. He was eventually given his first work for DC, a story in Justice League Quarterly #11. That was followed by a second JLQ in issue #12.

The Flash

The Flash editor Brian Augustyn asked Wieringo to try out for The Flash. After submitting some sample pages of the Flash running, Wieringo was offered the penciling duties on Volume 2 of that series, on which he was paired with writer Mark Waid, and on which he rose to prominence in the industry, drawing all but two issues from #80–92, plus #0. He additionally penciled covers through #100, #118–124, and 128–129, and for The Flash 80-Page Giant #2. Wieringo and Waid co-created the young speedster Bart Allen, a.k.a. Impulse, in The Flash vol. 2 #91 and #92.
Wieringo followed this with a short run on Robin, another DC title, with writer Chuck Dixon, while concurrently penciling Marvel Comics' Rogue #1–4, a miniseries starring that X-Men superheroine. During this period, he also penciled occasional covers and small miscellaneous jobs for Marvel Comics.
Other work around this time included penciling the cover and co-penciling the lead story of Firearm #0 and penciling the back cover and one story in Godwheel #2 for Malibu Comics. He penciled the cover of Explorers #2 for Explorer Press.

Marvel and ''Tellos''

After having penciled the Spider-Boy #1 one-shot, which combined Spider-Man and Superboy as part of the Marvel Comics–DC Comics intercompany crossover series of one-shots Amalgam Comics, Wieringo became the regular artist on Marvel's The Sensational Spider-Man, beginning with issue #8. Teaming with writer Todd Dezago, Wieringo penciled all but eight issues from #8–31, and some covers on issues he did not pencil. Additionally, Wieringo co-plotted several issues and penciled the quirkily numbered flashback issue, # −1. During his run he signed a two–year contract with Marvel, beginning December 1997.
After Spider-Man, Wieringo's next major project was at Image Comics, where he reteamed with Dezago on their creator-owned fantasy series Tellos. The comic, a coming-of-age adventure set in a magical, piratical world, ran 10 issues. The last three issues were released by Gorilla Comics, a short-lived Image imprint co-founded by Wieringo and several other creators in 2000. Following the demise of the series, Wieringo also penciled one 13–page story in a post-series one-shot, Tellos: Maiden Voyage #1.
Wieringo returned to DC Comics for all but one issue of The Adventures of Superman #592–600, with writer Joe Casey. He then returned to Marvel and reunited with writer Mark Waid on Fantastic Four. Beginning with #60, Wieringo eventually drew 27 issues of Waid's 36 issues, wrapping up their run with #524, by which time the previously relaunched series had returned to its original numbering. The comics-hobbyist webzine Newsarama commented that the Waid–Wieringo run "was perhaps best known for fan outcry when Marvel announced that going to replace the team. Marvel quickly reversed decision, and the two completed their run on the series".
Wieringo penciled the interior art on issues #1–5 and #8–10 of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and was the cover artist of #1–19. He and writer Jeff Parker began work on the miniseries Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four in April 2007.

Style

Wieringo explained the philosophy behind his drawing style thus: "I just try to keep things fun. I like to do fun comics. It doesn't have to be realistic to be believable. In fact, I sometimes think that funny might actually add something to certain books." When he began illustrating the Rogue miniseries, he was intimidated by the dark tone of that book's story, but once he finished the first issue, the editors decided to lighten up the "grim and gritty" tone of the story.

Personal life, death and legacy

On August 12, 2007, Wieringo died of an aortic dissection at his home in Durham, North Carolina, at age 44. He was survived by his parents, Cecil and Shirley Dean Wieringo, and his brother Matt.
Mirage Comics' Tales Of TMNT #40, Image Comics' Elephantmen #11 and The Walking Dead #42, and Marvel Comics' Spider-Man: Family #7 were dedicated to his memory.
At the time of his death, Wieringo had completed seven pages of a What If? story featuring the temporary "replacement" Fantastic Four of Spider-Man, Wolverine, the Hulk, and the Ghost Rider that had originally been assembled in a 1990 three-part Fantastic Four storyline. Marvel Comics donated the script and Wieringo's art to The Hero Initiative, a charity dedicated to assisting Golden Age and Silver Age comics creators who retired without pensions or benefits and require financial assistance. Wieringo's colleagues stepped in to complete the story. The completed 48-page book, What If?—The Fantastic Four Tribute to Mike Wieringo, features, in addition to Wieringo's art, artwork by Arthur Adams, Paul Renaud, Stuart Immonen, Cully Hamner, Alan Davis, David Williams, Sanford Greene, Humberto Ramos, Skottie Young, Mike Allred, and Barry Kitson, and was released in June 2008.
In June 2017, the Baltimore Comic-Con announced the creation of the Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards, to be held annually at Baltimore Comic-Con beginning in September 2017.

DC Comics