Paul Mounts posts the wraparound cover for the upcoming Tellos collection, the last Tellos piece that Mike Wieringo did:

I wanted to post earlier, but I’m still at a bit of a loss for words. I’ve known Mike for 10 years, talked to him fairly regularly, and there are few people I’ve ever met who were nicer or more passionate about comics as an art form. He never realized just how good he was, and his work improved on every job he did. He was really excited about the upcoming Tellos oversized hardcover; Todd, Mike and I all thought from the beginning that an oversized bookstore format was the best format for this story to be told in, since it was that thought that Tellos would have more appeal to a to a mainstream crowd than the comics market, and now he’ll never see his most personal project released the way he always wanted. The best tribute I can think of is the last piece he ever did for Tellos, the wraparound cover for the new collection

Scott Kurtz:

In the summer of 2005, my friend Mike Wieringo invited me to stay with him at his North Carolina home for a week. In the middle of this visit, we would drive up to Charlotte for Heroes Con. Mike slyly rented a mini-van for the trip, insisting it was because he feared his POS car would not make the trip. I suspect he did so because he was worried I wouldn’t fit comfortably in his compact for the long trip. If that was the case, Mike would never admit it.

On our way to Charlotte we listened to a comedy album I had on my ipod. At one point, the comedian said “You know you’re drunk when you get pulled over by the coast guard. Sir, turn off your windshield wipers, it’s not raining. SCREW YOU SEA PIG. Friendly Dolphin. I was saved by a friendly dolphin.”

Mike and I were laughing so hard, that we had to slow down and pull over to onto the shoulder. For the entire con, I would sneak over to Mike’s table where he would have his head buried in a sketch and belt “FREINDLY DOLPHIN” out of the corner of my mouth and just watch him crumple into convulsing laughter. At one point, I drew a picture of the friendly dolphin and had a fan bring it over to him. Moments later, from across the con hall, I heard Mike’s deep belly laugh.

Dean Trippe:

I started reading comics when I was ten years old. By twelve, I was a already a Mike Wieringo fan. Teamed up with writer Mark Waid, ‘Ringo did an outstanding run on The Flash, before moving over to the Robin solo title written by Chuck Dixon, which my sister and I were already reading. My first comic book was a Batman issue, but actually starred Robin. Since that issue, teen superheroes have been my favorites. Along with Mark Waid, Mike created a fantastic new teen superhero, Impulse, who I instantly adored. To this day, Mike’s costume for Bart Allen remains one of my favorite sidekick costumes ever. Soon after that, Mike drew a mini-series starring the X-Men’s Rogue, which I also picked up. ‘Ringo’s slick, cartoony style won me over right away, and became a strong influence on own drawings from then on.

(Both Scott and Dean have long, touching posts on their sites, so be sure to jump over there to read them).

Fabio Moon:

He was one of the nicest people I’ve met in the american market, always very enthusiastic about comics, always humble about his own talent and always very supportive of my work. For me, it was great to find someone who been working for so long and hear him talk about discovering new artists, and then realize I caught his attention and was discovered by him.

We never met personally, only exchanging emails and comments on each other’s blog. I visited Mike’s blog regularly and was always impressed with his discipline. He would do a sketch almost every day just for the blog before he started working on his pages. I talked to my brother all the time about meeting Mike, but we never got the chance.

John Layman:

I loved his stuff, it was clean, and fun and accessible, the sort of work you look at and it makes you feel good about comics, and you could hand Mike’s work to somebody who didn’t read comics and they would understand its appeal. I particularly liked Wieringo’s stuff on Fantastic Four with Mark Waid, and he did a very charming book for Image called Tellos.

Neil Kleid:

See, I’ve been reading comics a long, long time… and in that time a small number of creators have passed on whose personality, work and exploits have touched my heart and inspired me again and again. Mike Parobeck. Jack Kirby. Will Eisner, of course. And now, Mike. I met him once, at a con years ago, and I watched him draw. Just for fifteen minutes but it was enough to make me want to seek out everything he’d done. I love his book TELLOS with Todd DeZago. His Spiderman run? Impeccable. His art sold me on Flash and Impulse. And everytime - every time! - he popped up on a message board or threw a sketch onto his blog I stopped to look.

Laura Gjovaag:

July 15th 2004, Mike Wieringo blogged about me and my love of Aquaman, and about his desire to work on Aquaman with Mark Waid. I’d never met him, but he still dedicated this sketch to me and my website. I was thrilled then, and continued to be thrilled as I followed his regular sketches on his site. This spring, he posted another sketch of Aquaman and repeated the desire to work on Aquaman, along with a description of what Mark Waid’s previous idea had been like.

Heidi Meeley:

Words cannot express my sadness. Wieringo’s art has such a unique voice that I can’t imagine it ever being duplicated. His work on Fantastic Four and The Flash with Mark Waid was sheer genius. Wieringo also drew a trend setting version of Spider-Man. The man was a class act to boot. Sweet and kind to the fans, with a polite demeanor. Genuine guy.

There just are no words.

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