Matt Wieringo has an update on funeral services for Mike Wieringo over on Mike’s website, as well as an update on donations:

First, let me thank everyone who has expressed their condolences online and over the phone. We have been, frankly, overwhelmed by all the good will from all over the world. I don’t think our parents fully understood (nor did Mike) just how much he was loved and admired. To get us through this, my wife and I have spent a couple of sleepless nights reading the postings here and at Newsarama (thank you, Matt Brady) and the John Byrne Forum and it’s helped a great deal. Most touching of all was Cully Hamner’s heartfelt eulogy at Newsarama. Thank you so much, Cully. You are a beautiful man.

Now to the hard part. Mike will have two funeral services.

First, there will be a public viewing this Friday (August 17th) from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Hall-Wynne Funeral Service at 1113 West Main Street in Durham, NC, followed by a chapel service at 2:00. This will be open to any of Mike’s friends and colleagues who’d like to attend. Please come prepared to share a Mike story. I plan on putting you on the spot. It would really help our Mom and Dad through this.

Second, at a time to be determined, there will be a private service for Mike’s family in Lynchburg, where we grew up.

As mentioned before, in lieu of flowers, if you’d like please send donations to the A.S.P.C.A. (aspca.org) or to the Hero Initiative (heroinitiative.org). I had previously mentioned the CBLDF but, having time to think about it, I realized that the Hero Initiative was more Mike’s style. Those wishing to contribute to the CBLDF anyway, please feel free as it’s a worthwhile cause as well.

Finally, some of you have expressed concern over what would become of Mike’s little buddy and constant companion, his cat Charlie. Well, breathe easy. Charlie is coming to live with us in Richmond with our other cat Toonces. I’m not sure how Toonces is going to take to living with the little dynamo that is Charlie, but family is family. Charlie is doing well but obviously misses Mike. He’s been sleeping on Mike’s bed and under his drawing table but he’s active and friendly.

Take care, everyone and, on behalf of our parents, my wife and me, thanks for everything.

Matt

(Note that I’ve reprinted Matt’s entire post here, as I know the Mike Wieringo site has had a lot of traffic this week and experienced some bandwidth problems, and I didn’t want to add to them).

Andrew Neal of Chapel Hill Comics, where Mike was a customer:

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.

Tom Breevort:

Mike was like his artwork: open and inviting and cheerful. He was a favorite at conventions, both of the fans who’d come and speak to him, and for whom he’d dash off quick sketches, and of his fellow professionals, many of whom he mentored and counciled as they broke into the industry. Mike genuinely loved comic books and the work he did, even during those times when it seemed like he was out of step with the industry, his work labeled as too cartoony or too childish.

And now he’s gone, suddenly, irrevocably. And, in some grim irony, I’m reminded of Mark Gruenwald, another healthy, vibrant comic book creator who inexplicably passed away eleven years previously, to the day, at the age of 43. August 12th is not a good day to be working in this industry—especially not the young at heart.

Jeff Parker, who has a long write-up and several pictures of Mike:

Mike was a living animation- his face always did exactly what you (and he) needed for a drawing, and he could always strike the optimum pose for a scene. I remember the Heroes Con that Alex Ross first came to where after meeting Mike, drew a perfect rendition of him hours later in a sketchbook. That corrected a lot of other artists who assumed Alex needed photos to draw a likeness, but as he said, “how could you forget that face?”

David Peterson:

Mike’s work embraced a classic all-ages approach where ladies didn’t need to be half naked to be beautiful and villians didn’t have to be dripping in blood to be menacing. The comics industry just lost one of their freshest voices. Even after decades in the business, his work still looked original, interesting, solid, and new. I’ll miss his artwork.

Don MacPherson:

A few years later, when it was announced that he and Mark Waid would team once again on Fantastic Four, I knew it would be an iconic effort, one of the most memorable visual depictions of the First Family of the Marvel Universe. The reason was that he’d already ventured into that world with his contribution to the DC/Marvel event from the late 1990s, Amalgam. Wieringo’s work on Spider-Boy (a merging of DC’s Superboy and Marvel’s Spider-Man, since the then-current incarnations of both characters were clones) was a joy to behold. In addition to the title character, Spider-Boy also featured the Challengers of the Fantastic, an Amalgam of the Fantastic Four and DC’s Challengers of the Unknown. Wieringo clearly drew a great deal of inspiration from Jack Kirby’s work, which made sense, since so many of the characters that served as fodder for Spider-Boy were Kirby creations.

Randy Lander:

I never got to meet Mike Wieringo. But I was a fan of his work, especially his collaborations with Mark Waid on Flash and Fantastic Four. And on Spider-Boy, the Amalgam one-shot he did with Karl Kesel. Wieringo’s art showed the pure joy of comics, and I was really enjoying his daily blog, where he showed new sketches and was talking about a space adventure comic he was thinking about. Now we’ll never get to see it, and that’s the least of the sadness about losing Wieringo at such a young age.

Warren Ellis:

We were set to do a book together this year, something we’ve been intending to do for a few years. Things had finally come together, and…

The first thing I said upon seeing this was “No.”

I’m going to miss you, Mike. And so will everyone else.

Jim Lee:

Awful news shot through the comics community this morning as it was reported that artist Mike Wieringo died yesterday from a heart attack. I’m sure most of you know of his incredible work but for those of you who don’t, you couldn’t find a more talented and gifted artist. His spartan style just captured so much emotion and life, and he made it look so easy (which any artist worth his salt can tell you how difficult it really is). Mike and I chatted several times over the years at cons and he always impressed me with his easy going style and attitude. He will be missed.

Those last two are via Geekanerd.

Previous updates:

–Blog@: First collection of responses
–Blog@: Second collection of responses
–Newsarama story: Mike Wieringo passes away
–Newsarama: Remembering Mike Wieringo
–Word Balloons tribute
–Newsarama: Cully Hamner remembers Mike Wieringo
–Newsarama: Baltimore Comic-Con plans Wieringo tribute

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 5:04 am and is filed under Creators, News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.