Welcome to more brain droppings and rants from your local Unshaven Artist. I’m here to talk today about that certain someone you just can’t stand in the comic industry for one reason or another. My fellow Unshaven creator Marc has written his own public letter to Jeph Loeb explaining his personal distaste for some of his writings. How about me? Well, what do I love to hate?
I hate Michael Turner art.
There, I said it.
Now I want to go out there and let you know as your reading this, I don’t hate Michael Turner, the person. The man made a living, a very good living, working from the lowest point in comics (background artist/grunt) to the highest. He suffered through a horrible battle with chondrosarcoma, a form of cancer. He lost nearly half his right pelvis and by most medical reports, at least three pounds of bone. His continuing battle with this cancer would see him sadly loose, when he passed away on June 27th, 2008.
I remember being at Wizard World Chicago when it happened. News of his passing spread through the bar (the typical post-con hangout) like wildfire and the next day it was officially acknowledged throughout media sites round the world. Friends and fans spoke highly of Turner as a human being and a creator. I respected the man for making a name for himself in an industry where fly-by-night creators come and go. Not many people can rise to a level of super stardom and stay there. Again, I want to make perfectly clear that I don’t hate Michael Turner. I just hate his art.
In the 90’s, you had certain staples in the art being produced for books. Women had huge boobs and impossible waists. The guys where hyper-muscular to the point of being inhuman. Not to mention that everybody had shoulder pads, pouches everywhere, and ridiculously huge guns that don’t make a lick of sense functionally. So many pouches…*shudders*. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a gaggle of characters drawn with these unrealistic proportions, but we as artist’s have toned some of that down and made them more believable, since the age of excess. Not all do this, mind you, but most are trying.
Anyway, Turner was introduced to me art wise when I picked up Witchblade as a series. I was young, it was a hot series and thus my money was spent. In the beginning, I enjoyed his art. The panels where dynamic, storytelling was smooth and the women where hot. What more could you want in a series when you're fourteen? But as time went on, I began to enjoy the series less and less not because of story, but because of the art I'd once admired. It soon became harder and harder to tell apart certain characters visually; They all had the same facial structure and they were all drawn in suits. Since Withcblade was and still is primarily a cop drama at the heart of it all, there were a lot of people in suits... but maybe someone observes casual Friday now and then?!
Time went by and I dropped out of the title while still occasionally keeping tabs on what’s new. But I soon started to see Turners' art on everything else; In pin-ups, on covers, and in his creator owned books. His work soon evolved in my opinion to a level that it became a caricature of itself. It just seemed to be the same standard super, uber cut male body and the same incredibly hot, skinny, big boobed chick; all with different sets of clothing on to determine who's who. And worse than that? They were all in the same pose too... just standing there. Much like Keanu Reeves always has that look on his face followed by his horrible surfer accent saying “whoa dude” no matter the part... every pose of Turner's artwork looked the same to me.
The height of it all came after his death. Every article I read about him, seemed to talk about his art, and as a shining example referenced the Flash cover he'd recently completed. I saw that cover when it hit the shelves and my first thought was “The Flash is not that buff.” I see the Flash having a lean runner’s body due to the fact that, I don’t know, he run’s really fast. Many people would talk of how much motion and power was displayed in that cover. What I saw was standard Turner body with Flash costume added, while in that 'just standing there, in all my muscular glory' pose.
To me, the mark of a great comic artist is to make the characters you draw represent your style, and gives a sense of weight and individuality per character. One of my favorite artists is Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan, The Boys). His work lets you get a sense that each character is his/her own person with individual quirks in their appearance. Robertson’s Wolverine is a short, squat guy who’s thick with muscle. He's proportionally believable to be that character as it's always been written. Find Michael Turner's Wolverine. Short? Maybe. Stocky, squat? My ass.
I wish Michael Turner was still alive, I really do. I’ve lost family to cancer and it’s a horrible disease to see anybody have. I want him to still be making new art in the world and living a healthy life. It was said that if you wanted a boost in sales, get Turner to do an alternate cover for you and you where guaranteed a three thousand dollar boost in sales. To this day, that blows my mind. That it was just guaranteed to sell that much more because he did a cover variant? Amazing. It proved he had fans and collectors of his art; I just wasn’t one of them.
So I am wondering, who's the creator of interest that just keeps getting work, all to the gnash of your teeth? ?
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