Michael Turner Tribute

Where do I start. The first time I ran across his work was in the pages of Witchblade, and I was hooked! I was always a comics fan but if Mike was doing anything on the book, be it a cover or interiors I had to grab it up.
Over the years I got a chance to meet him at conventions over and over again asking him to sign different pieces if his art I had collected and showing him some of my illustrations, I remember I felt that he ALWAYS took the time to kinda instruct me in the few seconds he coulod what he felt I could do better on.
Then came WW Chicago 2008, I was aware that he was having some health issues but hadn't heard anything new, I assumed that no news was good news and looked forward to showing him that I had indeed taken his advice and started my own comic book imprint aimed at self publishing. I noticed he was absent fron the booth (he'd never missed at WW Chicago to my knowledge before this) I figured he was either not at the aspen booth or would make a appearance later, sadly I got the news the next day during a panel in which Dan Didio announced his passing. I caught a few tears streaming down my face as I was recovering from the initial shock and went to wipe them away when I noticed that several others were doing the exact same.
He touched a lot of lives not just through his art but the way he seem to embrace each and every one of his fans as if they were long time friends.

To this day it's still hard to believe he's gone, but it's my hope that he'll live on forever within his art, the art of those he influenced and fans who's lives he made just a bit brighter. We miss you Mike. Thank you for everything.